VB008 Philosophy of Science II

Faculty of Informatics
Spring 2010
Extent and Intensity
2/0. 2 credit(s) (plus extra credits for completion). Recommended Type of Completion: k (colloquium). Other types of completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
prof. PhDr. Ing. Miloslav Dokulil, DrSc. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
prof. Ing. Václav Přenosil, CSc.
Department of Machine Learning and Data Processing – Faculty of Informatics
Contact Person: prof. PhDr. Ing. Miloslav Dokulil, DrSc.
Timetable
Wed 10:00–11:50 B204
Prerequisites
VB007 Philosophy of Science I
It is not necessary to pass the preceding course ("Philosophy of science I") to participate in a colloquium; for an exam a presentation of corresponding activities in both parts (I, II) is strongly recommended.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 50 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/50, only registered: 0/50, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/50
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 21 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
This part of lectures substantially considers the problem of evolution and the dramatic developmnet of science in 20-th century, including biotechnologies and questions of cosmology.
Syllabus
  • Evolutionary theory in the history of human thinking. Darwin. Neodarwinism. From DNA to biotechnologies.
  • The way to the deductive-nomological and inductive-statistical modellings.
  • Individualism, holism and the problems of being objective in social sciences.
  • Inductivism as a problem. Conventionalism.
  • New paradigms on the horizon? (From Einstein to Kuhn?)
  • The "Why?"-question. The logic of questions. - Description as against explanation. - The pragmatics of explanation.
  • Some general questions of the theory of science from the beginning of the Eighties. Some views concerning reductionism.
  • Probabilistic causality. Explanation by means of laws?
  • Artificial intelligence.
  • Sociobiology.
  • Theory vs. laws? The importance of deduction. Is the structure of the world not causal, all the same? - The "theory of all"?
Literature
  • Literature (books, etc.) is being assigned during the lectures.
Teaching methods
Successive explanation based on the curriculum (slides, texts to be accessed electronically); the lesson is usually introduced by some updating (news from the world od science, anniversary).
Assessment methods
3 credits after both regularly attending the classes and submitting 2 essays, and a successful presentation in a group discussion about the themes of those essays (2 to 3 students each time); or, as another possibility, 2 credits after both regularly attending the classes and submitting 1 essay.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2003, Spring 2004, Spring 2005, Spring 2006, Spring 2007, Spring 2008, Spring 2009, Spring 2011, Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2023.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2010, recent)
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