Knowledge, Science, and Technology

MA course Knowledge, Science and Technology (Spring 2025)

Course responsible: Sabrina Ebbersmeyer

Teachers:

Part 1: Sabrina Ebbersmeyer

Part 2: Darío Gonzales

Part 3: Søren Gosvig Olesen

Part 1: New approaches to understanding science and nature: Methods, Mechanization and Men’s power over nature

In the first part, we focus on the so-called Scientific Revolution of the Early Modern period. One decisive event was the replacement (or transformation) of Aristotelian natural philosophy and the establishment of the new philosophy of nature. We will study this by revisiting the Aristotelian paradigm informed by an ideal of knowledge as contemplation, a general use of logic, a causal epistemology, and an approach to natural knowledge relying on direct and naïve observation. The new philosophy of nature radically redefined the concept of knowledge: Experiments and various empirical methods replaced theoretical speculation and mathematics became a central tool for the investigation of nature. Scientific knowledge was now directly linked to technical devices and the mechanicals arts gained more and more in significance. We will study this by reading, among others, Francis Bacon, Novum Organum (1620), René Descartes, Discourse on method (1637), Robert Boyle, The origin of forms and qualities (1666) and contemporary critics of this approach to nature, in particular Anne Conway, The principles of the most ancient and modern philosophy (1690).

Part 2: Modern science and technology: Phenomenological perspectives

In the second part of the course, we turn to the phenomenological tradition and its development in the twentieth century, by discussing two central and interrelated issues: a) the reconsideration of the role of philosophy in response to the advances of the particular sciences and technology, against the background of a critical interpretation of the naturalistic ontologies associated to the project of modernity; b) the need of a philosophical reflection on technology guided by questions concerning human reality and its historical constitution/transformation. We look at Edmund Husserl’s “Philosophy as a Rigorous Science” (1911) and excerpts from The Crisis of European Sciences (1936) to continue with Martin Heidegger’s texts “The Age of the World Picture” (1938), “The Question Concerning Technology” (1954), and excerpts from Contributions to Philosophy (first published 1989). We complete this section of the course by reading the paragraphs of Hannah Arendt’s The Human Condition (1958) devoted to “world alienation" and a series of related articles.

Part 3: French philosophy of science

A successful definition of philosophy must take into account that philosophy already exists, as a corpus, as a tradition; and a successful definition of the philosophy of science must take into account that the sciences also already exist. In France, discussions of the philosophy of science begin with the facticity of science and not with an ideal of science. Scientific development is seen as the incarnation of theory, an incarnation consisting of laws, instruments, etc. With this relationship to science, philosophy points towards a view of the history of science as more than just an empirical discipline. By virtue of this view of history, the philosophy of science remains philosophy without degenerating into a sociology of knowledge or the like. The course will review the philosophy of science in France since Duhem, via Meyerson, Koyré and Bachelard up to Foucault, with the main emphasis placed on the view of history. Knowledge of French will be an advantage, but the starting point will be texts that are also available in Danish translation: Gaston Bachelard, Nej'ets filosofi, Hans Reitzel, Kbh. 1999; Alexandre Koyré, Tankens enhed, Hans Reitzel, Kbh. 1998; Søren Gosvig Olesen (red.), Epistemologi, Rhodos, Kbh. 1983.

Exams. In the 2022 Philosophy Curriculum, the second term involves portfolio exams. Below are explained the two ways in which such a portfolio exam can be passed: either as ordinary participation (A) or as a participation with a teaching or presentation assignment (B).

A. Ordinary course participation Part 1: Questions are asked in all three parts of the course, with the student answering questions in two different parts. The student submits two assignments of 3-4 standard pages answering questions asked in two of the three parts of the course. One of the assignments can be further developed and used in the final exam paper. The course responsible sets three deadlines for submission (the last one must be at least 14 days before the last class). If student meets these deadlines, he or she will receive written feedback on his or her assignments. It is not compulsory to hand in the assignments before the deadline, but it is compulsory to hand in and have both answers approved in order to pass the exam. Part 2: No later than 14 days before the last class, the student must submit a problem statement, a 1-2 synopsis (1-2 standard pages, in prose) and a syllabus for the final examination paper to the examiner. All must be approved by the examiner for the student to pass the exam. Part 3: The student may submit a preliminary version of the final written exam paper of maximum 8 standard pages for written or oral feedback from the examiner, according to agreement between the student and the examiner. This must be done at least 14 days before the deadline for the final submission. The student loses the right to feedback if the deadline is not met, but it is not compulsory to hand in the provisional version. Part 4: Final exam: The student submits the final written exam paper of 11-15 standard pages (excluding bibliography).

B. Course participation with teaching or dissemination assignment Part 1: A teaching assignment consists of 2-6 hours of teaching with an external partner; a dissemination assignment consists of 5-15 hours of work with an external partner. An external partner is, for example, a secondary school, a college, an NGO, a public or private company or organisation. If a teaching or dissemination assignment is carried out, a form must be used indicating the external partner and providing evidence that the assignment took place between 1 February and 20 May. The agreement with an external partner must be sent to the course responsible by 15 April (please use the form). Part 2: The student sends a debriefing to the course responsible at the latest in the last week of the course. In the case of a teaching assignment, a debrief consists of 1/2-1 page description of the teaching assignment, the literature or theory reviewed, and brief pedagogical reflection. In the case of a dissemination assignment, a debriefing consists of 1/2-1 page description of the dissemination task, as well as a short reflection on the competences used. Part 3: The student may submit a preliminary version of the final written exam paper of maximum 8 standard pages for written or oral feedback from the examiner, according to agreement between the student and the examiner. This must be done at least 14 days before the deadline for the final submission. The student loses the right to feedback if the deadline is not met, but it is not compulsory to hand in the provisional version.

Part 4: The student submits a written exam paper of 11-15 standard pages (excluding bibliography)

For en dansk version af prøvebestemmelser se under Eksamen - prøveformsdetaljer