Politics, Philosophy and Economics

In the Politics, Philosophy & Economics course of study we are, more than anything else, philosophers – philosophers with a well-developed sense for what is practical. We don’t just want to know what holds the world together at the deepest level. We also want to know how, why, and why can’t it be completely different?

We are interested in economics – but not in the kind that reduces everything to that which can be quantified, and which seeks only profit. Not in the kind that reduces people, with all their complex needs, and fragile nature to simple cost/benefit analyses. Instead, we want a kind of economics that makes people the starting point for any action.

The course of study for all those, who

• understand the rules of the game, and want to change them
• see the economy as more than just a numbers game
• want to combine pure thought and practical reasoning 

What would the kind of economics, and the kind of lifestyle, that do not inevitably destroy this planet over the long run, look like? Here we work on approaches which genuinely achieve well-being for all, including non-human beings and future generations. We also ask ourselves questions like: why, in the media, is it always experts in economics who explain crises to us and never philosophers? What would it do for our understanding of politics to re-read Aristotle and Confucius, Hobbes and Marx, Lao Tzu and Kierkegaard? 

At Karls, we think about alternatives to the status quo and are actively committed to greater sustainability. In studying the philosophers and in exchanges with our fellow students and our professors, we find answers to the questions of successful co-existence, fair trade, and societal forms which are just.

This course of study starts every winter semester in September.