Syllabus

Title

5959 Logic and Methodology of Social Sciences

Instructors

Dr. Stefan Josko Riegelnik, ao.Univ.Prof. Dr. Gabriele Mras

Contact details

gabriele.mras@wu.ac.at, stefan.riegelnik@wu.ac.at

Type

VUE

Weekly hours

Language of instruction

Englisch

Registration

02/25/20 to 03/01/20
Registration via LPIS

Notes to the course

Subject(s) Bachelor Programs

Logic and Methodology of Social Sciences

Dates

Day	Date	Time	Room
Tuesday	03/10/20	10:30 AM - 01:00 PM	TC.0.03 WIENER STÄDTISCHE
Tuesday	03/17/20	10:30 AM - 01:00 PM	TC.0.03 WIENER STÄDTISCHE
Tuesday	03/24/20	10:30 AM - 01:00 PM	TC.0.03 WIENER STÄDTISCHE
Tuesday	03/31/20	10:30 AM - 01:00 PM	TC.0.03 WIENER STÄDTISCHE
Tuesday	04/21/20	10:30 AM - 01:00 PM	TC.0.03 WIENER STÄDTISCHE
Tuesday	05/05/20	01:30 PM - 04:00 PM	Online-Einheit
Tuesday	05/12/20	01:30 PM - 02:30 PM	Online-Einheit
Tuesday	05/19/20	01:30 PM - 04:00 PM	Online-Einheit
Tuesday	05/26/20	01:30 PM - 04:00 PM	Online-Einheit
Tuesday	06/02/20	01:30 PM - 04:00 PM	Online-Einheit

On this page:

Contact details
Contents
Learning outcomes
Attendance requirements
Teaching/learning method(s)
Assessment
Prerequisites for participation and waiting lists
Availability of lecturer(s)
Readings
Unit details

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Contents

This is an introductory course into the philosophy of science. It deals with questions concerning the nature of scientific inquiries, the potential differences between natural and social sciences, the differences between reasoning based on empirical data and deductive reasoning, as well as it is concerned with the presuppositions of all empirical inquiries. These questions will be pursued in the light of the epistemology of science, i.e. by presenting (1) various views of how scientific knowledge is possible, (2) the most common answers to the question which methods have to be applied in which disciplines and (3) how the adequacy of particulars methods suggested can be accounted for: beginning from Bacon and Newton, via Hume, Mill and Kant to the most prominent approaches in the theory of knowledge and philosophy of science in the 20th century: Logical Empiricism (‚Vienna Circle’), Critical Rationalism (Popper) and Critical Theory (Horkheimer, Adorno).

The course is divided into two parts: (1) a lecture on the history of the theory of knowledge and the philosophy of science (“1. Scientific reasoning in antiquity”, “2. Scientific revolutions and the search for a method in the empirical sciences”, “3. Philosophy and science or the question of the presuppositions of all empirical observation”, “4. 19^th centuries debates about methods – and the development of a “new”, mathematical logic”, “5. Theories of confirmation in the 20^th century and the question of the reducibility of all sciences to the natural sciences”, “6. The debate about the special ontological status of the social sciences” -- 50 % of the course) that will provide the background for part (2) that is devoted to the assessment of the validity of arguments (“Logic-Trainer”: 25 % of the 2^nd part of the course) and the discussion and application of methods of scientific reasoning on the basis of examples from the social sciences (25 % of the 2^nd part of the course).

The lecture part will begin on the 10^th of March and will end with the 21^st of May (an audio version of all the five lectures will be made available on Learn@WU). The final exam is on the 24^th of June 2020.

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Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes in general:

(i) to develop an appreciation for the scientific enterprise as such, to become familiar with the history of methodological thinking, (ii) to develop the deductive and analytical skills needed in scientific reasoning to enhance the ability to approach questions in the empirical sciences by raising questions about the adequate methods, (iii) to gain knowledge of the debates about the potential difference between natural and social sciences

The learning outcomes in particular of part (2) are:

(i) to gain knowledge of the structure of an argument, (ii) to construe premisses and valid conclusions in deductive syllogistic arguments, (iii) to be able to dentify the specific character of deductive arguments, (iv) to understand the limitations concerning the possibility of justifying the results of empirical inquiries (v) to apply various methods of empirical reasoning in the light of these limitations, (vi) to understand the difference in the ontological status of the social sciences, (vi) to become familiar with various views about the goal of the social sciences.

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Attendance requirements

This is a course that is divided in a lecture (50%) and a “Uebung”, i.e. a part in which we will repeat, discuss, and seek to apply what has been presented in the lecture.

