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Instructors: Prof. Dr. Alexander Ruser
Event type:
Seminar
Org-unit: Graduate School | ZUGS
Displayed in timetable as:
Wiss.Theorie
Hours per week:
2
Credits:
4,0
Location:
Campus der Zeppelin Universität
Language of instruction:
Englisch
Min. | Max. participants:
3 | 10
Course content:
We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology (Carl Sagan)
In the past decades and in particular in the last few years epistemological and philosophical question about the social status of scientific knowledge have made a rather spectacular transition from academic hallways and lecture theaters to frontpages, social media debate talk shows and occasional the streets. Climate change deniers, anti-vaccination campaigns and the rise of "alternative facts" put questions of "what constitutes reliable scientific knowledge" and "how we should deal with the rejection scientific knowledge claims" at the center of public debate. At the same time, researchers themselves must clarify the epistemological positions to clarify the methodological implications and the limitations of their studies.
The course thus offers an opportunity to engage with central theories and problems of epistemology and philosophy of science. The course content will help the participants to elucidate the epistemological and philosophical foundations of their own research projects. At the same time participants will be given the opportunity to reflect upon and to discuss the impact and limits of scientific (and in particular) social science research on public debates.
Educational objective:
The course will introduce key epistemological perspectives such as realism, relativism and debates their relation to contemporary debate about feminist and post-colonial epistemologies. Subsequentially, participants will engage with crucial topics of philosophy of science including the truth value of scientific statements, the logical status of theories, empirical "data" and facts and the general notion of "progress" in the (social) sciences. Moreover, the participants will be given the opportunity to engage with the conceptual foundations of current debates about "post-truth" and "alternative facts" and will thus have the chance to relate philosophical problems and contemporary political challenges.
Further information about the exams:
Examination: Active Participaction & Short Essay (2-3 pages)
Mandatory literature:
Haraway, Donna (1988) "Situated Knowledge: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Perspective" Feminist Studies 14(3): 575-599
Okasha, Samir (2002) Philosophy of Science. A very short introduction. Oxford University Press
Bueno, Otávio (2016) "Epistemology and Philosophy of Science" Oxford Handbook of Philsophy of Science
Poovey, Mary (1998) A History of the Modern Fact. The University of Chicago Press
Ruser, Alexander (2021) Hijacking the Postmodern Project: Post-Truth and the Need to De-politicize Epistemological Dispute, Social Epistemology
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