261019 Complexity (GradS) (SoSe 2010)

Complexity is an important issue in many different scientific areas, from mathematics to physical, biological and social sciences. Computer programs are said to be complex; the climate, organisms, diseases and societies are said to be complex. Socially important problems, such as the latest economical crisis, are said to be explainable, predictable and thus possibly preventable only on the basis of complex system thinking. Other important concepts are related to the concept of complexity: systems, hierarchy, modularity, self-organisation, feedback, emergence, evolution, contingency, computability, uncertainty, non-linearity, and chaos, to name but the most important ones. Even though complexity is not yet a frequent keyword in standard philosophical encyclopaedias, discussions about what complexity means, what it tells us about the ontology and methods of science and how science policy should adapt to the phenomena related to complexity exist. We will follow these debates as they developed in the respective fields.

This seminar is intended to be a research seminar. It will have a reading and a research part. After a short introduction, we will read classical papers on the issue (e.g. Warren Weaver (1948), Herbert A. Simon (1962), etc.). We will then jump ahead to contemporary authors explicitly addressing complexity from the point of view of philosophy of science (e.g. William Bechtel, Sandra D. Mitchell, William C. Wimsatt). Further background reading will enable students to select special topics for intense study, either individually or in groups. These special topics will be presented twice, in the middle and in the end of the seminar. Progress of the research will be structured and supervised during small research group sessions. In the first very short presentation, the outlines of the topic and a first list of references related to it have to be presented. The second presentation shall describe the main findings and a critical stance towards them.

The aim of the seminar is thus not only to learn something about complexity, but to learn how to find one's way through a loosely structured area of study, given a topic of one's choice, and to do so with the help of professional databases and other methods to develop a research topic.

Requirements for participation, required level

Diese Veranstaltung richtet sich in erster Linie an Masterstudierende im Fach Philosophie. BA-/MA ed.-Studierende der Philosophie oder andere Studierende können nach persönlicher und rechtzeitiger Rücksprache mit dem Veranstalter zugelassen werden. Im Bedarfsfall kann die Veranstaltung (mit 2 LP) für ein BA-/MA ed.-Hauptmodul angerechnet werden.

Bei Fragen und Zweifel in Bezug auf die Voraussetzungen der Teilnahme sind Sie herzlich eingeladen, Frau Kronfeldner persönlich anzusprechen oder Ihre Fragen per email zu stellen.

Bibliography

Course material will be provided (print-copy or online).

Recommended reading for preparation: Mitchell, Sandra D. (2009). Unsimple Truths: Science, Complexity and Policy. Chicago: Chicago University Press.