Queen's Now

Viewing archives for Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE)

About me

I am from Northern Ireland and I read Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE). I chose PPE because I have always had an interest in politics and history, even at a non-academic level, and then in school also came to love the study of economics. PPE then just seemed like a great fit, and especially because it continued to give me options for when I graduate as far as what job or industry to go into.

College experience

My favourite thing about Queen’s, apart from its central location which is brilliant, is probably the fact that it has a small feel to it. By relative number of students we’re not a small college but somehow I found us to feel like a small community. There’s not, as far as I can see, cliques of much of a divide between Queen’s students and I am so thankful for it.

Oxford life

Within the constraints of when they schedule your lectures and tutorials, your schedule is up to you entirely. I find that I am naturally someone who works better in the evening, but you have to also have the self-awareness to realise that you should still get up and meet the day at a reasonable time. For PPE, in first year at least, we would have up to six lectures a week because they seemed to front-load some lectures in the first term, but then it can be quieter in the following terms. As for tutorials, we got used to having three a week, and a piece of work; either an essay or problem sheet; to complete for each.

As someone who naturally had a great interest in many of my subjects I thought the tutorials were amazing. You get an opportunity, as a fresh-faced 18-year-old with no professional training in your field, to discuss these topics with a world-leading expert and have your own thoughts, and crucially, your questions taken seriously. Sometimes you are obviously put on the spot and have to think seriously but the stereotype about an imposing atmosphere or anything to be afraid of is not something I’ve ever come across here. Outside the academic side, there is such an array of things to get involved in and thankfully, while this can be quite full-on if you choose, you can come and go as you please from a lot of societies and clubs.

Advice for applicants

This is probably advice I wouldn’t have listened to when I was applying, but it is to not worry. As far as I can see, getting in is a question of admissions tutors spotting a natural interest in the subject; so you could talk about it and it wouldn’t sound forced. They can pick this up from your personal statement, primarily by demonstrating that you’re reading or taking stuff in in some way, and then eventually in an interview; not by knowing everything, but by having an appetite to learn more about something. The rest is window dressing, and if your passion for the subject is real and genuine then there’s little more to do other than apply that with a bit of thinking power.

Anything else?

As much as I love Queen’s, I didn’t choose it as my college of choice. After three years here I’ve learned that many people get shuffled around colleges and it doesn’t matter. I met some people who might want to change degrees or options within their courses, but no one who wants to change colleges. Somehow, even if you don’t get your choice, they find you the right place. I haven’t a clue how, but they’ve been doing it forever.

Introduction

I grew up in Eggersriet, Switzerland. In 2013, I obtained my BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford University (Lincoln College). After stints as a journalist, a researcher at the Swiss National Bank, an analyst at a development NGO, and a teacher in a refugee reception centre in Switzerland, I read for an MSc in Economics at the London School of Economics (LSE), where I subsequently stayed for an additional year as a pre-doctoral research fellow.  I completed my PhD in Economics at UC Berkeley in spring 2022 and returned to Oxford as an Associate Professor of Economics at the Economics Department and a Tutorial Fellow at Queen’s College later that year.

Teaching

I teach tutorials in Probability and Statistics and Quantitative Economics at Queen’s. At the Economics Department, I am involved in teaching the undergraduate options course in Development Economics, and I also lecture as part of the MSc in Economics for Development. In addition, I supervise a few MPhil and DPhil students each year.

Research

I conduct empirical research on migration, networks, and spatial linkages between economic agents. For instance, one of my current projects investigates to what extent co-national social networks help newly arriving refugees integrate in the local labor market and society more broadly, and how this affects local firms, workers, and politics. In another, I study how unconditional cash transfers to rural households in Kenya shape their social and economic interactions, and how the benefits of cash ripple through existing social networks within their villages.

Introduction

My research concentrates on global governance and survey methods. Through my work, I aim to find out how people want the world to be governed, and to help other scholars conduct better public opinion research. Before joining Queen’s, I held postdoctoral fellowships at the universities of Lund and Maastricht. A former management consultant at Bain & Company, I also worked at the German Foreign Ministry, for the President of the European Parliament, and at the United Nations headquarters in New York. I hold a DPhil in International Relations from the University of Oxford, an MA in Global Affairs from Yale University, and a BSc in Management from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

Teaching

I have developed and taught various quantitative and qualitative courses. In Oxford, I taught Political Analysis (Q-Step) II – an intermediary course on quantitative methods. In Maastricht, I taught introductory courses on quantitative methods and International Relations. For the German Academic Scholarship Foundation (Studienstiftung), I developed and taught a summer academy on the theory, empirics, and practice of global democracy.

