Personal Statement:Philosophy, Politics and Economics 16

Philosophy, Politics and Economics Personal Statement

My desire to study your course originates in the opportunity to examine the foundation of our society and the improvement of its current structure. What position is the ideal one for an establishment that governs our lives and if we were blinded by Rawls’ veil of ignorance, how would we organize our society? To execute a sustainable analysis of the world around us, I believe that you need to study the components of our world from a multifaceted perspective. I have experienced a range of perspectives on society and the individual effects of policy due to my upbringing in a segregated city by Swedish standards. In 2010, I decided to act for a more integrated community and hence joined a political party. The recent loss in the national election and being head of political production in the youth branch taught me the issues of gaining votes while strictly following ideology, but also how pragmatism easily can turn into populism. Practical politics did in addition show me the application of economic and political theories and introduced me to the key functions of government.

Motivated by my interest in integrative questions and due to the fact that I am attending a charter school, I recently studied the question of profits in the Swedish educational sector. To get further input than my classes in social studies, I contacted professors at Stockholm School of Economics and engaged in discussions with local politicians. This taught me how to approach a subject in a purely academic way and how to conduct independent research on a real phenomenon. The question of profits in government-funded institutions can partly be boiled down to the boundary between state and civil society. Hobbes’ Leviathan and Locke’s Second Treatise of Government offered helpful theoretical proof on this matter. They also provided excellent evidence of the interaction between philosophy and politics and how older literature can be applied in a modern context.

Researching the educational sector led me to inquiries into why events occur, what knowledge is, and how we can determine if a claim is true. I first critically discussed these issues in my philosophy class with emphasis on the conflicting schools within epistemology. The black swan problem intrigued me. Is it a problem of induction as Hume stated or is the problem too complex to be reduced to a dichotomy of deduction or induction? Popper’s approach to the issue is highly relevant and provides more of a multi-disciplinary perspective on the topic. I find it however hyperbolic to call induction a myth. I am still divided between these arguments, thus I would like to investigate this problem further at university-level.

To further comprehend society, understanding the role of economics is vital. On a micro-level I gained knowledge through my studies of economics and by running my company specialized in IT. This clearly demonstrated the political and economic obstacles businesses face and taught me valuable time-management and organizational skills. By offering accessible IT-services and striving to battle youth unemployment I was rewarded a scholarship for the highly competitive EMAX, the biggest event for young entrepreneurs in the Nordics. On a macro-level, my studies in international economics and of Mankiw’s Principles of Economics provided a holistic approach on economics and led me to investigate the Heckscher-Ohlin model’s impact on LDCs.

When it comes to university life, I will contribute through my previous studies in U.S where I experienced rigorous academics and gained a multicultural perspective. Being captain of my regional football team for the last five years also lets me incorporate leadership and a passion for sports into the community.

Considering my experience of politics alongside an aptitude for critical thinking and interest in economics, I am confident that studying this course at your university would enable me to continue the search of inconvenient answers to burning questions.

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