Philosophy of Science and its Relevance to Research Design

In this three-day short course you will have an opportunity to explore a set of perennial issues in the philosophy of science and to relate them to your own evolving research projects. Our time together is too short to cover every relevant topic from the philosophy of science, so we will focus on a pair of issues that are extremely consequential for a variety of research projects: the distinction between a mind-world dualist and a mind-world monist approach to the production of knowledge, and the distinction between a phenomenal and a transfactual account of the relationship between knowledge and empirics. (Do not worry if you do not yet know what these terms mean. Part of the point of the course is to help you to learn them, and to think through their implications.) We will also be talking about issues of causation and interpretation across different methodologies.

This course consists of nine hours of virtual classroom time, divided into three days. Six of those hours will take the form of real-time synchronous seminar discussions and conversations. All synchronous sessions will take place from 16:00-18:00 CEST, which is 10:00 12:00 EDT and 14:00-16:00 GMT. The remaining three of those course hours will take the form of pre-recorded voice-overslides lectures—one for each day—which should be viewed before each day’s synchronous session. The lectures provide historical and philosophical context for the day’s readings. Note also that although I come from the field of international studies and some of the pieces we will read make reference to and are grounded in that field, the issues we will be exploring are in no way limited to or unique to international studies.

Dates

The course takes place online on 11-13 October 2021 (for times see text above).

About the Lecturer

Patrick Thaddeus Jackson is Professor of International Studies in the School of International Service, and also Director of the AU Honors program. He previously taught at Columbia University and New York University. His research interests include culture and agency, international relations theory (particularly the intersection of realism and constructivism), scientific methodology, the role of rhetoric in public life, civilizations in world politics, the sociology of academic knowledge, popular culture and IR, and the formation of subjectivity both in the classroom and in the broader social sphere.

*Please note that the registration period has closed.