BACHELOR OF ARTS IN
PHILOSOPHY, POLITICS AND ECONOMICS
(PPE)

In Freshman Seminar I, students will take a cross-cultural perspective on human existence in the context of the many worlds we all occupy: natural, social and existential. Students will explore human existence in the context of post-Darwinian understandings of what it means to be a human animal. Through exploring the work of both Confucian philosophers and evolutionary theories of ethics, they will ask what it means to be a social animal. And they will explore the rich traditions of existentialism to explore what it means to find ourselves here, evolved beings living in society with each other, conscious of our limitations, our freedom and our death. This Seminar I course will give students the ability to move between radically different frameworks of understanding to derive rich and complex insights into the human experience.

English Composition I focuses on the foundation skills of university-level writing. The course will take students through all the steps of the expository writing process, from pre-writing to revising and proofreading. Students will work through a series of expository essays, including narratives and descriptive pieces. The course will support them in acquiring appropriate critical reading skills, as well as following conventions of standard English in writing. Students will also be introduced to selecting, using, and correctly referencing sources.

This course is an introduction to differential calculus and is designed to meet the needs of Statistics and Data Science students. Topics will cover functions, limits, derivatives and applications. Basic concept of integration is also included.

The course is a broad introduction to the discipline of political science. Students will be introduced to subfields within the discipline: political theory, comparative politics, and international relations. Then, the bulk of the course examines major themes in comparative politics, including the formation of nation-states, political regimes, and political violence. We will also examine themes that cut across the subfields, including globalization, populism, and human rights.

This is a zero-credit workshop that should be completed in the first academic year. The  objective of this program is to empower and equip students with the tools,  perspectives, and attitudes to use science literacy in their daily lives.

In Freshman Seminar II, students will explore questions about human knowledge and understanding. This seminar course will build on Freshman Seminar I, to ask challenging questions about our knowledge of ourselves, each other and the world we inhabit. It will equip students to engage more deeply with questions of knowledge, its uses and its misuses. And it will develop student’s critical awareness of different ways of approaching the question of what it means to know.

English Composition II focuses on the process of argumentative writing, from initial development through drafting and revising to the final product. This course focuses on students' ability to use sources to form strong arguments in academic writing. In this course, students will design their own arguments using sources to write and present their ideas effectively.

This course introduces students to questions about the art (or arts) or argument, and gives them the tools they need to better evaluate, think about and make arguments. The course sees argument as a social practice that exists cross-culturally, and draws upon a wide array of sources to explore the complexities of the human search for agreement and truth.

This course is an introduction to Microeconomics from a very broad perspective. Microeconomics is the science of how people use resources. A large part is about decision making: Which is the best route for going to school, and should I walk or take the bus? Can I get a dog as a pet, should I buy vegetables in the market in the morning or in the afternoon, and why are the prices different in different cities? This course is a foundation course which is needed in order to follow higher level courses in the Economics module.

This is a zero-credit workshop that focuses on the integral component of academic integrity and research methods. This workshop should be completed in the first academic year. The objective of  this workshop is to equip students with the basic analytic and research skills needed for  them to succeed in their studies.

In Sophomore Seminar 1, we will explore how difference is socially and historically constructed, what it can mean to us, and how it can act on us. We will also ask critical questions on what we already know about differences among humans in today’s world. The Seminar will start with exploring the concept of “the Other”, which is one aspect of difference. We will look into different views on “the Other” from different parts of the world.

This course provides an introduction to the quantitative tools for monitoring, analyzing data, and evaluating data. Through practical and real-world applications, students learn statistical methods that can be used in quantitative analysis of real-world problems. This course focuses both on concepts underlying statistical methods as well as problem solving through the use of STATA, a popular statistical software package.

This course is an introduction to Macroeconomics from a very broad perspective. Macroeconomics analyzes topics such as economic growth, inflation and unemployment. How can the central bank influence the economy in times of crises? What should the government do in order to counteract environmental issues? Why do countries trade with each other? Though ultimately based on the actions of individuals and firms (which we will analyze in Microeconomics), Macroeconomics is concerned with developments on the aggregate level: countries as a whole, government spending, taxation and Central Bank policies. This course is a foundation course which is needed in order to follow higher level courses in the Economics module.

