Philosophy, Politics and Economics

This module introduces significant themes, theoretical perspectives and concepts in Politics and Global Studies, and aims to develop an initial understanding of the methodologies and practices of the discipline of Politics where it comes into contact with related subject areas such as international relations, economics, the environment and religion. This module – continuing in the second semester of Year 1 – aims to develop the understanding of Global Politics. This module covers the theory and practice of politics in terms of examining different political systems such as representative, parliamentary democracy and their institutions of government, the role of interest groups, electoral systems, voting behaviour, public policy, human rights, security studies, international economic relations, dictatorships and one party states to give a grounding in how political processes work. The course then goes on to examine the philosophical underpinnings of differing systems of government by looking at ideologies such as liberalism, conservatism, communism and socialism that originated in the Western world and comparing and contrasting systems of government elsewhere in the world where such beliefs have been used, adapted or rejected.

This module introduces students to the field of economics. The first semester focuses on Microeconomics, studying the behaviour of individual agents and their interaction in markets. The second semester focuses on Macroeconomics, the study of the economy at the aggregate level, and the fundamental policy choices that are associated with it.

Students will learn a range of vocabulary and concepts that allow them to model and understand economic situations, to predict the consequences of changing a particular variable, and to determine the best economic course of action for agents. During the semester, students will undertake a range of exercises to be held during seminars. These will contribute to develop those skills that will be tested in two assignments, due at the end of each semester, and the final exam, taking place during assessment week.

In this module we will focus on a key debate, topic or dilemma in the Christian tradition to collectively develop your academic skills. These skills will include textual analysis, research, note taking and academic writing. This module will show how lectures, reading and independent work might be utilised for effective written assessment. Students will be trained to read primary and secondary texts, and work within the parameters of Higher Education with increased confidence. Important topics for your success at university such as what constitutes good essay structure, understanding assessment criteria and how your work is marks, along with how to reference texts and avoid committing plagiarism will be introduced through this module.

The Early-Modern period: a time when parts of Classical thought were being rejected while others were being rediscovered. We will look at how a renewed focus on epistemology along with developments in the natural sciences led to a new confidence in the power of reason against superstition and illusion. To develop our skills and knowledge of the diverging rationalist and empiricist traditions that succeeded medieval scholasticism, we will focus in particular on the conceptual accounts and proofs of the existence of God, Soul and World that developed in the succession of debates sparked by Descartes. By investigating their proofs for the existence of God, the immortal soul and the reality of the external world, their explanations for the existence of evil and their accounts of freedom, we will learn to analyse texts carefully and form persuasive arguments with and against them.

In this module we will begin to study philosophy by looking at its establishment in a movement in Ancient Greece. We will focus particularly on the key figures of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. We will pay attention to what philosophy is and what characterises a philosopher, along with key questions relating to metaphysics, epistemology, politics and the polis. Beyond the core figure we will look at earlier Pre-Socratic philosophers and Sophists and ahead to the major Hellenistic schools of philosophy and the philosophers of the Roman Empire.

Human rights have been called the ‘idea of our time.’ In the post-World War Two period this ‘idea’ has achieved a totemic status, associated with civility and modernity. Against this, however, are the widespread reports of torture, genocide, disappearances, ethnic cleansing, political prisoners, the suppression of trade unions and democracy movements, and wilful deprivation of access to the basic necessities of life. One of the causes for the apparent disjuncture between the optimism represented by the idea of human rights, and the pessimism engendered by media reports of widespread violation of human rights, can be found in what John Vincent has called ‘human rights talk’. Human rights is not a singular discourse, but three overlapping discourses: philosophy, law and politics. We will critically explore

these three discourses historically, culturally and in their contemporary form, and seek to gain an insight into the role of human rights under conditions of present-day globalisation.

This module focuses on one of the most important books ever written, Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason.  Beginning from the intellectual milieu it emerged from – Rationalism vs. Empiricism, Hume’s scepticism and Rousseau’s view of freedom – this module will focus on understanding the texts general relevance along with focusing in detail on a few portions of its argument. These might include the the notion of transcendental idealism and the thing-in-itself, Kant’s account of the nature of space and time, the limitations Kant imposes on our knowledge of metaphysical entities – such as God, freedom and the self – and the role of non-epistemic forms of assertion such as faith and hope in these domains. We will also place Kant’s first Critique in the context of some of his works, such as those on ethics, aesthetics, science, politics or religion.

With the publication of Phenomenology of Spirit in 1807, Hegel offered the world a radically different image of what was truly at stake in the historical development of philosophical thought, politics, art and religion through enacting a fundamental break with the system of logic first defined by Aristotle. The new understanding of history and progress that dialectical thought offered might seem arcane and mysterious, yet it proved itself incredibly powerful in offering new ways of seeing what was going on in our culture. Perhaps the most famous inheritor of Hegel’s method was Karl Marx, who claimed to be turning the dialectical method on its head with his materialist account of the inevitable coming of communism. In this module we will investigate how dialectical thought works, paying particular attention to those thinkers who have used it to understand political and economic development.

