• The PPE model originated at Oxford almost a century ago. In the US there are still fewer than a dozen such programs, although interest is rising. Mason’s program – which is offered jointly by the Department of Philosophy, the Department of Economics, and the Schar School of Policy and Government, and – is the first in the metro DC area.
  • The three PPE disciplines complement each other nicely. Philosophy brings to the program specific analytic and argumentative practices as well a 2,500-year history of discussion about the nature of rationality, well-being, and justice; political science investigates political ideas, processes, institutions, and actions in national and international settings; and economics brings an understanding of the dynamics of competition and cooperation as well as the advantages and disadvantages of alternative economic systems.