Ethics, Politics, and Economics
Ethics,
Politics, & Economics courses
Ethics, Politics, & Economics program
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Director of undergraduate studies: Jennifer Bair, 31 Hillhouse Ave., 432-7178, jennifer.bair@yale.edu
FACULTY ASSOCIATED WITH THE PROGRAM OF ETHICS, POLITICS, AND ECONOMICS
Professors
Jeffrey Alexander (Sociology), David Apter (Emeritus) (Sociology), Seyla Benhabib (Director) (Political Science, Philosophy), David Cameron (Political Science), Maurizio d'Entreves (Philosophy) (Visiting), Tamar Gendler (Philosophy), Alan Gerber (Political Science), William Goetzmann (School of Management), Philip Gorski (Sociology), Donald Green (Political Science), Jacob Hacker (Political Science), Shelly Kagan (Philosophy), Stathis Kalyvas (Political Science), Boris Kapustin (Political Science) (Visiting), Thomas McCarthy (Philosophy) (Visiting), Benjamin Polak (Economics), Douglas Rae (Political Science), John Roemer (Political Science), Susan Rose-Ackerman (Political Science, Law School), Bruce Russett (Political Science), James Scott (Political Science), Ian Shapiro (Political Science), Steven Smith (Political Science), Peter Swenson (Political Science), Ivan Szelenyi (Sociology), Elisabeth Wood (Political Science)
Associate Professors
Howard Forman (School of Management), Elizabeth Kassab (International Affairs) (Visiting), Pierre Landry (Political Science), Ellen Lust-Okar (Political Science), James Vreeland (Political Science)
Assistant Professors
Jennifer Bair (Sociology), Seok-ju Cho (Political Science), Bryan Garsten (Political Science), Ange-Marie Hancock (Political Science), Karuna Mantena (Political Science), Vivek Sharma (Political Science), Matthew Smith (Philosophy), Peter Stamatov (Sociology), Michael Weber (Philosophy)
Lecturers
Cynthia Farrar (Political Science), Bonnie Kaplan (Sociology), Adam Simon (Political Science), James Sleeper (Political Science), Charles Small (Political Science), Roy Tsao (Political Science)
The problems confronting us now and in the future require an analytical and practical capacity to bring together expertise from several disciplines. In an era of global interdependence and rapid technological change, we need to think practically about the institutional dynamics of power and governance. We have to understand the technical complexities of economic and statistical analysis at the same time that we think critically about basic moral and political choices. Constructive responses to such problems as coping with natural and social hazards, allocation of limited social resources (e.g., medical care), or morally sensitive political issues (e.g., affirmative action and war crimes) require close knowledge of their political, economic, and social dimensions, and a capacity to think rigorously about the basic questions they raise.
The major in Ethics, Politics, and Economics joins the analytic rigor of the social sciences and the enduring normative questions of philosophy to promote an integrative and critical understanding of the institutions, practices, and policies that shape the contemporary world.
Requirements of the major. Fourteen term courses are required for the major, including four introductory courses, four core courses, one intermediate microeconomics course, and one statistics course. In addition, each student, in consultation with the director of undergraduate studies, is expected to define an area of concentration and write a senior essay.
Introductory courses. Introductory courses provide a basic familiarity with contemporary economic analysis and survey central issues in ethics and political philosophy. Such a background is necessary to understand theories that combine different approaches to the three areas of inquiry and to assess policies with complex social, economic, and moral implications.
The four introductory courses include two in economics (microeconomics and macroeconomics), one in political philosophy, and one in ethics.
