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Honour School of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics

A

  • 1. The subject of the Honour School of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics shall be the study of philosophy, and of the political and economic principles and structure of modern society.

  • 2. No candidate shall be admitted to examination in this school unless they have passed or been exempted from the First Public Examination. 
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  • 3. The length of the programme of study for this school shall normally be six terms of full-time study. 
  • 4. The examination for this school shall be under the joint supervision of the Social Sciences Board and the Humanities Board which shall appoint a standing joint committee to make regulations concerning it subject always to the preceding clauses of this sub-section.

B

Candidates must offer either Philosophy, Politics, and Economics or Philosophy and Politics or Politics and Economics or Philosophy and Economics.

Candidates must take eight courses in all, and must satisfy requirements of particular branches of the school. 

For all Economics courses assessed by examination, candidates are permitted the use of one hand-held pocket calculator from a list of permitted calculators published annually by the Department of Economics on its undergraduate website, which will be updated annually in the week prior to the first full week of Michaelmas Term.

  • A. Philosophy, Politics, and Economics.

    Candidates must take (i) one of the courses 101, 102, 115, and 116, (ii) course 103, (iii) any two of 201, 202, 203, 214, and 220, and (iv) at least two courses in Economics.

  • Their other two courses may be chosen freely from those listed under Philosophy, under Politics, and under Economics, except that (i) the Regulations for Philosophy in all Honour Schools including Philosophy must be adhered to; and (ii) certain combinations of courses must not be offered (see List of Courses below). 
  • B. Philosophy and Politics.

    Candidates must take (i) one of the courses 101, 102, 115, and 116, and (ii) course 103, and (iii) any two of 201, 202, 203, 214, and 220.

    Their other four courses may be chosen freely from those listed under Philosophy and under Politics, except that (i) at least one must be a course in Philosophy and the Regulations for Philosophy in all Honour Schools including Philosophy must be adhered to; (ii) at least one must be a course in Politics (other than the thesis (or the supervised dissertation) if offered); (iii) one but only one may be a course in Economics, selected from the following list: 300, 301, 302, 311, (iv) certain combinations of courses must not be offered (see List of Courses below).

  • C. Politics and Economics.

    Candidates must take (i) any two of 201, 202, 203, 214, and 220, and (ii) at least three courses in Economics.

  • Their other three courses may be chosen freely from those listed under Politics and under Economics except that (i) at least one must be a course in Politics (other than the thesis (or the supervised dissertation) if offered); (ii) one but only one may be a course in Philosophy; and (iii) certain combinations of courses may not be offered (see List of Courses below).

  • D. Philosophy and Economics.

    Candidates must take (i) one of the courses 101, 102, 115, and 116, (ii) course 103, and (iii) at least three courses in Economics.

  • Their other three courses may be chosen freely from those listed under Philosophy and under Economics, except that (i) at least one must be a course in Philosophy and the Regulations for Philosophy in all Honour Schools including Philosophy must be adhered to; (ii) one but only one may be a course in Politics, selected from the following list: 201, 202, 214, 215, 216, 217, 220, 229; and (iii) certain combinations of courses must not be offered (see List of Subjects below). 

List of Courses

Certain combinations of courses must not be offered: in parentheses after the title of each course is the number of any other course with which it may not be combined. 

Philosophy

The syllabuses for the subjects in this List are given in Regulations for Philosophy in all Honour Schools including Philosophy.

  • 101. Early Modern Philosophy

  • 102. Knowledge and Reality

  • 103. Ethics

  • 104. Philosophy of Mind

  • 106. Philosophy of Science and Social Science (124)

  • 107. Philosophy of Religion

  • 108. The Philosophy of Logic and Language

  • 109. Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Criticism

  • 110. Medieval Philosophy: Aquinas (111)

  • 111. Medieval Philosophy: Duns Scotus, Ockham (110)

  • 112. The Philosophy of Kant

  • 113. Post-Kantian Philosophy

  • 114. Theory of Politics (203)

  • 115. Plato Republic

  • 116. Aristotle Nicomachean Ethics

  • 120. Intermediate Philosophy of Physics

  • 122. Philosophy of Mathematics

  • 124. Philosophy of Science (106)

  • 125. Philosophy of Cognitive Science

  • 127. Philosophical Logic

  • 128. Practical Ethics

  • 129. The Philosophy of Wittgenstein

  • 137. Plato on Knowledge, Language, & Reality in the Theaetetus & Sophist (in translation)

    138. Aristotle on Nature, Life and Mind (in translation)

  • 139. Knowledge and Scepticism in Hellenistic Philosophy (in translation)

    150. Jurisprudence

  • 151. Set Theory Logic (two courses from part B of the Honour School of Mathematics, counting as one Philosophy course) 
  • 198. Special Subjects

  • 199. Thesis (298, 299, 399)

Politics (including Sociology)

Candidates should note that the Politics courses available in any particular year will depend on the availability of teaching resources. Not all courses will be available in every year and restrictions may be placed on the number of candidates permitted to offer certain courses in any particular year.