This course is an introductory course for social studies. We will cover what social inquiry is and why it is important. During this course we will look at different methods of knowing and making sense of the world. We will focus on typical questions that are asked in social science and specific approaches to answer these questions. You will learn the importance of interdisciplinary approaches to answering questions in the field of social science, for instance through a in-depth study on climate change. Selected readings from different social science disciplines will be used as an interdisciplinary approach to addressing questions in this field.

Sophomore Seminar II introduces students to urgent contemporary questions about our shared human future. Drawing on both literature and theory, students will be challenged to imagine and reimagine the possibilities for our collective and individual futures. The seminar will begin by looking at notions of utopia and dystopia, placing these in the context of the present: in particular in the social and economic frameworks of capitalism. Students will explore the ways in which imagining the future throws light on our present concerns and dilemmas.

This course is an introduction to programming with Python for students without any previous programming experience. Throughout the class, we will cover different data types, writing functions, using packages like Numpy and Python and creating data visualizations. We will also use version control with Git

In this course we will confront some of the major ethical issues that arise in our society—the treatment of animals (vegetarianism, experimentation), the beginning of life (abortion, in vitro, PGD testing), the ethics of war (when to go, how to wage), the ethics of politics (what ought our representatives do), the end of life (right to die, suicide, euthanasia), fear of death, the ethics of food, and the environment. In Ethics, we seek not simply opinions or personal positions on these contentious problems, but hope to make a broader claim about right and wrong.

This course introduces students to the questions, theories, and classic texts of political philosophy, engaging issues of ethics, citizenship, democracy, representation, shared resources and other features of theoretical approaches to politics. This course will introduce and critically engage students in the fundamental questions of how we are to live in the world with others.

This course introduces students to key issues in development economics at both the micro and macro levels. We will examine the leading economic theories of economic development and consider historical and other empirical evidence. We will seek to generate insight into questions such as: Why do some countries grow faster than others?  What sorts of policies have had success in reducing poverty in developing countries? What are the appropriate roles for the state, markets, and civil society? How does a country’s history affect its development? In the last part of the class, students will make use of course concepts and findings to make presentations on country case studies.

What is international relations? How does international politics work? In this course students will be introduced to major theories in IR: realism, liberalism, and constructivism. We will examine how these theories are applicable to different facets of international politics such as grand strategy and international political economy. We will also examine key questions in contemporary politics – such as humanitarian intervention, peacekeeping, and climate change.

This course will introduce students with higher level statistical programming using R, data visualization with base graphics and ggplot2, reproducible reports with Markdown, and developing dashboards with Shiny.

In this course, students will explore the challenges of writing nonfiction in forms that go beyond the academic essay. In particular, they will explore the following:

1. The craft of memoir and the transformative power of personal storytelling

2. The art of literary reportage

3. The literary essay — bridging the personal and the political.

This course aims to take students from first steps in writing creative nonfiction to engaging with the global marketplace for creative nonfiction writing.

In the course, we will study how behavioral economists explain a range of psychological and social phenomena, and how those explanations differ from standard economic ones. Likely topics include drug use, sex, crime, gambling, over-eating, overconfidence and procrastination. In particular, we will study various ways in which (apparent) irrationality influences people’s judgment and decision-making.

This course will examine economic globalization—international trade, finance, and labor migration—from a variety of perspectives. We will highlight the evolution of globalization, with a focus on the roles played by technological change and government and multilateral policies. We will analyze who have been the winners and losers from globalization. Finally we will imagine how globalization is likely to evolve going forward, and what can be done to help ensure it is a force for global good.

This course will introduce you to enduring and emergent issues in the theory of human rights. It will situate human rights within the history of colonialism, which undergirds the ongoing debates surrounding universalism and cultural relativism, individual rights and collective rights, and reconciliation after genocide, examine human rights case studies from South and Southeast Asia, Africa, and Central America, and explore a variety of emerging approaches to human rights.

