ESF:BPH_ZAFI Fundamentals of argumentation - Course Information

BPH_ZAFI Fundamentals of argumentation and ethics

Extent and Intensity

2/0/0. 4 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
In-person direct teaching

Teacher(s)

Mgr. et Mgr. Tomáš Ondráček, Ph.D. (lecturer)

Guaranteed by

Mgr. et Mgr. Tomáš Ondráček, Ph.D.
Department of Business Management – Faculty of Economics and Administration
Contact Person: Vlasta Radová
Supplier department: Department of Business Management – Faculty of Economics and Administration

Timetable

Tue 14:00–15:50 P101, except Tue 17. 9., except Tue 5. 11.

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 200 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 142/200, only registered: 3/200, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/200

fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with

• Business Management (programme ESF, B-EKM)
• Business Management (programme ESF, B-PEM)

Course objectives

Specific objectives:
- Students will be able to substantiate their statements, opinions, or positions, both in professional and practical life.
- Students will distinguish reasonable arguments from unreasonable, manipulative, or otherwise problematic persuasive practices.
- Students will be able to recognize complex problems and work with them
- Students will be able to detect pseudo-problems arising from misunderstanding or having no real impact.
- Students will distinguish what science is and what is pseudo-science or is different from science.
- Students will consider and work with ethical issues in practice and theory concerning science, organizations, and society.
Overall, students will be able to take a critical science-based approach to decision-making in theory and practice within the framework of ethical principles and individual values.
General objectives of the course:
- the cultivation of critical (argumentative) thinking,
- acquisition of basic concepts in the field of argumentation and ethics,
- the cultivation of theoretical thinking,
- the cultivation of scientific thinking,
- cultivation of ethical thinking.

Learning outcomes

After completing the course, the student will be able to:
- clearly formulate the reasons for their claims, i.e., present arguments for her/his thesis;
- evaluate the arguments of others;
- distinguish between what there is, what exists, and what is not;
- evaluate how something can be known;
- distinguish between what is science and what is not science;
- describe fundamental problems in science and pseudo-science;
- discuss possible approaches to assessing whether something is good;
- discuss and evaluate possible ethical issues of research;
- discuss and evaluate possible ethical issues in the corporate context (discrimination, coercion, …).

Syllabus

• Thematic plan of lectures:
• Block A - What are your reasons for this? (argumentation)
• 1. What are arguments and argumentation? (basic concepts of argumentation theory)
• 2. Does this necessarily follow? (formal arguments and logical errors)
• 3. Does it make sense? (informal argumentation and argumentation schemes)
• 4. Is this a good reason? (argumentation in context, argumentation errors, and evaluation of arguments)
• 5. How to say it? (the rhetorical side of communication)
• Block B - What is it about? (philosophy in the corporate environment)
• 6. What is it? What can be known? (ontology, definition of individual, group, enterprise, epistemology, knowledge, group knowledge, organizational knowledge, sources of knowledge)
• Block C - Is everything just physics or stamp collecting? (philosophy of science)
• 7. What is science? What is not science?(demarcation of science, observation, experiment, justification and explanation, pseudoscience, parascience, conspiracy and immunization strategies)
• Block D - Is it good? (ethics)
• 8. What exactly is good? (basic terms and concepts of ethics)
• 9. Good for one or all? (society and ethics)
• 10. Can we study hamsters on cocaine? (research ethics)
• 11. What can be sold and how? (business and organizational ethics)

Literature

required literature
• Speciální číslo o argumentaci online časopisu Filosofie Dnes: Filosofie Dnes, 2018 [online]. 10(2) [2021-14-05]. 1804-0969. Dostupné z: https://filosofiednes.ff.uhk.cz/index.php/hen/issue/view/23.
• Business ethics and care in organizations. Edited by Marianna Fotaki - Gazi Islam - Anne Antoni. New York, NY: Routledge, 2020, 1 online. ISBN 9780429029943. URL info
• CHATFIELD, Tom. Critical thinking : your guide to effective argument, successful analysis & independent study. First edition. Los Angeles: Sage, 2018, vii, 314. ISBN 9781473947139. info
• The Sage handbook of marketing ethics. Edited by Lynne Eagle - Stephan Dahl - Patrick de Pelsmacker - Charles R. Taylor. Los Angeles: SAGE Reference, 2020, 1 online. ISBN 9781529736786. URL info

