From the following reading list candidates have to choose three texts (one text from each Part) and study them in order to prepare for the interview. The interview will be based on the issues raised in three chosen texts. Candidates should be able to analyze those texts, particularly to refer to the main arguments they contain as well as interpret them.
Part I – Fundamentals of Politics
- Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, fragment: Pericles’ Funeral Oration (full text) available online
- Plato, Republic, Book VII (Cave Allegory), available online
- Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince, Machiavelli, chapters 14-19, available online
Part II – Society and Risk
- J. O. Zinn (2020) “Understanding Risk-taking” Critical Studies in Risk and Uncertainty. Palgrave Mcmillan (Chapter 1), available here
- Nick Bostrom, Milan M. Ćirković, Global Catastrophic Risks, OUP: 2008 (Chapter 6. Observation selection effects and global catastrophic risks, Milan M. Ćirković and Chapter 7. Systems-based risk analysis, Yacov Y. Haimes), available here
- Luciano Floridi, The Fourth Revolution: How the infosphere is reshaping human reality, OUP: 2014. (Chapter 4. Self-Understanding: The Four Revolutions and Chapter 8. Politics: The Rise of the Multi-Agent Systems), available here
Part III – Society and Economy
- Mazzucato, Mariana. 2018. The Value of Everything. Making and Taking in the Global Economy. London/New York: The Penguin Press (Introduction and Chapter 1), available here
- Thaler, Richard H., Sunstein Cass R. 2008. Nudge. Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness. New Haven & London: Yale University Press (Chapters 3 and 4), available here
- Kate Crawford, Atlas of AI: Power, Politics, and the Planetary Costs of Artificial Intelligence, Yale UP: 2021 (Introduction, Chapter 6. State and Conclusion. Power), available here
