Difference between revisions of "Political theory"

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(New page: '''Political theory''' is one of the subfields of the Political Science Department. Category:Political Science Department Category:Majors)
 
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'''Political theory''' is one of the subfields of the [[Political Science Department]].
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'''Political theory''' is one of the subfields of the [[Political Science Department]]. In general, "political theory" can mean one of two related things:
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# '''Political philosophy''': In which one might study, for example, Core Curriculum classics like Locke and Hobbes as well as more recent thinkers like John Rawls. Related areas of study include legal philosophy and moral philosophy.
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# '''Formal theory''': In which scholars attempt to develop mathematical models of political science phenomena, e.g. voting behavior. Heavily inspired by the success of formal models in economics. There's a lot of logic and math involved here, and some of its major practitioners at Columbia studied math for at least one of their degrees (e.g. professor [[Jeffrey Lax]]).
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Political theory is not listed as an available subfield on the Columbia College [[Bulletin]], but political science majors can make it one of their subfields if they ask nicely.
  
 
[[Category:Political Science Department]]
 
[[Category:Political Science Department]]
 
[[Category:Majors]]
 
[[Category:Majors]]

Revision as of 14:52, 22 February 2009

Political theory is one of the subfields of the Political Science Department. In general, "political theory" can mean one of two related things:

  1. Political philosophy: In which one might study, for example, Core Curriculum classics like Locke and Hobbes as well as more recent thinkers like John Rawls. Related areas of study include legal philosophy and moral philosophy.
  2. Formal theory: In which scholars attempt to develop mathematical models of political science phenomena, e.g. voting behavior. Heavily inspired by the success of formal models in economics. There's a lot of logic and math involved here, and some of its major practitioners at Columbia studied math for at least one of their degrees (e.g. professor Jeffrey Lax).

Political theory is not listed as an available subfield on the Columbia College Bulletin, but political science majors can make it one of their subfields if they ask nicely.