recommended literature
• Profit, prudence and virtueessays in ethics, business and management. Edited by Samuel Gregg - James Stoner. Exeter: Imprint Academic, 2009, 1 v. (unpa. ISBN 9781845402884. info
• The Routledge companion to philosophy in organization studies. Edited by Raza A. Mir - Hugh Willmott - Michelle Greenwood. First published. London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2016, xxxii, 615. ISBN 9780415702867. info
• PHILLIPS, Robert. Stakeholder theory and organizational ethics. 1st ed. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler publishers, 2003, xii, 200. ISBN 1576752682. info
• POPPER, Karl R. Conjectures and refutations : the growth of scientific knowledge. 1st ed. London: Routledge Classics, 2002, xiii, 582. ISBN 0415285933. info
• SIMS, R. R. Ethics and corporate social responsibility: why giants fall. 1st ed. Westport: Praeger, 2003, 318 pp. ISBN 0-275-98039-1. info
• WEBER, Max. Autorita, etika a společnost : pohled sociologa do dějin. Translated by Jan J. Škoda. 1. české vyd. Praha: Mladá fronta, 1997, 294 s. ISBN 8020406115. info

Teaching methods

The class consists of lectures joined with discussions.

Assessment methods

To pass the course, the student must do the following:
1. Join a team
- Within 3 weeks of the start of the semester, students will be able to form their own teams of two or three people and report to the course instructor using the tool specified in the interactive syllabus.
- In the fourth week, students who do not join any of the teams will be randomly assigned to teams of three and notified by the end of that week.
2. Submit the team agreement
- By the end of week 6, each team, using just one of the team members, will submit a team agreement following the template given in the interactive curriculum to the submission room in the information system linked in the interactive curriculum.
3. Selection of material for analysis
- By the end of week 8, teams will select one sample investment proposal for their analysis from the list given in the interactive outline.
- The method for developing the analysis will be listed in the interactive outline and will be the focus of a section of one of the lectures.
4. OPTIONAL Students
- By the end of week 11, teams can consult their analysis of the investment proposals.
5. Submission of the investment proposal analysis
- By the end of week 12, and no later than 10 days before the exam, each team will submit, with the help of just one of the team members, an investment proposal analysis to the submission room in the information system linked in the interactive syllabus.
6. Signing up for the exam
- By the end of week 12, teams will sign up for the exam dates listed in the IS.
- Only one team and all team members will sign up for a single date.
7. Tryout
- Within 5 days before the exam, students will receive feedback on their work in the manner specified in the interactive syllabus.
- The feedback will also include a suggested assessment.
- As part of the exam, students will defend their analysis of the selected investment proposal and its ethical evaluation.
- The exam will also examine other topics that have been covered in the course and are relevant to the thesis.
- Students' assessment of the final exam may differ from the proposed assessment of the team analysis.
Any copying, recording, or leaking tests, use of unauthorized tools, aids, communication devices, or other disruptions of objectivity of exams (credit tests) will be considered non-compliance with the conditions for course completion and a severe violation of the study rules. Consequently, the teacher will finish the exam (credit test) by awarding a grade "F" in the Information System, and the Dean will initiate disciplinary proceedings that may result in study termination.
If the student enrols in the course during their trip abroad, the same conditions apply, i.e., the student must write a seminar paper on the chosen topic and then take an oral examination. It is advisable to contact the instructor at the beginning of the semester to agree on the topic of the paper, study materials, and the course of completion.

Language of instruction

Czech

Further comments (probably available only in Czech)

Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
General note: Přednášky jsou dostupné online a ze záznamu.
Information on course enrolment limitations: max. 20 cizích studentů; cvičení pouze pro studenty ESF

Teacher's information

If the student enrolls in the course during their trip abroad, the same conditions apply, i.e., the student must write a seminar paper on the chosen topic and then take an oral examination. It is advisable to contact the instructor at the beginning of the semester to agree on the topic of the paper, study materials, and the course of completion.

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