Philo­sophy of Sci­ence

Course content

Philosophy of knowledge is the backbone of all scholarly work because it is critically concerned with the conditions for saying that some statements are more correct than others. In other words, it provides the basis for calling some knowledge 'scientific,' 'true,' or 'correct' because the philosophy of knowledge offers the fundamental rules by which to judge and evaluate so-called knowledge claims and to work analytically with your data. Hence, by taking this course, students will be equipped to analytically identify how different ideas about the world and about knowledge lead to different ways of understanding what true knowledge is and how it relates to business knowledge.

This allows students to become curious about the ambiguity involved when establishing scholarly arguments, improving their ability to understand and criticize other knowledge claims. This is relevant not only in academic work but also in knowledge-intensive work contexts where business knowledge is placed in a broad context, and different kinds of statements must be dissected.

The course is an introduction to the philosophy of science. It will provide knowledge and tools to identify the general paradigms that have informed the social sciences and their consequences for handling social issues. As such, it relates to the other courses in the program to provide the meta-theories for the courses and the 2nd year project. Students will not only engage with meta-theoretical assumptions but also with how to identify these assumptions in their own and others' work.

The course will critically assess how different perceptions of the world affect how we describe and explain it. The course will show how the different perspectives are informed by meta-theoretical assumptions and a different understanding of what science is. While the course should be seen in relation to all the courses in the program, the exam is specifically related to the '2nd-year project'. During the lectures and class work, we will discuss themes related to other business and society courses in the program. Still, the overall thrust of the course is aimed toward a general introduction to the philosophy of social science.

This course aims to provide the student with

(1) a general insight into the different conceptions of science that have informed social sciences to this day and their historical embeddedness;

(2) knowledge about different perceptions of the society and the individual, rooted in the ontological and epistemological assumptions of different philosophy of science traditions;

(3) knowledge about the conceptual and methodological consequences of applying different philosophy of science traditions in project work and the ability to integrate it into one's own project work.