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.

lecture

written

Introductory literature (extract): - A.F. Chalmers: What is this thing called science? Open University Press, 1999. - H.G. Gauch: Scientific method in practice. Cambridge University Press, 2003. - H. Poser: Wissenschaftstheorie, Reclam 2001. - A. Musgrave: Common sense, science and skepticism. Cambridge University Press, 1993. - C. Bördlein: Das sockenfressende Monster in der Waschmaschine. Alibri, 2002. - C. Sagan: der Drache in meiner Garage, oder die Kunst der Wissenschaft, Unsinn zu entlarven. Knaur, 2000. More references are supplied during the lecture.