BSc Philosophy, Politics and Economics

What are the advantages of democratic institutions? Should we have limits on migration? What are the moral pros and cons of our financial markets? These are just some of the challenging questions you’ll address on this BSc Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE).

You’ll look at fundamental philosophical questions, anaylse the way individuals and groups define political ideas, and look at economic challenges and change. Unlike most other PPE degree programmes, our students study all three subjects for the first three years. Final-year PPE students also complete independent research and work with external organisations on our innovative Capstone course.

LSE regularly achieves top rankings in university league tables for philosophy, politics and economics. Studying at a leading social science institution, you’ll develop interdisciplinary skills that will set you apart from other graduates. Our students progress to careers in financial services, accounting and auditing, consulting, IT and tech, and government.

Philosophy

You can read about recent research and events involving Faculty members on the LSE Philosophy Blog.

Listed below are texts that serve as good introductions to the various areas of philosophy.

Classics

• R Descartes Meditations (any edition)
• D Hume An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding and An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals (any editions)
• J S Mill On Liberty (any edition)
• Plato The Republic, translated and edited by Robin Waterfield (Oxford Paperbacks)
• K Popper Conjectures and Refutations: the growth of scientific knowledge (Routledge, 2003)
• A Smith The Theory of Moral Sentiments (any edition)

General philosophy and philosophical tools

• T Nagel What Does It All Mean? (Oxford University Press, 1987)
• R M Sainsbury Paradoxes (Cambridge University Press, 2009)
• B Skyrms Choice and Chance: an introduction to inductive logic (Wadsworth, 2000)

Moral philosophy

• T Nagel Mortal Questions (Canto, 1991)
• B Williams Morality: an introduction to ethics (Canto, 1993)
• J Wolff An Introduction to Political Philosophy (Oxford University Press, 2006)
• A Voorhoeve Conversations on Ethics (Oxford University Press, 2011)

Philosophy of science

• A Chalmers What is this thing called Science? (Oxford University Press, 2006)
• S Okasha Philosophy of Science: a very short introduction (Oxford Paperbacks, 2002)

Preliminary listening

• The lecture 'Science and Pseudoscience' by the late LSE philosopher Imre Lakatos
• An interview 'Is Inequality Bad' on Philosophy Bites with Alex Voorhoeve
• The lecture 'Free Will in a Deterministic Universe?' by Christian List
• An interview on 'Scientific Method' on BBC’s 'In Our Time' with speakers John Worrall, Michela Massimi and Simon Schaffer
• An interview on 'Game Theory' with Melvyn Bragg on BBC’s 'In Our Time' with speakers Richard Bradley, Ian Stewart and Andrew Colman
• An interview on 'Catholicism and HIV' on Philosophy Bites with Luc Bovens
• An interview, 'Understanding Decisions' on Philosophy Bites with Richard Bradley
• An interview, 'Trolleys, killing and the doctrine of double effect', on OpenLearn 'Ethics Bites' with Mike Otsukate

Economics

For those wishing to gain further insight into what economists study, we suggest looking at one or more of the following popular books or others like them:

• A V Banerjee and E Duflo Poor Economics: barefoot hedge-fund managers, DIY doctors and the surprising truth about life on less than $1 a day (Penguin, 2012)
• T Harford The Undercover Economist (Abacus, 2007) and The Logic of Life (Little Brown, 2009)
• P Krugman End This Depression Now! (W W Norton, 2012)
• S D Levitt and S J Dubner Freakonomics (Penguin, 2007)
• S D Levitt and S J Dubner Superfreakonomics (Penguin, 2010)

Politics

The general character of politics:

• J Colomer The Science of Politics: an introduction (Oxford University Press, 2011)
• R Goodin The Oxford Handbook of Political Science (Oxford University Press, 2009)
• Katznelson and H Milner (eds.) Political Science: state of the discipline (New York: Wiley, 2002)

Political thought

Many classic texts of political thought are readily available in a variety of editions:

• Machiavelli The Prince
• J S Mill Considerations on Representative Government
• M Wollstonecraft A Vindication of the Rights of Women

Political analysis and political institution

• W R Clark, M Golder and S Nadenichek Golder Principles of Comparative Politics (CQ Press, 2009)
• P Dunleavy and J Dryzek Theories of the Democratic State (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009)
• R Morton Analyzing Elections (Norton, 2006)
• E Ostrom, Governing the Commons: the evolution of institutions for collective action (Cambridge University Press, 1990/2015)