Philosophy for Researchers

SCIENCE AS PROCESS AND PERSPECTIVE
A crash course in the philosophy of science for researchers

“Chance favours the prepared mind.”
Louis Pasteur, Lecture, University of Lille (7 December 1854)

What is the philosophy of science? What is the theory of knowledge? How does it relate to research practice? What is it good for? Why should I care? Will my research profit from knowing about it, or is it (as Richard Feynman quipped) as useful to scientists as ornithology is to birds?

This course has an interactive, practice-oriented, and participant-driven format. It is designed for students and researchers in the formal, natural, and social sciences (at any stage of their career) who are interested in modern philosophy of science.

The course consists of six modules. For each module, participants are asked to watch a number of brief online lectures, which will be the basis of moderated discussions (online or on site). 

You can watch an older version of the lectures here.

The aim of the course is not to make you an expert philosopher. It is also not a workshop on ethics (although we will inevitably touch on ethical questions). Instead, this course will induce (or seduce?) you to reflect on your own research questions, on concepts you may take for granted, on the methods you use to achieve your research goals, and on the trustworthiness and scope of the results and insights you generate. Such reflection will empower you to peek beyond your own horizon, and beyond that of your research community and society. It will enable you to detect biases and gaps in the knowledge of your field. It will provide you with a more realistic vision of which research questions and approaches are likely to be fruitful, and which ones are likely to be barren. It will give you a fresh perspective, and some useful philosophical tools that may come in handy on your research expedition into the unknown. In brief, reflecting on what you are doing will make you a better scientist.

The course is structured into six half-day modules (moderated plenary & small-group discussions for up to 20 participants):
Module 1: Introduction: knowledge explanation, and understanding.
Module 2: Naïve realism: the “standard view” of science and knowledge.
Module 3: Scientific perspectivism: beyond objectivism and constructivism.
Module 4: Science as process: scientific progress and epistemic appraisal.
Module 5: Science as deliberation: the social dimension of doing research.
Module 6: Your science: discussion of students’ questions. 

This workshop requires no specific philosophical background knowledge. What it does require is an open and curious attitude, and the willingness to question your own assumptions and premises. Participants are expected to actively engage in the discussions.

I offer this course as a package in an institutional setting. In the future, it will also be offered on a payment-per-participant.
This course is now part of the graduate education programs of IST Austria and CRI/LPI Paris.

To get a quote and to book, contact me here.

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