Philosophy, Politics, and Law Certificate
The Philosophy, Politics, and Law (PPL, pronounced “People”) certificate provides students with the opportunity to learn about the philosophical foundations, history, and social practice of human rights and liberties in modern democracies. Students are expected to gain a deep understanding of how our legal and political institutions have functioned in the past, how they currently function, and how they ought to function, as well as how citizens might play a meaningful role in them.
While philosophical analysis focuses on what constitutes legitimate political authority and its exercise over individual behavior, one also need to understand how human social and political life actually works. Conversely, one’s grasp of political, legal, and social behavior is greatly enriched by a conceptual and foundational perspective on the norms of behavior. Political Science, philosophy, and other disciplines such as history, sociology, or economics are thus perfectly complementary when it comes to advancing one’s understanding of our legal and political institutions.
Students who successfully complete the PPL certificate will gain substantial knowledge of democratic political ideas, practices, and institutions from multiple disciplines as well as solid skills in reading, writing, oral communication, and analytic thinking. This is a useful background for students planning to pursue graduate degrees in law, philosophy, political science, or history. It is also a good springboard for careers in business, public service, international affairs, journalism, and teaching.
The PPL certificate requires students to take a total of 27 credits (9 courses), including 9 credits (3 courses) in philosophy, 9 credits (3 courses) in political science, and 9 credits (3 courses) in either history, sociology, or economics. In philosophy and political science, it is required that at least 1 course (3 credits) be upper-division in each discipline. The certificate will be easy to complete for students who decide to major or minor in either philosophy or political Science, or both.
Courses taken to fulfil the PPL certificate also satisfy a wide range of general education requirements, including E, H, S, X and Y.
To stay in the program, students must maintain an overall G.P.A. of 3.0. All courses chosen for the certificate must be completed with a grade of C or better.
The certificate is jointly administered by the Department of Philosophy, the Department of Political Science, and the Pre-Law Program. Primary contacts are Prof. Soazig Le Bihan (soazig.lebihan@umontana.edu) and Prof. Ramona Grey (ramona.grey@umontana.edu), Chair of the Political Science Department.
Students interested in pursuing the PPL certificate must receive formal approval from one of the primary contacts listed above.
General Certificate Requirements
Additional requirements for graduation can be found on the Degree/Certificate Requirements for Graduation page.
Unless otherwise noted in individual program requirements, a minimum grade point average of 2.00 in all work attempted at the University of Montana-Missoula is required for graduation. Please see the Academic Policies and Procedures page for information on how your GPA is calculated.
Courses taken to satisfy the requirements of a major, minor, or certificate program must be completed with a grade of C- or better unless a higher grade is noted in the program requirements.
POST-SECONDARY CERTIFICATE - PHILOSOPHY, POLITICS, AND LAW
- This certificate requires a GPA of 3.0.
Course Requirements
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Philosophy | ||
| Complete three of the following core ethics courses. At least one of the course taken must be upper-division (300-level or above). | 9 | |
| Introduction to Philosophy | ||
| Introduction to Ethics | ||
| Intro Ethics and Environment | ||
| Intro to Political Ethics | ||
| Moral Philosophy | ||
| Intro to Logic: Deduction | ||
| History of Ancient Philosophy | ||
| History of Modern Philosophy | ||
| Historical Figures in Phil | ||
| Law and Morality | ||
| Law and Discrimination | ||
| Ethics of Climate Change | ||
| History of Moral and Political Philosophy | ||
| Contemporary Moral/Political Theory | ||
| Justice | ||
| Iris Murdoch's Ethics | ||
| Rousseau | ||
| Topics in Value Theory | ||
| Philosophy of Law | ||
| Political Science | ||
| Complete three of the following courses. At least one of the course taken must be upper-division (300-level or above). | 9 | |
| Intro to American Government | ||
| Intro to Comparative Government | ||
| Intro to International Relations | ||
| Intro to Political Theory | ||
| Experimental Offering: Comparative Politics | ||
| Global Environmental Politics | ||
| American Political System | ||
| American Political Thought | ||
| Courts and Judicial Politics | ||
| State Formation | ||
| Experimental Offering: Comparative Politics | ||
| International Law & Organization | ||
| Politics of Social Movements | ||
| Political Psychology | ||
| Utopianism and its Critics | ||
| Modern Political Theory | ||
| American Constitutional Law | ||
| Civil Rights | ||
| Politics of the World Economy | ||
| History, Sociology, and Economics | ||
| Complete three of the following courses: | 9 | |
| Black: From Africa to Hip-Hop | ||
| Issues in Economic Development | ||
| Labor Economics | ||
| Money and Banking | ||
| Public Finance | ||
| Game Theory | ||
| Industrial Organization | ||
| Economics of the Environment | ||
| American History I | ||
| American History II | ||
| Honors American History I | ||
| Honors American History II | ||
| Early American Republic | ||
| Birth of Modern US | ||
| America in Crisis | ||
| U.S. History: WWII to Present | ||
| U.S. in the 1950s | ||
| U.S. in the 1960s | ||
| African American History to 1865 | ||
| African-American Struggle for Equality | ||
| The American South | ||
| Native American History to 1830 | ||
| Native American History from 1830 | ||
| Women in America: Colonial Period to Civil War | ||
| Women in America: From the Civil War to the Present | ||
| Alcohol in American History | ||
| American Constitutional History | ||
| History of American Law | ||
| The Black Radical Tradition | ||
| Prayer & Civil Rights | ||
| Freedom, Slavery, Equality: Early American Perspectives | ||
| Western Civilization I | ||
| Western Civilization II | ||
| Honors Western Civilization I | ||
| Honors Western Civilization II | ||
| Terrorism: Violence in the Modern World | ||
| Democracy: Ancient to Modern | ||
| Introduction to Criminology | ||
| Race, Gender & Class | ||
| Criminal Justice System | ||
| Social Stratification | ||
| Sociology of the Family | ||
| Sociology of Organizations | ||
| Social Psychology and Social Structure | ||
| Sociology of Punishment | ||
| Sociology of Corrections | ||
| Seminar in Crime & Deviance | ||
| Deviant and Criminal Behavior | ||
| Capstone: Inequality and Social Justice | ||
| Sociology of Poverty | ||
| Prostitution & Human Trafficking | ||
| Classical Sociological Theory | ||
| Total Hours | 27 | |