Research

My two main research areas are global governance and survey methods.

During my JRF, I am working on a monograph and various articles relating to world public opinion on international organizations, global governance reforms, and long-term visions like global democracy. To this end, I use survey experiments to understand international public attitudes and explore the conditions under which people’s views may change.

In the area of survey methods, I am working on various papers addressing methodological questions that affect survey researchers in many academic disciplines. I particularly focus on the design of answer choices, e.g. the ideal length of response scales, the conditions under which a middle response should be included (or not), and the validity of non-opinion (“don’t know”) responses.

Publications

My list of publications is available here: www.linkedin.com/in/farsanghassim.

Course

  • BA (Hons) Philosophy, Politics, and Economics

Admissions

The College typically admits eight students per year for the PPE Course.  It is not necessary to have studied any of the three PPE subjects at school. Although a background in Mathematics is not formally required for admission, PPE applicants should have sufficient interest in, and aptitude for, mathematics to cope with the mathematical elements of the course. Mathematics at A level, IB Standard level, or the equivalent is a particular advantage for the Economics component of the course, as well as for the first year logic course in philosophy, and for understanding theories and data in Politics.

The course

The PPE course lasts for three years.  All three subjects must be studied in the first year.  In the second and third years, many now choose the option of a combination of any two of the subjects but it is possible to continue studying all three if you wish. In either case there is a choice of papers from a wide range of optional subjects.

Teaching

During their first year, all students take introductory courses in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.  These courses are taught within the College.

Students who continue with Philosophy take two core courses (Ethics and either Early Modern Philosophy; or Knowledge and Reality; or Plato’s Republic; or Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics) in the second year, and are then free to choose further options in their second and third years, including the option of writing a 15,000 word thesis on a specific topic of their choice.

Students who opt to continue with Politics choose two courses from the following five: Comparative Government, International Relations, British Politics and Government since 1900, Theory of Politics, and Political Sociology.  They are free to take optional papers covering the government and politics of particular countries and regions, the history and theory of the international system, topics in sociology and social policy, and the history of political thought.  There is also the option to write a 15,000 word thesis on a topic of their choice.

Students who choose to continue with Economics take three core courses (Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, and Quantitative Economics) during their second year, and are then free to choose up to three option papers in their third year from the following list of papers: British Economic History, Econometrics, Economics of Developing Countries, Economics of Industry, Game Theory, International Economics, Labour Economics and Industrial Relations, Mathematical Methods, Money and Banking, Public Economics.

Interviews

How are candidates selected for interview? All candidates applying to study PPE are required to take the Thinking Skills Assessment (TSA) test, usually in mid-October.  The PPE admissions tutors select candidates for interview using a number of pieces of information: past and predicted exam results, school reports, personal statements and the TSA test result.  Applicants who do not take the TSA test will not normally be shortlisted for interview.

What happens at interview? All shortlisted candidates will have two interviews: one shorter interview with two tutors from the same subject, and another longer interview with two tutors from different subjects.  In both cases, the initial discussion will focus on a brief text and questions which will be supplied half-an-hour beforehand.  Candidates are not expected to have studied any philosophy, politics, or economics at school, and the discussion will not presuppose or test existing knowledge.  The interviewers will be seeking to assess the candidate’s potential as a PPE student.  Candidates should read the text and questions carefully and be ready to think and respond to problems and criticisms put to them.  They should try to present their arguments and thinking as clearly and concisely as possible.


Introduction

I read Literae Humaniores as an undergraduate at Christ Church, Oxford, where I also took an MSt in ancient philosophy.  I subsequently moved to Oriel College, Oxford, where I completed my DPhil in philosophy and taught as a college lecturer.  I then spent five years as Career Development Fellow in Ancient Philosophy at Balliol College, Oxford, following which, in 2019, I took up my current position at Queen’s.

Teaching

Ancient philosophy.

Research

My research interests are in ancient philosophy, with a focus to date on Hellenistic epistemology and scepticism.

Publications

‘Proof Against Proof: A Reading of Sextus Empiricus’ Against the Logicians 8.463-481’, Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 61 (2022), pp.263-304.

