Introduction to Research and Epistemology

Code Cours
2223-ESPOL-METH-EN-4001
Langue d'enseignement
FR, EN
Ce cours apparaît dans les formation(s) suivante(s)
Responsable(s)
Massimilliano NICOLI
Période

Présentation

Objectifs

The course aims to provide an introduction to epistemological thinking about the conditions and the modalities of scientific knowledge production, in particular regarding social and political objects. How political science can be defined as a (social) science? Which filiations or antagonisms have historically been established between humanities and social sciences on the one hand, and hard sciences on the other? What are the political and social issues involved in epistemology? The course will focus on such questions, by following, as the main theme of the sessions, an aller-retour between political science and politics of science, which will imply, at the same time, to politically question the production of scientific truth.

Présentation

After an introductory session in which the general theme and the philosophical filiation of social sciences will be presented and shortly discussed, the first part of the course will focus on the history of the fundamental epistemological models mainly concerning hard sciences, as well as on their criticism. The second part of the course will focus on the question of the epistemology of and in social sciences, its political stakes, and the procedures of objectification of social facts and subjectification of knowledge actors.


Course Plan


Session 1 Introduction : Politics of Science, Politics of Truth



  • Della Porta, D. et Keating, M. 2008, “How many approaches in the social sciences? An epistemological introduction”, in Approaches and Methodologies in the Social Sciences. A Pluralist Perspective, New York, Cambridge University Press, pp. 19-39.



Session 2 Positivism and the French School of Sociology



  • Comte, A. 1875 [1851], “General View of Positivism. Chap. 1: Intellectual Character of Positivism” (excerpt), in System of Positive Polity. First volume, London: Longmans, Green and Co, pp. 25-45.

  • Durkheim, E. 1982 [1894], “Chapter 1: What is a Social Fact” (pp. 50-69), in The Rules of Sociological Method, New York: The Free Press.



Session 3 Vienna Circle and Falsifiability



  • Hempel, C.G. 1942, “The Function of General Laws in History”, Journal of Philosophy, 39(2): 35-48.

  • Popper, K.R. 2002 [1935], “A Survey of Some Fundamental Problems”, in The Logic of Scientific Discovery, London and New York: Routledge, pp. 3-26.



Session 4 Historicizing Epistemology



  • Kuhn, T.S. 2012 [1962], “Introduction : a Role for History”, in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Chicago and London: Chicago University Press, pp. 1-9.

  • Bird, A. 2008, “The Historical Turn in the Philosophy of Science”, in S. Psillos et M. Curd (eds.), The Routledge Companion to the Philosophy of Science, London and New York: Routledge, pp. 67-77.



Session 5 For and Against Method



  • Motterlini, M. 1999, “Introduction: A Dialogue”, in Lakatos, I. and Feyerabend, P., For and Against Method, Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, pp. 1-18.

  • Feyerabend, P. 1993 [1975], “Introduction” (pp. 9-13), “Chapter 1” (pp. 14-19) and “Chapter 15” (pp. 146-158), in Against Method, London and New York: Verso.



Session 6 Understanding and Interpreting the Social World



  • Schütz, A. 1954, “Concept and Theory Formation in the Social Sciences”, Journal of Philosophy, 51(9): 257-73.




Session 7 French Historical Epistemology and Marxism: Bachelard, Canguilhem, Althusser



  • Canguilhem, G. 2014 [1966], “Norm and average”, in The Normal and the Pathological, New York: Zone Books, pp. 151-72.

  • Althusser, L. 2005 [1965], “The Process of Theoretical Practice”, in For Marx, London and New York: Verso, pp. 182-193.



Session 8 Politics of Truth 1



  • Foucault, M. 2004 [1997], “Lecture One. January 7th, 1976”, in Society Must Be Defended. Lectures at the Collège de France. 1975-76, New York: Picador, pp. 1-21.

  • Foucault, M. 2014 [2012], “Lecture Five. February 6th, 1980”, in On the Government of the Living. Lectures at the Collège de France. 1979-1980, London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 93-102.



Session 9 Politics of Truth 2



  • Latour,B. and Woolgar, S. 1986, “Facts and Artefacts”, in Laboratory Life. The Social Construction of Scientific Facts, Princeton: Princeton University Press,

Modalités

Modalités d'enseignement

This course will meet once weekly. Attendance is mandatory. Active participation to the discussions during the course is crucial. Beyond the lectures, students are expected to carefully read the texts suggested in the syllabus and write a two pages reading note concerning at least 5 sessions texts.

Students will be graded on the basis of:

  • the production of the reading notes (30%)
  • final written exam (70%)
Évaluation

Ressources