Sociology, Philosophy & Ethics of Research
Week 1
Lecture - History of Philosophy of Science
Philosophy of Science: epistemology vs. metaphysics
- The Greeks
1. Plato: a world divided into two world
→ the world of ideas, and sensory perceptions
→ real knowledge can only be obtained by thinking: abstract forms
→ not by sensory perceptions
→ observation is secondary
2. Aristotle
→ the essence of things
→ observation is crucial: empirical enquirement
→ careful, but passive observation (don’t interfere)
→ inductive method
→ main aim of science are the rules of nature to guide our world around us
- Islamic Contribution
1. Ibn-Sina
2. Ibn al-Haytham
→ Aristotelian view by doing experiments
3. Al-Biruni
→ repetitive experiments
- Scientific Revolution
1. Copernicus
→ rejection of everything that has been taking for granted in the Greek period
→ paradigm shift
2. Vesalius
→ empiricism in anatomy
3. Newton
→ single set of laws that can describe things of others
- 17th century: Rationalists vs. Empiricists
1. Francis Bacon: empiricist
2. René Descartes
→ mechanical view of physics and philosophy
→ laws behind moving parts → not observable
3. Huygens: empiricist
- 18th century: Skepticism
1. Hume
→ how can we know something we cannot observe
→ are past experiences translatable to the future?
→ problem of causality: cause and effect do not exist independently of
us
→ problem of induction: there is no logically inherent reason to believe
something in the past will also happen in the future (only made up in
our minds) → all knowledge is fundamentally unsure
,Implications
1. demarcation between science and non-science (or pseudo-science)
2. the nature of science
3. the consequences for the authority of science
→ e.g. covid-debate or climate-debate
Seminar - Open Sciences
Open the Social Sciences (Wallerstein)
Chapter 1
- Since 16th century, truth/knowledge
→ Newton
→ Descartes/dualism
- Victory of natural sciences at the beginning of the 19th century.
→ Universities, natural sciences, tensions between ‘sciences’
→ Birth of social sciences, positivism, Comte
→ Positivism, political science this process takes place at same time as colonialism
→ disciplines, areas of knowledge, epistemologies, categories, methods
Chapter 2
- three major changes (in world political structure)
1. US superpower
2. Baby boom
3. University goes global
→ Consequences of these changes
1. Validity of the distinctions among the SS
2. Degree to which the heritage is parochial
3. Utility and reality of the distinction between the ‘two’ cultures.
Chapter 3
- disciplines have controlled the career patterns of the scholars
→ doctorates have been in a specific discipline
- disciplinary structures have covered their members with protective screen and have
been wary of crossing disciplinary lines
- eternal battle for resources allocation
- not reconfiguration of the organizational boundaries, but reconfiguration of larger
structures (faculties)
- there has been a growth of institutes of advanced studies
- electronic development question the current structure of universities
- methodological issues around the new construct
1. rewriting history in the name of the existing power structure (a.k.a.
disenchantment of the world)
→ no scientist can ever be extracted from his/her physical and social context
2. time and space seen as merely unchangeable realities, however are internal
variables shaped by our own social context
3. the artificial separations between the political, economic and social / cultural.