This course investigates the philosophical foundations and moral dilemmas surrounding citizenship, migration, and statelessness in an increasingly interconnected yet divided world. Drawing from contemporary political philosophy, the course investigates what it means to belong to a political community, why citizenship matters, and whether states are permissible to close their borders. Through theoretical inquiry and global case studies, the course asks: What is citizenship, and why does it matter ethically and politically? What does it mean to belong to a political community? Who should have the right to move, to stay, or to be recognized as a citizen? Are refugees and stateless persons entitled to special treatment or protection? What are the ethical implications of guest worker programs that offer labor without full membership? Should irregular migrants be granted legal protections or rights despite their undocumented status? Is detention or deportation of migrants ever ethically justifiable?

Senior Capstone is a year-long project-based/research-based course that all senior students have to take and complete. Senior Capstone I is taken in the first semester of their senior year and Capstone II is taken in the second semester of their senior year. Senior Capstone projects are always associated with student’s declared majors.

This course examines the nature of economic inequality, including its extent,causes, and consequences. We study inequality from both macroeconomic and microeconomic perspectives. Through its broad coverage of economics, this course may help students identify research interests and generate ideas for their capstone projects. At the macroeconomic level, the course explores how inequality is related to economic growth and development. We examine competing theories and empirical evidence on whether inequality promotes or hinders growth, and analyze how national institutions such as education systems, labor market policies, taxation, and social protection, shape this relationship. At the microeconomic level, the course investigates inequality across multiple dimensions, including income, wealth, education, health, and labor market outcomes. We examine how individual decisions, market forces, and economic environments contribute to unequal outcomes. The course concludes with an analysis of discrimination, focusing on how unequal treatment based on characteristics such as gender, ethnicity, race, or other social identities can restrict access to economic opportunities and generate persistent inequalities.

Social psychology is the scientific study of how people think about, influence, and relate to one another. It derives from the premise that people's thoughts, feelings, beliefs, intentions and goals are constructed within a social context by the actual or imagined interactions with others. In this introduction course we will explore key concepts of social thinking, social influence, and social relations.

This course is a general introduction to astronomy and cosmology for non-science majors. Topics will cover the latest discoveries about stars, galaxies and the universe as a habitat for life. The science of the universe relies on the tools of physics and astronomy, quantitative reasoning is an integral part of this course. However, previous knowledge of physics and astronomy is not required.

Senior Capstone is a year-long project-based/research-based course that all senior students have to take and complete. Senior Capstone I is taken in the first semester of their senior year and Capstone II is taken in the second semester of their senior year. Senior Capstone projects are always associated with student’s declared majors.

This seminar-format survey of historical and contemporary performing arts in multi-cultural Southeast Asia invites students to explore both their personal relationship with the lively arts (stage, recording and film) and cultural similarities and contrasts among societies and nations in Mainland and Maritime Southeast Asia.

This course addresses not only environmental justice in Myanmar but also the need for educational pedagogy, personnel, resources, and strategy for environmental progress.  In Myanmar, environmental justice is but one among many “wicked problems,” which are understood to be existential challenges with contending interests, socio-economic-political complexity, requisite multidisciplinary knowledge and skills, limited resources, and citizen precarity.  Discerning an educational strategy that meets the challenge of a wicked problem—here, environmental justice—prepares Parami University students to engage social and educational needs competently and confidently.

This seminar explores power, disobedience and strategies of resistance across a range of philosophical perspectives and historical contexts. The course focuses on four main thinkers: Sun Tsu, Friedrich Nietzsche, Hannah Arendt and Byung-Chul Han. Their positive, affirmational and productive approaches to oblique strategies of political action are complemented by readings from Foucault, Deleuze, Hakim Bey and Francoise Jullien. Additional readings will support contemporary resistance and disobedience case studies, including Occupy Wall Street, the Arab Spring, the Hong Kong Umbrella Movement, and Earth First! activism. Students will analyze ideas, but more importantly will work to develop them into collective strategies and tactics, using philosophies of resistance and disobedience to transform thought and urge communities into constructive action.