1
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07.10.2021: 18:00-21:00 |
Intro into class, administrative details, course overview; We will "meet" via Zoom. |
2
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14.10.2021: 18:00-21:00 |
SELF-STUDY A) LOGICAL EMPIRICISM AND FACTUAL NECESSITY 1. The idea of confirmation vs. the aim of proving a theory to be true. - The "Vienna Circle" and the principle of verifiability.
- What is verifiability? What are singular consequences of hypothetical statements? What is meant by "reduction of general sentence to observational sentences"?
- What are the basic properties of observation sentences or "protocol sentences"?
2. The distinction between meaningful and meaningless sentences. - Rudolf Carnap's criticism of metaphysics.
- The "protocol sentence-debate" in the mid-30ies of the 20th century.
Readings: - Carnap, R.: The Vienna Circle. in: Schilpp P. A. (Ed.): The Philosophy of Rudolf Carnap, Cambridge University Press 1887, p. 20-34.
- Carnap, R.: What is Logical Analysis of Science? in: Hanfling O. (Ed.): Essential Readings in Logical Positivism; Oxford 1981, p. 112-129.
- Carnap, R.: The Unity of Science; Bristol 1995, p. 42-52.
- Carnap, R.: On Protocol Sentences. in: Noûs, Vol. 21, No. 4, Dedication: To Alberto Coffa (Dec., 1987) Blackwell, pp. 457-470.
- Neurath, O.: Protokollsätze; in. ders.: Erkenntnis Band 3, 1932, S. 399-211.
- Schlick,M: The Scientific Conception of the World: The Vienna Circle, in: Sarkar, Sahotra, (Ed.): The Emergence of Logical Empiricism: from 1900 to the Vienna Circle, New York : Garland Publishing 1996, p. 321-340.
- Stroud, B.: Causation; in: Engagement and Metaphysical Dissatisfaction. Modality and Value; Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press 2011, p. 20-58.
- Passmore, J: Logical Positivism; in: P. Edwards (Ed.).: The Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Vol. 5, New York: Macmill 1967, p. 52-57.
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3
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21.10.2021: 18:00-21:00 |
SELF STUDY B) THE PRINCIPLE OF FALSIFIABILITY 1. Karl Popper's principle of falsifiability. - Falsifiability in contrast to verifiability.
- What is the problem of the "demarcation principle" as suggested by the "Vienna Circle"?
- What is modus tollens?
2. The Problem of The Empirical Basis - What are "basic sentences"?
- The distinction between justified, true, verified, falsified, verifiable, falsifiable, corroborated scientific statements.
- The theory / observation dichotomy.
- Is Popper's method of “falsifiability” really so much better than “verifiability”?
C) „CONSTRUCTIVE EMPIRICISM“ and „INSTRUMENTALISM“ Readings: - Popper, K.: Extracts from: The Logic of Scientific Discovery; London, New York 2004, p. 3-34, p. 54-56, p. 66-67, p. 76-85, p. 88-94, p. 264-275.
- van Fraassen, B.: The Pragmatics of Explanation; in: The Scientific Image, Oxford: Oxford University Press 1981, p. 112-157.
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4
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23.10.2021: 12:00-15:00 |
SELF STUDY D) "LAWS" AND "CAUSE" Readings: - Davidson, D.: Causal Relations; in: Davidson, D.: Essays on Actions and Events; Oxford University Press Oxford 1980; p. 149-162.
- Lewis, D.: Causal Explanation; in: Philosophical Papers. Volume II; Chapter 22; Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press 1986; p. 214-240.
- Lewis, D.: Causation; in: The Journal of Philosophy, Volume 70, Issue 17, Seventieth Annual Meeting of the American Philosophical Association Eastern Division, 1973, p. 556-567.
- Mill J.S.: Of the law of universal Causation; in: Mill J.S.: A System of Logic Ratiocinative and Inductive. Routledge, London, Book III, Chapter V, p. 327-334, p. 388-406.
- Mill J.S.: Of Abstraction, or the Formation of Conceptions; in: Mill J.S.: A System of Logic Ratiocinative and Inductive. Liberty Fund, Canada, Book III, Chapter V, p. 649- 662, p.735-830.
