Philosophy, Politics & Economics (PPE)
Because Oxford terms are short and busy, we recommend that students familiarize themselves with some of the main texts below before they arrive. We’ve also included some reading of more general interest.
Philosophy Reading List
In the first year, the philosophy branch covers three areas: Logic, Moral Philosophy, and General Philosophy. Logic and Moral Philosophy will be studied in the first term. Later in the year there will be an opportunity to study General Philosophy. General Philosophy includes topics in epistemology (questions about the nature and extent of our knowledge) and metaphysics (questions about reality and what exists).
For Logic, you will need the textbook The Logic Manual by Volker Halbach (Oxford University Press 2010).
For Moral Philosophy, the set text will be J. S. Mill’s Utilitarianism. As the course will involve studying this text in detail, it will be useful to have your own copy. The edition published by Oxford University Press (Crisp ed. 1998) is preferred. Other reliable editions are published by Penguin Classics (Ryan ed. 1987), Everyman (Williams ed. 1993), and Hackett Publishing (Sher ed. 2001).
A helpful guide to the set text, which discusses the historical background and the philosophical issues it raises is:
- CRISP, R. 1997. Routledge Philosophy Guidebook to Mill on Utilitarianism. Routledge.
For General Philosophy, there are no set texts. The most useful way to prepare is to spend some time thinking about philosophical questions, considering possible answers to them, and assessing the strengths and weaknesses of these answers. There are many good introductory philosophy books, but the following are especially recommended:
- NAGEL, T. 1987. What Does it All Mean? Oxford University Press.
- WARBURTON, N. 1992. Philosophy: The Basics. Routledge.
- BLACKBURN, S. 1999. Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy. Oxford University Press.
- CONEE, E. & SIDER, T. 2015. Riddles of Existence: A Guided Tour of Metaphysics. Oxford University Press.
You can look up technical terms and topics of interest on the freely accessible Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy at http://plato.stanford.edu
There are also informative and short podcasts devoted to philosophical issues, (edited by Nigel Warburton and Dave Edmonds) at www.philosophybites.com.
If you hold an offer for a joint school with philosophy, you can find the non-philosophy materials via the links below.
Politics Reading List
The following reading list outlines the preparatory reading for the Politics Prelims syllabus that
we will be studying throughout the academic year 2024-2025. The first-year Politics course, Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Politics, is divided into two sections: theory, covering key political concepts and modern political thought; and practice, covering comparative and institutional politics.
Theory of Politics
The following three textbooks offer a useful introduction to the field:
- Catriona McKinnon, Robert Jubb, and Patrick Tomlin (eds.), Issues in Political Theory (4th edition, 2019)
- Adam Swift, Political Philosophy” A Beginners’ Guide for Students and Politicians (4th edition, 2019)
- Jonathan Wolff, An Introduction to Political Philosophy (3rd edition, 2015)
Recommended readings on the nature of political theory and the “canon” in the history of political thought:
- Charles Mills, The Racial Contract, Introduction (1997)
- Linda Zerilli, ‘Feminist Theory and the Canon of Political Thought’, in Dryzek, Honig, and Phillips, The Oxford Handbook of Political Theory (2008)
- Fred Dallmayr, ‘Beyond Monologue: For a Comparative Political Theory’, Perspectives on Politics 2 (2004), 249-57.
- bell hooks, ‘Theory as Liberatory Practice’, Yale Journal of Law and Feminism 1 (1991).
- Penny A. Weiss, Canon Fodder: Historical Women Political Thinkers, Ch 1: ‘The Politics of the Canon: Gatekeepers or Gatecrashers’ (2009)
Practice of Politics
The following two books appear frequently throughout the first-year course, so they are worth becoming familiar with:
- William Roberts Clark, Matt Golder, and Sona Nadenichek Golder, Principles of
Comparative Politics (2017) - Arend Lijphart, Patterns of Democracy: Government Forms and Performance in Thirty-Six Countries (2012)
These two books provide interesting and influential perspectives on the nature of political institutions:
- Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson, Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power,
Prosperity and Poverty (2012) - George Tsebelis, Veto Players: How Political Institutions Work (2002)
If you hold an offer for History and Politics, you can find the history materials via the link below
Economics Reading List
All Economics first years will study Microeconomics, Probability & Statistics, and Macroeconomics.