The syllabuses for the courses in Politics listed below are given on the Department of Politics and International Relations undergraduate website. 

  • 201. Comparative Government

  • 202. British Politics and Government since 1900

  • 203. Theory of Politics (114)

  • 204. Modern British Government and Politics

  • 205. Government and Politics of the United States

  • 206. Politics in Europe

  • 207. Politics in Russia and the Former Soviet Union

  • 208. Politics in Sub-Saharan Africa

  • 209. Politics in Latin America

  • 210. Politics in South Asia

  • 211. Politics in the Middle East

  • 212. International Relations in the Era of Two World Wars

  • 213. International Relations in the Era of the Cold War

  • 214. International Relations

  • 215. Political Thought: Plato to Rousseau

  • 216. Political Thought: Bentham to Weber

  • 217. Marx and Marxism

  • 218. Sociological Theory

  • 220. Political Sociology

  • 222. Labour Economics and Inequality (307)

  • 223. The Government and Politics of Japan

  • 224. Social Policy

  • 225. Comparative Demographic Systems

  • 226. Quantitative Methods in Politics and Sociology

  • 227. Politics in China

  • 228. The Politics of the European Union

  • 229. Advanced Paper in Theories of Justice

  • 230. Comparative Political Economy

  • 297. Special subject in Politics

  • 298. Supervised dissertation (199, 299, 399)

  • 299. Thesis (199, 298, 399)

  • Thesis regulations as for course 399 below. 

Economics

Courses 300, 301, 302, and 311 must be studied in the first year of the candidate’s enrolment for the Honour School. The rest of the courses may be studied only in the second year of the candidate’s enrolment for the Honour School.

Not all Economics courses may be available in any particular year. There may also be restrictions on numbers permitted to offer some Economics courses in any particular year.

More than one Special Subject in Economics (course 398) may be offered.

The syllabuses for the courses in Economics listed below are given on the Department of Economics undergraduate website. 

  • 300. Quantitative Economics

  • 301. Macroeconomics

  • 302. Microeconomics

  • 304. Money and Banking
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  • 310. Economics of Developing Countries
  • 311. History of the World Economy 

  • 314. Econometrics

  • 319. Game Theory
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  • 398.  Special subjects in Economics
  • 399. Thesis (199, 298, 299)

  • (a) Subject 

The subject of every thesis should fall within the scope of the Honour School. The subject may but need not overlap any subject on which the candidate offers papers. Candidates are warned that they should avoid repetition in papers of material used in their theses and that substantial repetition may be penalised. 

Every candidate shall submit through the candidate’s college for approval to the Director of Undergraduate Studies for Politics and International Relations, or the Director of Undergraduate Studies for Economics, as appropriate, the title the candidate proposes together with 

(i) an indication as to the branch of the school in which the subject falls, e.g. Economics; 

(ii) an explanation of the subject in about 100 words; 

not earlier than the first day of the Trinity Full Term of the first year of the candidate’s enrolment for the Honour School and not later than the date prescribed for entry to the examination. The relevant Director of Undergraduate Studies shall decide as soon as possible whether or not to approve the title and shall advise the candidate immediately. No decision shall be deferred beyond the end of the fifth week of Michaelmas Full Term of the final year of the candidate’s enrolment for the Honour School. 

Proposals to change the title of the thesis may be made through the relevant Department administrator and will be considered by the relevant Director of Undergraduate Studies until the first day of the Hilary Full Term of the final year of the candidate’s enrolment for the Honour School and by the relevant chair of examiners thereafter. 

(b) Length and format 

No thesis shall exceed 15,000 words. Candidates should refer to the relevant Department for guidance as to formatting, content, and submission requirements

(c) Notice of submission of thesis 

Every candidate who wishes to submit a thesis shall give notice of the intention to do so on the candidate’s examination entry form (in addition to seeking approval of the subject from the relevant Director of Undergraduate Studies under (a) above); and shall submit the thesis using the University approved assessment platform not later than noon on Thursday of the week before Trinity Full Term of the final year of the candidate’s enrolment for the Honour School. 

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