- looking beyond the state as analytical building block, however don’t lose yourself in
deterministic universalism
→ neglection of the international arena and the complexity on the local level
- the debate for social science to be more intercultural
, → acception of alternative set of values → plurality of the world view
Chapter 4
- science was historically constructed as a form of knowledge and then divided into
standard disciplines
- world developments after WWII raised questions about intellectual division (of labour)
and therefore reopened the issue of organizational restructuring
- disciplines serve a function: disciplining minds and channeling scholarly energy
- antinomies in the social sciences:
1. past vs. present
2. idiographic vs. nomographic
- situatedness of scholars
- recommendations
1. the expansion of institutions, within or allied to the universities, which would
bring together scholars around a specific urgent theme
2. the establishment of integrated research programs within universities
structures that cut across traditional lines, have specific intellectual objectives
and a funds for a limited period of time
3. the compulsory joint appointment for professors
4. joint work for graduate student
Week 1
Lecture - History of Philosophy of Science
Philosophy of Science: epistemology vs. metaphysics
- The Greeks
1. Plato: a world divided into two world
→ the world of ideas, and sensory perceptions
→ real knowledge can only be obtained by thinking: abstract forms
→ not by sensory perceptions
→ observation is secondary
2. Aristotle
→ the essence of things
→ observation is crucial: empirical enquirement
→ careful, but passive observation (don’t interfere)
→ inductive method
→ main aim of science are the rules of nature to guide our world around us
- Islamic Contribution
1. Ibn-Sina
2. Ibn al-Haytham
→ Aristotelian view by doing experiments
3. Al-Biruni
→ repetitive experiments
- Scientific Revolution
1. Copernicus
→ rejection of everything that has been taking for granted in the Greek period
→ paradigm shift
2. Vesalius
→ empiricism in anatomy
3. Newton
→ single set of laws that can describe things of others
- 17th century: Rationalists vs. Empiricists
1. Francis Bacon: empiricist
2. René Descartes
→ mechanical view of physics and philosophy
→ laws behind moving parts → not observable
3. Huygens: empiricist
- 18th century: Skepticism
1. Hume
→ how can we know something we cannot observe
→ are past experiences translatable to the future?
→ problem of causality: cause and effect do not exist independently of
us
→ problem of induction: there is no logically inherent reason to believe
something in the past will also happen in the future (only made up in
our minds) → all knowledge is fundamentally unsure
,Implications
1. demarcation between science and non-science (or pseudo-science)
2. the nature of science
3. the consequences for the authority of science
→ e.g. covid-debate or climate-debate
Seminar - Open Sciences
Open the Social Sciences (Wallerstein)
Chapter 1
- Since 16th century, truth/knowledge
→ Newton
→ Descartes/dualism
- Victory of natural sciences at the beginning of the 19th century.
→ Universities, natural sciences, tensions between ‘sciences’
→ Birth of social sciences, positivism, Comte
→ Positivism, political science this process takes place at same time as colonialism
→ disciplines, areas of knowledge, epistemologies, categories, methods
Chapter 2
- three major changes (in world political structure)
1. US superpower
2. Baby boom
3. University goes global
→ Consequences of these changes
1. Validity of the distinctions among the SS
2. Degree to which the heritage is parochial
3. Utility and reality of the distinction between the ‘two’ cultures.
Chapter 3
- disciplines have controlled the career patterns of the scholars
→ doctorates have been in a specific discipline
- disciplinary structures have covered their members with protective screen and have
been wary of crossing disciplinary lines
- eternal battle for resources allocation
- not reconfiguration of the organizational boundaries, but reconfiguration of larger
structures (faculties)
- there has been a growth of institutes of advanced studies
- electronic development question the current structure of universities
- methodological issues around the new construct
1. rewriting history in the name of the existing power structure (a.k.a.
disenchantment of the world)
→ no scientist can ever be extracted from his/her physical and social context
2. time and space seen as merely unchangeable realities, however are internal
variables shaped by our own social context
3. the artificial separations between the political, economic and social / cultural.
- looking beyond the state as analytical building block, however don’t lose yourself in
deterministic universalism
→ neglection of the international arena and the complexity on the local level
- the debate for social science to be more intercultural
, → acception of alternative set of values → plurality of the world view
Chapter 4
- science was historically constructed as a form of knowledge and then divided into
standard disciplines
- world developments after WWII raised questions about intellectual division (of labour)
and therefore reopened the issue of organizational restructuring
- disciplines serve a function: disciplining minds and channeling scholarly energy
- antinomies in the social sciences:
1. past vs. present
2. idiographic vs. nomographic
- situatedness of scholars
- recommendations
1. the expansion of institutions, within or allied to the universities, which would
bring together scholars around a specific urgent theme
2. the establishment of integrated research programs within universities
structures that cut across traditional lines, have specific intellectual objectives
and a funds for a limited period of time
3. the compulsory joint appointment for professors
4. joint work for graduate student