Core courses. Four core courses comprise the center of the Ethics, Politics, and Economics major; three of them must be taken before the senior year. The first core course, required for all majors, is EP&E 341a or b, Classics of Ethics, Politics, and Economics. Each of the three remaining core courses must be selected from a different one of the following four groups:
Rationality and social choice: EP&E 319a or b, 326b, 328b, 345a, 349b
Political systems: EP&E 337a, 360a, 366b, 367a, 371a, 380b
Advanced topics in ethics and the human sciences: EP&E 312a, 313b, 314a, 331a, 334b, 351a, 353b, 354b, 363b, 368a
Social theory and cultural analysis: EP&E 301a, 303a, 304b, 305a, 335b, 340b, 357a, 369a
Area of concentration. Each student defines an area of concentration in consultation with the director of undergraduate studies. The concentration is intended to enable students to frame an important problem and shape a systematic course of inquiry, employing analytical methods and substantive theories drawn from the three fields. Students should not only recognize the accomplishments of varied interdisciplinary efforts, but also attempt to represent and in some cases further develop those accomplishments in their own work.
For most students the concentration will treat a contemporary problem with a substantial policy dimension (domestic or international), but some students may wish to emphasize philosophical and methodological issues. Areas of concentration must consist of at least four courses appropriate to the theme, including a course in which the senior essay is written (see "Senior essay" below). For many students the concentration may expand to include five or more courses. In designing the area of concentration, students are advised to include general intermediate courses related to their interests. The director of undergraduate studies will also require students to show adequate competence in data analysis when the themes of the area of concentration require it.
The following are examples of possible areas of concentration: distributive justice; government regulation of market economies; environmental policy; philosophy of law; gender relations; democracy and multiculturalism; contemporary approaches to public policy; war and coercion; war crimes and crimes against humanity; medical ethics; international political economy; philosophy of the social sciences; social theory and ethics; cultural analysis and political thought; civil society and its normative implications.
Senior essay. A senior essay is required for the major. The essay, which should constitute an intellectual culmination of the student's work in Ethics, Politics, and Economics, should fall within the student's area of concentration and should, if possible, be written within a seminar in the department. Students who wish to undertake a more substantial essay may enroll in EP&E 492 or may combine a seminar and one term of EP&E 491a or b in their senior year. A seminar in another related department, relevant to the student's area of concentration, may be taken to meet this requirement.
The senior essay reflects more extensive research than an ordinary Yale College seminar paper and employs a method of research appropriate to its topic. Some papers might be written entirely from library sources; others may employ field interviews and direct observation; still others may require statistical or econometric analysis. The student should consult frequently with the seminar instructor or adviser, offering partial and preliminary drafts for criticism.
Senior essays written in the fall term are due December 7, 2007. Senior essays written in the spring term and yearlong essays are due April 14, 2008. One-term essays are normally expected to be forty to fifty pages in length; yearlong essays are normally expected to be eighty to one hundred pages in length.
Credit/D/Fail option. Students admitted to the major may take any one of their Ethics, Politics, and Economics courses Credit/D/Fail. Such courses count as non-A grades in calculations for Distinction in the Major.
Application to the Ethics, Politics, and Economics major. Students must apply to enter the major at the end of the fall term of their sophomore year. Application must be made in writing to the director of undergraduate studies no later than Monday, December 3, 2007, in the program registrar's office, 31 Hillhouse Avenue. Applications must include the following information: name, address, phone number, e-mail address, a transcript of work at Yale that indicates fall-term 2007 courses, and a brief statement of purpose. There is no application form. The statement should indicate academic interests and expected area of individual concentration within the Ethics, Politics, and Economics major. If possible, applicants should include a copy of a paper written for a course related to the subject matter of Ethics, Politics, and Economics. A list of accepted applicants will be posted on the departmental Web site by December 31, 2007.
REQUIREMENTS OF THE MAJOR
Prerequisites: None
Number of courses: 14 (incl senior req)
Distribution of courses: 1 intro course each in microeconomics, macroeconomics, political phil, and ethics; 4 core courses, as specified; 1 intermediate microeconomics course; 1 stat course; 4 courses, incl course for senior req, in area of concentration defined by student in consultation with DUS
Senior requirement: Senior essay in area of concentration (either in a sem or in EP&E 491a or b or 492)