The recommended first year textbooks are:
- The CORE (https://www.core-econ.org/)
- Perloff, Microeconomics with Calculus
- Charles Jones, Macroeconomics.
While there is no recommended textbook in statistics, you may want to familiarise yourself with the subject by looking at:
- Larry Gonick and Woollcott Smith, The Cartoon Guide to Statistics
- Derek Rowntree, Statistics without Tears – An Introduction for Non-Mathematicians.
- David Spiegelhalter, The Art of Statistics: Learning from Data
The CORE textbook is available online for free and will be the main reference for microeconomics. At times, we will also make use of Varian, Intermediate Microeconomics: A modern approach. Students who are entirely new to economics may also find it useful to refer to an introductory text such as Economics by Begg, Fischer and Dornbusch. In all cases slightly older editions of textbooks should be fine.
Whether or not you have studied economics before, there are many excellent books that you might like to read for an informal and stimulating introduction to economic thinking. Here are just a few suggestions from us, but please don’t feel bound by them in any way:
- Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, Good Economics for Hard Times
- Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, Poor Economics: Rethinking Poverty
- John Cassidy, How Markets Fail
- Paul Collier, The Bottom Billion
- Tim Harford, The Undercover Economist
- Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow
- Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, Freakonomics
- Thomas Piketty, Capital in the 21st Century
- Michael Sandel, What Money Can’t Buy
- Linda Yeuh, The Great Economists: How Their Ideas Can Help Us Today
In addition, there are many interesting and worthwhile Economics blogs and podcasts. These are particularly good for keeping you up to date with current issues, including the economic implications of COVID-19. Some suggestions include:
- Freakonomics Podcast: https://freakonomics.com/archive/
- Tim Harford: http://timharford.com/
- Planet Money Podcast: https://www.npr.org/sections/money/
- Paul Krugman: http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/
- Greg Mankiw: http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/
- Martin Wolf: http://www.ft.com/comment/columnists/martinwolf
- Voxeu https://voxeu.org/content/economics-time-covid-19
Finally, the very best preparation for your economics studies right now is practicing mathematics. This is particularly true if you have not taken the equivalent of A-level Maths, but all students should refresh their skills before they arrive. Start by working through the below chapters of the Maths Workbook. Much of this material is revision from GCSE maths, but other parts will stretch you more. The applications to economic problems will almost certainly be new. Test yourself on some of the exercises as you go – answers are provided for you. If you find any areas difficult, then don’t worry – refer to one of the textbooks suggested and do as much practice as you can. We particularly recommend Maths for Economics by Renshaw.
- Introduction
- Chapter 1: Review of Algebra
- Chapter 2: Lines and Graphs
- Chapter 3: Sequences, Series and Limits: The Economics of Finance
- Chapter 4: Functions
- Chapter 5: Differentiation
We hope you find something to interest and inspire you here!
Kate Doornik and Severine Toussaert, Economics Tutors, St John’s College.
If you hold an offer for History and Economics, you can find the history materials via the link below.
Study skills for incoming undergraduates
As an Oxford student, you have many great opportunities ahead, but studying here can also be very challenging. To help you prepare for this, we have put together some resources that will help you develop your study skills before you start at Oxford, no matter your subject.
Starting at Oxford
Starting a course at Oxford can be very daunting, but there are many resources out there to help you succeed! Here are some useful guides from across the University that you might want to check out:
- Study skills and training: Here you can find advice on academic good practice including avoiding plagiarism, managing your time, reading, note taking, referencing and revision.
- Student life: It’s not all about academics at Oxford; here you can find out about the range of other opportunities available to you as a student, as well as tips on how to navigate student life with your workload. If you prefer podcasts, much of this information is available in that form here!
- Managing your budget: Student finances can be daunting at first glance. You can find can find more information on managing your money at university here, as well as information on fees and funding.