For the lecture-part of this course NO attendance is required (the lecture will be recorded and made available on Learn-WU).
The “Uebungs”-part (50% of the whole course) requires 100% attendance.

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Teaching/learning method(s)

Lecture, “Logic-trainer”, Online-script, reading of papers in class, + application (attempts) of acquired knowledge, ++ discussion of most recent scientific questions and/or problems;

to avoid any further redundancy see class structure above;

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Assessment

Requirements and Assessment:

1. final exam: MPC (multiple-choice-test) and some open questions for the 1^st part (ca. 20 questions, 50 % of the grade) of this course at the end of the term (in the last week of June). There will be a second date (presumably in early September).

2. MPC exam with the material from our “Logic Trainer” (part A of the 2^nd part of this course: 25% of the grade) during the term (in May).
30 questions: 0 - 9 questions: 5, 10 - 14 questions: 4; 15 - 20 questions 3, 21 - 26: 2; 27 - 30: 1

3. Class contribution (30%), questions to selected passages of the texts we read (20%), a short presentation of selected topics (50%) (part B of the 2^nd part of this course: 25% of the total grade)

Every assessment part of this course has to be positive.

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Prerequisites for participation and waiting lists

Knowledge in philosophy is welcome but not required.

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Readings

Title:

See the material in Learn-WU

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Availability of lecturer(s)

Per email (gabriele.mras@wu.ac.at), phone, and in my office hours on Thursday, 12.00 - 13.00.
My phone number is: 31336-4257

