This fall, the Dornsife School of Letters, Arts and Sciences debuted a new interdisciplinary major in philosophy, politics and economics. The major is distinct from traditional philosophy and economics curricula in that it will combine the two disciplines and explore their interplay from a humanities perspective, USC Economics Department Chair Romain Ranciere said.
Ranciere and his fellow professor Scott Soames, chair of the university’s philosophy department, will host an information session on a new major on Nov. 20 from 4-5 p.m. in room 360 of Zumberge Hall.
The major is intended for students seeking a more humanistic approach to economics, Ranciere said.
“I would say that [the program] attracts people who like to write and like to argue and use writing to do that,” Ranciere said. “So it’s a way to bring to the economics program to students whose interests might be initially a little bit more into the humanities and to tell them you don’t have to re-frame yourself or to limit yourself to pure economics.”
Soames echoed this sentiment. He said the major will provide its students with the opportunity to examine each discipline from humanities and technical perspectives alike.
“What I personally find the most interesting and exciting about the major is it combines two things that are quite difficult to combine,” Soames said. “One is a normative component to the study of how we live. And there’s also an emphasis on thinking that the problems that confront us and society tend to be problems which involve the interaction of different technical components.”
The major requires 11 courses, including an introductory lower-division course, a final capstone seminar and a range of further courses in the three disciplines, according Dornsife’s website. The introductory class, a four-unit course titled “Free People, Free Thought and Free Markets”, co-taught by both Soames and Ranciere, guides students through the fundamental questions and intersections of philosophy and economics.
“[The course] designed to put together a variety of different things, all of which emphasize the connection between freedom of all kinds, with moving society forward in creating greater utility for all," Soames said. "And we’re having a lot of fun doing that.”
The PPE major offers a unique opportunity for students to put its component disciplines in conversation with one another, Soames said. Students graduating with a bachelor’s degree in PPE will be prepared for a wide range of careers, including law, politics, entrepreneurship and education.
“In many respects it does what many other philosophy programs do,” Soames said. “It combines a degree of logical and mathematical reasoning together with critical thinking and the ability to explain the basic concepts to a variety of different audiences. And if students get trained with that they’ll be able to go a number of different ways after they graduate.”