Introduction to the Philosophy of Science and Research Methodology for Computer Scientists, vettig13

General information

1 Jan:

17 dec: Here is some more info about the A-exam: A-exam

12 Dec:

23 nov: Information about the essay is now published. (See below)

Course literature:

Samir Okasha: Philosophy of Science, A Very Short Introduction. Oxford 2002. ISBN 978-0-19-280283-5.

Teachers

Lecturer:

Johan Karlander, johank@nada.kth.se, 790 6340

Linda Kann

Short description of the course

All students at a technical university are confronted with science. It is a bit surprising that they so seldom are given the opportunity to reflect on what science really is. This course is intended to provide an introduction to a more general perspective on science. We will address questions such as:

What is science?
Are there methods common to different sciences?
What distinguishes the scientific approach ?
What distinguishes the scientist's social role ?
What ethical problems might a scientist be facing ?

We will familiarize ourselves with the classical theory of science and go through some history of science. We will then make a more detailed study of mathematics and computer science. To some extent , the course will be philosophical in nature, but we will, where possible try to show how general scientific principles can be used to solve some concrete problems.

Teaching method

The course consists of 12 x 2- hour lectures and 10 x 2- hour seminars. The idea is that 15 to 20 students will participate in the seminars. At the seminars, we discuss science issues and articles. All students are expected to participate in the discussions.

Examination

The course has 3 sections :

TEN1 - Tentamen, 3,0 hp, graded: A, B, C, D, E, FX, F
HEM1 - Övningsuppgifter, 1,5 hp, graded: P, F
HEM2 - Uppsats, 1,5 hp, graded: P, F

Exam

There are two exams; one for grade E and one for higher grades. The first, but not the second is mandatory. The exam for E-grade can be done by answering control questions after each lecture. If you have missed some lectures you can complement by doing an exam at the end of the course. This exam is done in writing with opportunity to make oral supplementation afterwards. You will get one or two questions for each lecture you have missed. You should prepare yourself by reading the lecture notes. The exam takes up to 30 minutes.

The exam for higher grades is done orally. Answer questions in groups of up to four people. The requirements are:

C-level: you should be able to describe in detail the content of the lectures and seminars. You prepare best by reading the lecture notes, materials from the seminars and the course book. .

A-level: you should be able to apply everything you've learned in the course of new unexpected issues. You prepare best by reading lecture notes, materials from seminars and the course book.

Övningsuppgifter

This part of the course consists of attendance at the seminars. To most of the seminars there are some preparations you are supposed to do in written form. On one seminar you will make a short oral presentation of a topic. You should preferably make this presentation in groups of two.

Uppsats

You write an essay on an assigned topic. The pdf-file should be e-mailed to johank@nada.kth.se no later than January 14, 2014. This essay will be graded A-F. The final course grade will be an equal weighting of this rating and the exam grade.

Attendance at seminars

You should participate in all seminars. We are subject in principle to the presence and participation in all workshops. If you, for whatever reason, cannot participate on a particular seminar will, however, be able to make an extra assignment as compensation.

Grading criteria

To pass the course you must get grade E, D, C, B or A on TEN1, grade P on HEM1 and grade E, D, C, B or A on HEM2. For the different grades we generally require that you should

Grade	Learning outcome
E	Be able to describe the main results, principles and techniques that are examined in this course.
D	Meet the requirements for grade E and partly meet the requirements for grade C.
C	In a given analysis of a scientific problem to be able to determine if the results, the principles and methods used in a correct way.
B	Meet the requirements of grade C and partly meet the requirements for grade a.
A	In new scientific problems are able to use the results, principles and methods in a creative way to analyze and evaluate the problem.

The final grade is weighed as the mean value of the grades on TEN1 and HEM2.

For grade P on HEM1 we require presence at all seminars (missed the seminar can be recouped by making an extra assignment) and an approved presentation at a seminar and you do all the preparation works.

For grade P on HEM2 we require that the essay is reasonably well written and reasonably related to the practices in this course. Internally is also do a quality rating E-A, The final grade will be an average of the grade on TEN1 and the internal grade on HEM2, given that the grade on HEM1 is P.

Exam

The next opportunity for grade E is January 15, 2014, 10.00 in room 1537. No registration needed. This exam will only last up till one hour. Exam for higher grade is in the afternoon of Jan 15, 2014. There will be time slots for you to book.

Essay

Here is your assignment: Essay

Schedule

The student group will be divided into eight subgroups (G1 - G8). These will be the seminar groups.