This module focuses on the workings of international institutions and the on-going debates that seek to reform them. Starting with the United Nations and other post-WWII institutions, the module moves on to cover a range of international institutions and non-government organisations that have a role in politics and global studies.

The module will assess the relations between international institutions and the state (and other actors) and the degree of cooperation, collaboration and harmonisation (or otherwise) that exists between various bodies in a global setting.

This module provides students with an overview of research methods employed in the Social Sciences and they will learn to use a variety of the basic quantitative and qualitative methods. Students will work with tutors to sharpen their skills in researching, collating, organising, assessing and presenting materials drawn from different primary and secondary sources such as monographs, articles, newspapers, speeches and national statistics. The module will critically explore the appropriate use of different techniques. The underlying debates about research methodology and directly provide students with concrete tools to conduct independent research. The module ultimately guides students towards an independent research proposal and prepares them for the dissertation in the final year.

This module introduces students to the academic discipline of Global Political Economy. The module will discuss a number of key issues in the global economy, and how these interact with international political processes. The module will present the different theoretical perspectives that constitute the field of Global Political Economy today, and how these perspectives are reflected in the dates about the major debates around the nature of the global economy. Students will therefore be encouraged to develop a critical understanding of the contemporary political and economic processes, through the lenses of an interdisciplinary perspective, standing between international politics and economics. This module builds on students’ level 4 modules in introductory global politics and economics.

• The War on Terror, The Axis of Evil and Beyond - 15 credits
• Independent Study Module - 15 credits
• Bioethics - 15 credits
• Nietzsche, Freud and Atheism - 15 credits
• Political Theology - 15 credits
• Great Philosophical Texts - 15 credits
• Religion, Ethics and War - 15 credits
• History of Economic Thought - 15 credits
• Volunteering for Philosophy, Politics and Economics - 15 credits
• Econometrics - 15 credits

In conversation with a member of academic staff, candidates must select an appropriate area of investigation. In 8-10,000 words, candidates must engage with their chosen topic using critical methodologies, evidence and argument. The topic chosen must be one which relates to the subject matter of the programme and which permits the demonstration of independent research, study and reflection.

The project and the research which underpins it are equivalent to two 15 credit rated modules and is to be completed over two semesters in the final year of study.

A great deal of contemporary thought remains heavily focused on building on, responding to or critically rejecting the thought of the early-Twentieth Century. In this module we will look at a selection of the many important thinkers associated with the labels phenomenology and existentialism, such as Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Levinas, Camus and Merleau-Ponty; along with a selection of thinkers outside of that tradition who played an important part in its critique, such as Bergson, Bataille, Saussure, Lévi-Strauss, Derrida and Foucault. We will see how the very notion of what it is “to be” and particularly “to be human” was put in question by these thinkers and by their critics. We will relate this to developments beyond philosophy, such as the role of such thinking in art, politics and religion, and the way it has responded to developments in science and logic.

In this module students will engage in detail with a particular philosopher whose works date from the late-Twentieth Century onwards. This module will be research-led, with the tutor presenting a thinker and theme that they are currently or recently engaged in writing research on. Students will be expected to engage with the tutor’s research work along with more general introductory material over the course of the module.

In this module we look at a range of economic issues from the perspective of the state and public finances. We will consider the benefits and problems associated with the state’s involvement in providing goods, the welfare state and the extent to which the state should engage with the market and in its regulation. We will also look at how effective government attempts at redistribution are and how these themes play out in our globalised world.

This module aims to demonstrate the integration of the three programme disciplines – philosophy, politics and economics via study of contemporary capitalist crises. Crises now appear to be a permanent feature of our lives. Only twelve years after the eruption of the Global Financial Crisis, another crisis started, but this time it started as a pandemic! This module looks at the economic crises of the 21st century. It examines the interconnections between three crises: the climate change emergency, the Covid-19 pandemic and economic recessions. It analyses the causes and manifestations of capitalist crises at the global, regional and national level. In doing so, we address the neoliberal economic policies and their theoretical underpinnings.  In the module we look at the restructuring of the world economy in recent decades and how it informed the multifaceted turbulence we experience. Finally, we engage with the question of how crises should be managed.

• Foreign Policy Analysis - 15 credits
• Politics, Energy and the Environment - 15 credits
• Case Study in Political Philosophy: Conservatism - 15 credits
• Populism and National Identity - 15 credits
• Bioethics - 15 credits
• Political Theology - 15 credits
• Great Philosophical Texts - 15 credits
• Religion, Ethics and War - 15 credits
• Development Economics - 15 credits
• Behavioural Economics and Finance - 15 credits