College of Social Sciences and International Studies
Knowledge and History: Theories of Scientific Change
Module PHL2100 for 2017/8
Module PHL2100 for 2017/8
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Undergraduate Module Descriptor
PHL2100: Knowledge and History: Theories of Scientific Change
This module descriptor refers to the 2017/8 academic year.
Module Aims
- To develop a critical, nuanced, and self-confident understanding of key concepts, theories and schools within twentieth-century epistemology.
- To raise critical awareness of the contested status of knowledge claims, including scientific ones, and of the importance of cultural, socio-economic and political factors that shape knowledge.
- To interrogate difficult philosophical books for nuances and layers of meaning, styles and strategies of reasoning, as well as tensions and contradictions.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
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Module-Specific Skills | 1. demonstrate a foundational knowledge of the main positions in twentieth-century epistemology with regard to the problem of induction, the nature of experiment, and the notion of scientific progress; 2. evaluate these positions and to understand and analyse the arguments that have been raised for and against them; |
Discipline-Specific Skills | 3. interpret, and discuss difficult philosophical texts; 4. philosophical style and develop an awareness of the dynamics of scientific knowledge production; and develop an awareness of the dynamics of scientific knowledge production. |
Personal and Key Skills | 5. construct, express, present and discuss ideas and arguments, both of your own and of others, according to academic standards; and 6. demonstrate the ability to analyse received wisdom as well as the ability to avoid rash conclusions. |