The Centre for PPE

The Centre for Philosophy, Politics and Economics brings together researchers from different faculties at the University of Groningen who share an interest in the disciplines composing the field of PPE. We aim at combining the perspectives from these fields in order to address both theoretical and practical problems.

A specific feature of the "Groningen version" of PPE is that philosophers from different fields (theoretical and practical philosophy as well as history of philosophy) take part in the Centre for PPE. This enables us to also pay attention to questions of social ontology, methodology, and the history of ideas, and to combine them with PPE questions arising from political and moral philosophy. The group of social scientists and economists is equally broad in their orientation, ranging from theoretical sociology to consumer ethics and many other areas. While some of our work is theoretical, some is applied and policy-oriented, drawing on empirical methods in economics and other social sciences.

As can be seen from the bios of the individual members, our interdisciplinary group shares expertise in political theory, in philosophical disciplines such as ethics, philosophy of science and social epistemology, in economics, as well as in sociology and social psychology. Members at the centre collaborate on various research programmes that aim to address some of the most urgent questions of our world, such as climate change, fiscal regulation, social and political trust, political participation and sustainable development.

We regularly host visiting scholars in our center; if you are interested in such a stay and can apply for funding in your home institution or country, please get in touch with the director (currently l.m.herzog rug.nl).