390045 DK PhD-M: Philosophy of Science (2012S)

This course gives both a theoretical overview on the foundations of philosophy of science and a hands-on introduction into practicing science and knowledge creation. In the first part we explore what science is, what its goals are, what it does, how it works, and what are its basic assumptions about knowledge, methods, the world, etc. We take a closer look at the processes involved in developing scientific knowledge/models; we follow the path from the phenomenon of interest, via the processes of observation, measuring, interpreting data, applying statistical methods, forming hypotheses, constructing scientific models/theories, making predictions and experimental designs, and finally "manipulating" the phenomenon of interest in an experiment (or simulation). These knowledge processes are reflected from the perspective of your respective discipline and research questions. We will discover that it is not really clear what the epistemological status of the resulting (scientific) knowledge is and-as a consequence-we will have to question classical concepts of science, such as that science gives us a true and objective picture of the world, that science is independent of observer and cultural influences, etc. Alternative concepts, such as Kuhn's scientific paradigms, the constructivist perspective, and others will be discussed as possible ways out.
The second part of this course addresses a crucial process in science: the generation of (radically) new knowledge. Students will conduct a practical knowledge creation project in interdisciplinary teams. The goal of this project is to achieve an expertise in state-of-the-art knowledge creation techniques (and their theoretical background), such as dialogue, reflection, world café, making explicit implicit assumptions, U-theory/presencing, different modes opf deep observation, conducting generative interviews, deep knowing/understanding, etc. This pert of this course aims at practically experiencing this socio-epistemological process/technology of generating (radically) new (scientific) knowledge in a interdisciplinary and collaborative context.
The course is designed in such a way that there will be enough space for reflection of your research projects and your questions concerning.
Guiding Questions
What is science? How does it work? Why are we doing science?
What is a/the scientific method?
What is the difference between scientific knowledge and other forms of knowledge?
How do we come from an observation to a scientific model?
What can a scientific theory/model tell us about the world? What are its strengths and its limits?
What is (radically) new knowledge? How does (radically) new knowledge come into being?
What is knowledge construction in science? How do we collaboratively construct knowledge?
What is knowledge work and what are knowledge technologies? What are main tools in this field and how do they work?

Grading
presentation in the first part of the module
presentation of project(plan) & prototype
final reflection/e-portfolio work
You have to be present for all face-2-face and team coaching sessions.
Academic Honesty
You are expected to be familiar with university policies on plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty. By registering for this course/module you declare that all your work (presentations, submissions, papers, etc.) is your own work and that, to the best of your knowledge and belief, it contains no material previously published or written by another person nor material which to a substantial extent has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at this or any other educational institution. In addition, you certify that all information sources and literature used are indicated in your work.
Plagiarism or cheating will result in a failing grade for this course; offenders may be subject to further administrative sanctions.