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5
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28.10.2021: 18:00-20:00 |
MC Test |
6
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11.11.2021: 18:00-21:00 |
OVERVIEW OF PART B Readings: |
7
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18.11.2021: 18:00-21:00 |
Application 1: THE AUSTRIAN AND THE CHICAGO SCHOOL ATTENTION: we will meet in person at WU. Readings: - Friedman, M.: The Methodology of Positive Economics; in: Essays in Positive Economics, Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1966, p. 3-16, 30-43.
- Kirzner, I. S.: Method, Process, and Austrian Economics, Lexington books 1983.
- Pavlik, J.: Austrian Economics and the Problems of Apriorism; in: Electronic Journal for Philosophy, 2006, p. 1-73.
- Smith, B.: Aristotle, Menger, Mises: An Essay in the Metaphysics of Economics; in: History of Political Economy, Annual Supplement to
vol. 22 (1990), p. 263-288. - Knight, F. H.: What is Truth" in Economics? in: Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, Vol. 48, No. 1 (Feb., 1940), p. 1-32.
- Knight, F. H.: Origins of the Chicago School of Economics, in: Economic Insights, p. 1-4.
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8
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18.11.2021: 18:00-21:00 |
Application 2: THE STATE OF ECONOMICS AS A SCIENCE - Stiglitz, J.: Information and the Change in the Paradigm in Economics, Prize Lecture, 2001, p. 1-69.
- Sen, A.: Human Rights and Capabilities; in: Journal of Human Development, Vol. 6, No. 2, July 2005.
- Sen, A.: The Possibility of Social Choice, Nobel Lecture, Cambridge, 1998, p. 178-215.
- Blaug, M.: The Methodology of Economics, Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1980.
- Blaug, M.: Ugly Currents in Modern Economics in: U. Mäki, ed.,: Fact and Fiction in Economics, 35–36. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2002.;
- Hausman, D.: John Stuart Mill's Philosophy of Economics; in: The Philosophy of Science Association, The University of Chicago Press, Vol 48, No 3 (Sep., 1981), p. 363-385.
- Hausman, D.: Introduction, Capital Theory and Classical Value Theory, Inexact Laws; in: Capital, Profits, and Prices, New York: Columbia University Press, 1981, p. 2-21, 120-139 .
- Hausman, D.: Inexactness in economic science? Karl Popper and falsificationism in economics, Imre Lakatos and economic methodology, Appendix; in: The Inexact and Separate Science of Economics, Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1992, p. 123-149, 172-204, 281-329.
- Caldwell, B.: Logical Postivism, Robbins versus Hutchison - The Introduction of Positivism in Economic Methodology, Friedman's Methodological Instrumentalism; in: Beyond Positivism: Economic Methodology in the Twentieth Century, London: George Allen and Unwin, 1982, p. 11-18, 99-138, 173-188.
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9
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25.11.2021: 18:00-21:00 |
ATTENTION: We will meet in person at WU Application 3: THE AUSTRIAN AND THE CHICAGO SCHOOL - ALTERNATIVES - Piketty T.: Two Worlds; Inequality of Labor Income; Inequality of Capital Ownership; in: Capital in the Twenty- First Century, Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press 2014, p. 194-266.
- Wolff, R.P.: The Future of Socialism; in: Seattle University Law Review, Vol. 35, p. 1403-1428.
- Wolff, R.P.: A Critique and Reinterpretation of Marx's Labor Theory of Value; in: Philosophy & Public Affairs, Vol. 10, No. 2 (Spring, 1981), pp. 89-120
- Wolff, R.P.: Methodological Individualism and Marx: Some Remarks on Jon Elster, Game Theory, and Other Things; in: Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 20, No. 4 (Dec., 1990), pp. 469-486
- Wolff, R.P.: New Departures in Marxian Theory, New York: Routledge 2006.
- Aldred, J.: This pandemic has exposed the uselessness of orthodox economics; in: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jul/05/pandemic-orthodox-economics-covid-19
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