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Unit details

Unit	Date	Contents
1	10.03.2020	1. “Scientific Reasoning in Antiquity: Aristotle‘s Logic, the Stoa, and the School of Baghdad“ (Lecture) Readings: Aristotle: The Beginnings of Logic, Topics, Posterior Analytics; in: Copi Irving M. / Gould James A. (eds.): Readings on Logic; MacMillan Publishing Company, New York 1972, p. 8-16. Lukasiewicz, J.: Elements of the system and theses of the system; in: Aristotle´s Syllogistic from the standpoint of modern formal logic, Oxford: Clarendon Press 1951, p. 1-42. Geach, P.T.: Definition; in: Reason and Argument, Berkeley, Los Angeles: University of California Press 1976, p. 38-46. Fisher, Alec: Appendix. Elementary formal logic; in: The logic of real arguments, Cambridge University Press 1988, p. 140-149. Rovelli, C.: Aristotle's Physics: a Physicist's Look, 2014, p. 1-11. Read, S.: Aristotle's Theory of the Assertoric Syllogism, 2017, p. 1-26. Aristotle's Syllogistic, p. 1-9. Logic-trainer: Aristotle and Plato in: "History of Ideas"
2	17.03.2020	2. „The Middle Ages and the ‚Scientific Revolution‘ — Scholasticism and the search for a method in the empirical sciences“ (Lecture) Readings: Bacon, F.: The New Organon; Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press 2000. Shapin, S.: Epistemological Decorum: The Practical Management of Factual Testimony; in: A Social History of Truth. Civility and Science in Seventeeth-Century England; Chicago, London: The University of Chicago Press 1994, p. 193-242. Newton, I.: The motion of bodies; in: The Principia Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, Oakland, California: University of California Press 1999, p. 79-89. Biography Galileo Galilei Bacon, Kepler, Kopernikus and Galileo Galilei in: "History of Ideas" Observing Facts in: "Question about the objectivity observation and its reliability"
3	24.03.2020	3. Philosophy and science or the question of the presuppositions of all empirical observation (Lecture) Readings: Hume, D.: Sceptical Doubts concerning the Operations of the Understanding; in: Hume, D.: An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding; LA Salle (Illinois) 1990. p. 71-83. Kant, I.: Introduction; in: Critique of Pure Reason, New York: The Macmillan Company, 1922, p.1-12. Seigel, J.: Dejection, insight, and self-making: Coleridge and Mill; in: The Idea of the Self Thought and Experience in Western Europe since the Seventeenth Century, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2009, p. 427-468. Hume and Kant in: "History of Ideas"
4	31.03.2020	4. „19^th centuries debates about method and the classification of the sciences — the idea of ‚social sciences’ and development of the a ‚new‘ mathematical logic“ (Lecture) Readings: Boole G.: The Mathematical Analysis of Logic. Being an Essay towards a calculus of deductive reasoning, Philosophical Library New York, Cambridge 1847, p. 1-82. Frege, G.: § 1-11; in: Angelelli, I.: Begriffsschrift und andere Aufsätze Zweite Auflage mit E. Husserls und H. Scholz Anmerkungen, Hildesheim/Zürich/New York: Georg Olms Verlag 2014, p. 1-19. Reck, E. H.: Frege, Dedekind, and the Origins of Logicism; in: History and Philosophy of Logic, Taylor Francis 2013, p. 242-265. Reck, E. H: Dedekind`s Contributions to the Foundations of Mathematics; in: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2008, p. 1-14. Sluga, H.: Frege Against the Booleans; in: Notre Dame Journal Logic, Volume 28, Number 1, January 1987, p. 80-98. Dethier, C.: William Wheweel's Semantic account of Induction.
5	Last lecture: 21.04.2020	5. „Theories of confirmation in the 20^th century and the question of the reducibility of all sciences to the natural sciences“ (Lecture) Readings: Carnap, R.: What is Logical Analysis of Science? in: Hanfling, O. (ed.): Essential Readings in Logical Positivism; Oxford 1981, p. 112-129. Popper, K.: The Logic of Scientific Discovery; London-New York 2004, p. 3-34, p.54-56, p. 57-73, p. 76-85, p. 88-94, p. 264-275. Carnap and Popper in: "History of Ideas" 6. The debate about the special ontological status of the social sciences Readings: Adorno, T.W.: Positivist Dispute in German Sociology; London: Heinemann Educational Publishers 1975. Popper, K. R.: The Logic of the Social Sciences; in: Adorno, T.W. (ed.): The Postivist Dispute in German Sociology, London: Heinemann Educational Publishers 1975, p. 87-122. Adorno, T. W.: Lecture twelve and thirteen; in: Introduction to Sociology, Cambridge: Polity Press 2000, p. 99-116. Adorno, T. W.: Lecture nine, eleven, twelve and thirteen; in: Philosophical Elements of a Theory of Society 1964, Cambridge: Polity Press 2019, p. 70-78, 89-117. McIntyre, L.C.: The Role of Laws in Scientific Understanding: The Case of Evolutionary Biology; in: Laws and Explanation in the Social Sciences Defending a Science of Human Behavior, United States of America: Westview Press 1996, p. 83-118. McIntyre, L.C.: Readings in the Philosophy of Social Science, Cambridge: MIT Press 1994. Gerring, J.: Causation; in: Social Science Methodology. A Unified Framework, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2012, p. 197-255. Montuschi, E.: Introduction: Objectivity, Science and Social Science; in: The Objects of Social Science, London, New York: Continuum 2003, p. 1-20. Cartwright, N.; Montuschi, E.: Ontological Issues; in: Philosophy of Social Science A New Introduction, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2014, p. 85-144.
6	05.05.2020	Übung (Gabriele M. Mras) Logic and argumentation theory see "Logic-trainer" in: "Syllogisms"
7	12.05.2020	Übung (Gabriele M. Mras) Logic and argumentation theory see "Logic-trainer" in: "Syllogisms" MPC (multiple-choice-test) Attendance is required
8	19.05.2020	Übung (Stefan Riegelnik) Different approaches concerning the question of the distinction between the natural and social sciences Readings: Kincaid, Harold: Philosophical Foundations of the Social Sciences (parts). Rosenberg, Alexander: Philosophy of Social Science (parts). James, Susan: The content of social explanation (parts). Taylor, Charles: Social theory as practice Adorno, T.W.: Positivist Dispute in German Sociology; London: Heinemann Educational Publishers 1975.
9	26.05.2020	Übung (Stefan Riegelnik) Individualism vs. holism in the social sciences Differences in the outcome of the applications of these competing approaches Readings: Kincaid, Harold: Reduction, Explanation, and Individualism Epstein, Brian: A Framework for Social Ontology Hoover, Kevin: Idealizing Reduction: The Microfoundations of Macroeconomics
10	02.06.2020	Übung (Stefan Riegelnik) World Café Demarcation line between the sciences Empirical investigations in the social sciences (quantitative and qualitative investigations) Models in the social sciences Social sciences vs. pseudo sciences Readings: Villavicencio, Marcos: Four Examples of Pseudoscience Popper, Karl: The Logic of Scientific Discovery. London-New York 2004 (parts) McIntyre, Lee: Complexity and Social Scientific Laws. Lave, Charles & March, James: An Introduction to Models in the Social Sciences. 1993 (parts) Risjord, Mark: Philosophy of Social Sicence. 2017 (parts)

Last edited: 2020-05-07

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