‘The Sceptic’s Art: Varieties of Expertise in Sextus Empiricus’ in Johansen, T. (ed.) Productive Knowledge in Ancient Philosophy: The Concept of Technê, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021), pp.226-244.

Five Modes of Scepticism: Sextus Empiricus and the Agrippan Modes (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019), pp. x + 204.


Research

My main research interests are in epistemology and metaphysics, philosophy of mind and action, philosophy of art, and the philosophy of Wittgenstein. In my most recent book, Action, Knowledge, and Will, I argue that human behaviour has four irreducibly different dimensions—physical, psychological, intellectual, and ethical—which were amalgamated or confused in the traditional idea of a ‘will’. My work in philosophy of art has focused mainly on the visual arts. My book The Objective Eye is about the nature of colours and shapes, their representation in pictorial art, and the concept of realism in art theory. I have also written about art and neuroscience.

Publications

Links to some of my recent publications:

Introduction

I read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Christ Church, Oxford, and then studied for a doctorate at Nuffield College, Oxford. I have been the Fellow in Politics at Queen’s since 1995, as well as University Lecturer and Associate Professor in the Department of Politics and International Relations.

Teaching

I teach the ‘Introduction to Politics’ first year paper, the core political history paper ‘British Politics and Government since 1900’, and the option paper ‘Modern British Government and Politics. I also supervise undergraduate theses, mostly in political history, MPhil theses and doctoral theses in the Department of Politics and International Relations and the History Faculty.

Research

I work on British political history since 1900, especially the politics of governments and parties of the left; the working of colonial systems of government; the decolonization of the European colonial empires after 1945; the theory and practice of anti-imperialism, especially the implications of postcolonial theory for the study of anti-imperialist resistance; and the dilemmas of political leadership in anti-imperialist (and other) social movements; colonial violence, and how it was made tolerable to metropolitan audiences in liberal empires; and problems of participation in social movements.

Publications

  • The British Left and India: Metropolitan Anti-Imperialism, 1885-1947 (Oxford University Press, 2007).
  • The Soft Heart of the British Empire: Indian Radicals in Edwardian London, Past & Present, 220 (2013), 143-184.
  • Men and the 1970s British Women’s Liberation Movement, The Historical Journal, 56 (2013), 801-26.
  • Facts are Sacred:The Manchester Guardian and Colonial Violence, 1930-32, Journal of Modern History, 84 (2012), 643-78.
  • ‘Four straws in the wind’: Metropolitan Anti-Imperialism, January-February 1960, in Sarah Stockwell and Larry Butler (eds.),The Wind of Change: Harold Macmillan and British Decolonization (2013).

Introduction

I grew up in Adelaide, South Australia. I did my undergraduate degree in philosophy and French at the University of Adelaide, followed by Honours in philosophy. I then did a PhD in philosophy at Flinders University. After temporary lectureships at Macquarie University and the University of Adelaide, I started a permanent lectureship at the University of Manchester in 2006. Shortly afterwards, I took leave to complete a three-year Macquarie University Research Fellowship in Sydney. After returning to the UK, I was Senior Lecturer then Reader at Manchester before moving to Oxford to take up my current position at Queen’s in 2019. I have held visiting appointments at the EHESS in Paris, the University of Sydney, and the University of British Columbia.

Teaching

I teach philosophy to undergraduates in all years at Queen’s. I teach the ‘General Philosophy’ first-year paper, and the option papers ‘Knowledge and Reality’ and ‘Aesthetics’. I am happy to supervise graduate work in a broad range of areas in the philosophy of art and aesthetics.

Research

My research addresses issues at the intersection of the philosophy of art, philosophy of language, and philosophy of mind. Much of it concerns fundamental issues about the representational arts, including the nature of depiction, and of cinematic and photographic representation. I am also interested in the nature and value of art, the expression of emotion, and the nature of genre. In my recent book, Fiction (Oxford University Press, 2020), I develop an account of fiction as a social practice, providing original explanations of the nature of fiction, the norms governing its understanding and interpretation, and the nature of fictional entities. I have recently embarked on a new research project, the aim of which is to determine the nature of artistic media and styles and their interpretative and evaluative roles.

Publications

For a list of my publications, please see my PhilPeople website.

Contact

The Queen’s College,
High Street, Oxford,
OX1 4AW

Find on map

Tel: 01865 279120

© 2024 The Queen's College, Oxford

Site by One