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Epistemological Foundations

IS 901 für Doktoranden (Center for Doctoral Studies in Business)

Allgemeines

HWS 2024
Verantwortlicher Dozent Prof. Dr. Armin Heinzl
Veranstaltungs­art Seminar
Leistungs­punkte 8 ECTS
Sprache Englisch
Prüfungs­form und -umfang 60 % Seminar presentation and slides 40 % Moderation and discussion
Infos für Studierende Registrierung per Mail an heinzlmail-uni-mannheim.de bis Sept 10, 2024
Luise Bühler

Luise Bühler

Ansprech­partner Epistemological Foundations

Bei Fragen wenden Sie sich bitte an Luise Bühler.

Infos zur Veranstaltung

  • Kurzbeschreibung

    Dieser Kurs richtet sich an Doktoranden der Wirtschafts­informatik und anderer betriebs­wirtschaft­licher Disziplinen. Er vermittelt ein grundlegendes Verständnis der Wissenschafts­theorie und ihrer er­kenntnistheoretischen Grundlagen. Der Kurs konzentriert sich zum einen auf jene Konzepte, die Wissen aus Beobachtung, Induktion und Widerlegung von Fakten ableiten. Darüber hinaus werden auch Experimente sowie der neue Experimentalismus berücksichtigt, um auf jene Disziplinen zu verweisen, die sich auf die Bewertung von Artefakten wie z.B. Prototypen und Algorithmen konzentrieren. Die zugrundeliegenden er­kenntnistheoretischen Grundlagen sind somit von zentralem Interesse für jeden Doktoranden, der sich mit der Struktur und dem Verhalten von Informations­systemen und betrieblichen/logistischen Phänomenen beschäftigt. Der Kurs wird in einem interaktiven Stil angeboten. Alle Doktoranden müssen mindestens ein Referat und eine Dokumentation zu einer bestimmten er­kenntnistheoretischen Position halten. Die Zuweisung der Themen erfolgt durch den Dozenten.

  • Kursüberblick und -termine

    Dozent Prof. Dr. Armin Heinzl

    Termine

    Datum Uhrzeit Thema Raum Literatur Moderator
    11.09.2024 14.00 – 15.00 h Kick-Off / Pre-Session: -Introduction of the participants and their research -Introduction of the course objectives and structure -Literature overview -Topic definition for seminar papers Room 214/215, L15, 1–6 (tbc) n.a.
    11.10.2024 14:00 – 17.15 h Positivism: – Science as knowledge derived from the facts of experience – Observation and experiments as practical intervention – Deriving theories from facts: induction – Limitations of positivism Room 214/215, L15, 1–6 (tbc) Chalmers, pp. 1–58 Katharina Dietz
    18.10.2024 14:00 – 17.15 h Anti-Positivism: – Falsificationism, Sophisticated Falsificationism, and its limita-tions -Beyond Chalmers: Interpretativism Room 214/215, L15, 1–6 (tbc) Chalmers, pp. 59–103 Tobias Maier
    25.10.2024 14:00 – 17.15 h Non method-centric stances: – Kuhn’s paradigms – Lakatos’ research programs – Feyerabend’s anarchistic theory of science – Methodical changes in method Room 214/215, L15, 1–6 (tbc) Chalmers, pp. 104–173 Jonas Bauer
    08.11.2024 14:00 – 17.15 h Bridging the past and the future: – The „new“ experimentalism – Why should the world obey laws? – Realism and anti-realism Room 214/215, L15, 1–6 (tbc) Chalmers, pp. 193–246 Mechthild Pieper
    15.11.2024 14:00 – 17.15 Epistemological foundations of informatics and computer sci-ence or Room 214/215, L15, 1–6 (tbc) tja Florian Rüffer
    29.11.2024 (tbc) 14:00 – 17.15 h Final presentations Room 214/215, L15, 1–6 (tbc) Term papers / slides
  • Bewertung und Teilnahme

    Seminar Paper and Presentation

    You are asked to develop a presentation which complements a research topic of your own choice with an epistemological stance that you are supposed to select, integrate and justify. Presentation time will 20 minutes (10 min for the research problem and 10 minutes for the epistemological foundation) plus 10 min discussion. You do not have to write a textual seminar paper but should send your presentation slides to the lecturer at latest by one week before your session. The presentation quality and the quality of the final slides will be used as basis for grading.

    Assignments

    During the first session, topics will be assigned to participating doctoral students. Each student will be asked to elaborate a presentation with regard to the assigned topic which goes beyond the introductory literature as well as to lead the discussion regarding his/her topic. Further details will be provided in the first session.

    Attendance

    Participating students are required to attend all sessions.

  • Literatur

    Chalmers, A.F.: What is this thing called science? 4th edition, Hill and Wang Publisher, 2013.

    The book has been made available. It represents a starting point and will be the basis for the discussion sessions.

    Recommendable is also the following book for further studies:

    Curd, M.; Cover, J.A., Pincock, C.: Philosophy of Science – the Central Issues, 2nd edition, Norton publishers, 2012

    For session 6, the sources will be specified according to the topics selected. The sessions owner is kindly asked to offer suggestions until November 30, 2024.

  • Session moderation

    Every participant will autonomously moderate one session. The objective is to facilitate a class discussion of the respective chapters in the textbook from Alan Chalmers.

    The names are included in the schedule. Every moderator should contact the lecturer at least one week before the final presentation with a proposal of the discussion questions and auxiliary materials.