Prospectus

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Philosophy of Science and the City

Course
2018-2019

Admission requirements

This course is available for students in the BA Urban Studies only.

Description

Urban Studies has a strong interdisciplinary profile: it combines theories and methods of natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities. Successful work in Urban Studies requires students to understand the differences between sciences of these families, their strengths and weaknesses, what formats of knowledge they deliver, and how they can be integrated. The course “Philosophy of Science” is the venue within the BA programme in which students explore these basic methodological issues. It opens with a comparison of the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities: we discuss the ways in which these disciplines engage with their objects and the forms of knowledge that they produce. Later, the course examines key problems of present-day philosophy of science. These include observation, theory, explanation, law, falsification, paradigm, revolution, and interpretation. The course helps students of Urban Studies recognize, appreciate, and assess contributions made by different scientific and academic disciplines to our understanding of a complex reality.

Course objectives

The student who has successfully completed the course is able to:

  • Describe and discuss typical features of the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities; elements of the historical development of these disciplines; characteristics of the methods that they pursue and the knowledge that they yield; the differences between them;

  • Apply basic knowledge on key concepts in present-day philosophy of science, modern debates in philosophy of science, and important contributions to philosophy of science.

  • Assess contributions to Urban Studies from the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities, and sketch ways to combine and integrate these contributions.

Timetable

The timetable is available on the BA Urban Studies website

Mode of instruction

  • Lectures

  • Work groups

Course Load

Total course load is 5 EC (1 EC = 28 hours), equal to 140 hours, devoted to:

  • Attending lectures: 26 hours

  • Taking part in work groups (4 x 2 hours): 8 hours

  • Studying the prescribed literature and preparing for exams: 106 hours

Assessment method

All learning objectives in this course will be assessed through two subtests:

  • Midterm examination: written examination with closed questions (multiple choice) and short open questions, ranging over the lectures and literature of the first period.

  • Final examination: written examination with closed questions (multiple choice) and short open questions, ranging over the lectures and literature of the entire course, with an emphasis on the second period.

Weighing:

  • Midterm examination: 20%

  • Final examination: 80%

Resit:

Written examination with closed questions (multiple choice) and short open questions, ranging over the lectures and literature of the entire course.

Blackboard

Blackboard will be used for access to the prescribed literature.

Reading list

A selection of articles and other literature items. Details will be placed on Blackboard.

Registration

Enrolment through uSis is mandatory.
General information about uSis is available on the website

Registration Studeren à la carte and Contractonderwijs

Not applicable.

Contact

Prof. dr. James W. McAllister

Remarks

No remarks.