LFU:online

Basics of scientific methodology and skeptical inquiry for practical application in research and everyday life.

What is this thing called science? How do we gain knowledge? A brief history of theory, philosophy and methodology of science; from Pyrrhon via Ockham, Galileo and Popper to Feyerabend. Deduction, induction, theory, falsification; structures and paradigms; Bayesianism and modern experimentalism. Science as a collection of methods to ensure not to delude yourself and others while testing hypotheses; 1000 pitfalls for deception of yourself and others: cognitive and perceptual delusions, confirmation bias, linear thinking, wrong causalities, argumentative traps, number and statistics blindness. Code of best scientific practice, ethics in research; recognizing and avoiding scientific misconduct (falsification, fabrication and plagiarism). Superstition, para science and pseudo science; the method of skeptical inquiry into extraordinary claims; problems of argumentation; and more.

Seminar

Immanent assessment: presentation of a talk, active participation in discussions.

Literature will be suggested in the course (first hour).

This course is intended for the "generic competences" part in the PhD curriculum. (Only either the lecture on the winter term OR the seminar in the summer term may be credited, but not both in combination.)