Ethics, Politics, & Economics courses
Director of undergraduate studies: Steven Wilkinson, 31 Hillhouse Ave., 432-7178, steven.wilkinson@yale.edu
FACULTY ASSOCIATED WITH THE PROGRAM OF ETHICS, POLITICS, AND ECONOMICS
Professors Seyla Benhabib (Political Science, Philosophy), Donald Brown (Economics), David Cameron (Political Science), Ron Eyerman (Sociology), Bryan Garsten (Political Science), Shelly Kagan (Philosophy), Joseph LaPalombara (Political Science), Thomas Pogge (Philosophy), Benjamin Polak (Economics), Douglas Rae (Political Science), John Roemer (Political Science), Susan Rose-Ackerman (Political Science, Law School), Nicholas Sambanis (Director) (Political Science), Prakash Sethi (Political Science) (Visiting), Ian Shapiro (Political Science), Steven Wilkinson (Political Science)
Senior Lecturer Boris Kapustin (Global Affairs)
Lecturers Thomas Donahue (Political Science), Alexandra Dufresne (Political Science), Christopher Lebron (Political Science), Jonathan Schell (Global Affairs), David Simon (Political Science)
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 five introductory courses, one intermediate microeconomics course, three core courses, one advanced seminar, and four courses comprising a student's individual area of concentration. The concentration is developed in consultation with the director of undergraduate studies and should culminate in a senior essay written in the area defined by the concentration.
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 five introductory courses include two in economics (microeconomics and macroeconomics), one in political philosophy, one in ethics, and one in statistics. An intermediate course in microeconomics is also required.
Core courses Three core courses comprise the center of the major in Ethics, Politics, and Economics. The first core course, required for all majors, is EP&E 215, Classics of Ethics, Politics, and Economics. Students must complete two additional core courses, each selected from a different one of the following three groups: rationality and social choice, political systems, and social theory and cultural analysis. The three core courses must be taken before the senior year. Core courses are listed by group on the program's Web site.
Advanced seminars All majors must complete one advanced seminar. The course is selected from an approved group of seminars that focus on how core modes of reasoning drawn from the major's three areas of inquiry can be applied to a particular area or problem. For information about which courses fulfill the advanced seminar requirement, see the program's Web site.
Area of concentration Each student defines an area of concentration in consultation with the director of undergraduate studies. The concentration enables 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 many students the concentration treats 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 four courses appropriate to the theme, including the seminar or independent study course in which the senior essay is written (see "Senior essay" below). In designing the area of concentration, students are encouraged to include seminars from other departments and programs. The director of undergraduate studies will also require students to show adequate competence in data analysis when the area of concentration requires 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 and should constitute an intellectual culmination of the student's work in Ethics, Politics, and Economics. The essay should fall within the student's area of concentration and may be written within a relevant seminar, with the consent of the instructor and approval of the director of undergraduate studies. If no appropriate seminar is offered in which the essay might be written, the student may instead enroll in EP&E 491 with approval of the director of undergraduate studies and a faculty member who will supervise the essay. Students who wish to undertake a more substantial yearlong essay may enroll in EP&E 492, 493.
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 10, 2012. Senior essays written in the spring term and yearlong essays are due April 15, 2013. 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 10, 2012, in the program registrar's office, 31 Hillhouse Avenue. Applications must include the application cover sheet (available on the program's Web site), a transcript of work at Yale that indicates fall-term 2012 courses, and a brief application essay. If possible, applicants should include a copy of a paper written for a course related to the subject matter of Ethics, Politics, and Economics. More information regarding the application process is posted on the program's Web site. A list of accepted applicants will be posted on the same site by December 31, 2012.
REQUIREMENTS OF THE MAJOR
Prerequisites None
Number of courses 14 (incl senior req)
Specific course required EP&E 215
Distribution of courses 1 intro course each in microeconomics, macroeconomics, political phil, ethics, and stat; 1 intermediate microeconomics course; 2 addtl core courses, as specified; 1 advanced sem, as specified; 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 (in a sem or in EP&E 491 or in EP&E 492 and 493)