The subgroups

We make a preliminary subdivision based on the first letter in your family name:

Group 1: A - B

Group 2: C - F

Group 3: G - J

Group 4: K - L

Group 5: M - O

Group 6: P - R

Group 7: S

Group 8: T - Ö

Q Q

Week	Event	Time	Location	Subject
37	F1	10 Sep 8-10		Introduction. What is Philosophy of Science?
38	F2	16 Sep 13-15	L1	The History of Science.
	17 Sep 10-11	Sem 1 G1, G2	Q24, 1537	Basic Science
	17 Sep 11-12	Sem 1 G3, G4	Q24, 1537
	19 Sep 13-14	Sem 1 G5	Q22
	19 Sep 13-14	Sem 1 G6	1537
	19 Sep 14-15	Sem 1 G7	Q22
	19 Sep 14-15	Sem 1 G8	1537
39	23 Sep 15-17	F3		Induction and the HD-Method.
	24 Sep 10-11	Sem 2 G1	D41	The History of Science
	24 Sep 10-11	Sem 2 G2	1537
	24 Sep 11-12	Sem 2 G3	D41
	24 Sep 11-12	Sem 2 G4	1537
	24 Sep 15-16	Sem 2 G5	D41
	24 Sep 15-16	Sem 2 G6	1537
	24 Sep 16-17	Sem 2 G7	D41
	24 Sep 16-17	Sem 2 G8	1537
40	1 Okt 8-10	F4	L1	Causes and Explanations.
	2 Okt 8-9	Sem 3 G1	D34	Induction and the HD-method.
	2 Okt 8-9	Sem 3 G2	1537
	2 Okt 9-10	Sem 3 G3	D34
	2 Okt 9-10	Sem 3 G4	1537
	3 Okt 10-11	Sem 3 G5	Q15
	3 Okt 10-11	Sem 3 G6	1537
	3 Okt 11-12	Sem 3 G7	Q15
	3 Okt 11-12	Sem 3 G8	1537
41	8 okt 10-12	F5	V2	Deductive Theories
	8 Okt 15-16	Sem 4 G1	Q24
	8 Okt 15-16	Sem 4 G2	1537
	8 Okt 16-17	Sem 4 G3	Q24
	8 Okt 16-17	Sem 4 G4	1537
	9 Okt 15-16	Sem 4 G5	D41
	9 Okt 15-16	Sem 4 G6	1537
	9 Okt 16-17	Sem 4 G7	D41
	9 Okt 16-17	Sem 4 G8	1537
45	5 Nov 13-15	F6	K1	Scientific Methods
46	12 Nov 10-12	F7	K2	Scientific Methods in Social Science Guest Lecture by Kimmo Eriksson
	12 Nov 13-14	Sem 5 G1	E52	Scientific Methods
	12 Nov 13-14	Sem 5 G2	1537
	12 Nov 14-15	Sem 5 G3	E52
	12 Nov 14-15	Sem 5 G4	1537
	14 Nov 13-14	Sem 5 G5	E35
	14 Nov 13-14	Sem 5 G6	4523
	14 Nov 14-15	Sem 5 G7	E35
	14 Nov 14-15	Sem 5 G8	4523
47	19 Nov 10-12	F8	K2	Computer Methods in Science
	19 Nov 13-14	Sem 6 G1	E52	Computer Science
	19 Nov 13-14	Sem 6 G2	1537
	19 Nov 14-15	Sem 6 G3	E52
	19 Nov 14-15	Sem 6 G4	1537
	21 Nov 13-14	Sem 6 G5	E52
	21 Nov 13-14	Sem 6 G6	1537
	21 Nov 14-15	Sem 6 G7	E52
	21 Nov 14-15	Sem 6 G8	1537
	26 Nov 10-12	F9	K2	Realism and Anti-Realism and other problems
	27 Nov 8-9	Sem 7 G1	D35	Computer Science
	27 Nov 8-9	Sem 7 G2	4523
	27 Nov 9-10	Sem 7 G3	D35
	27 Nov 9-10	Sem 7 G4	4523
	28 Nov 13-14	Sem 7 G5	L42
	28 Nov 13-14	Sem 7 G6	1537
	28 Nov 14-15	Sem 7 G7	L42
	28 Nov 14-15	Sem 7 G8	1537
49	3 Dec 10-12	F10	V2	Ethics in Science
	3 Dec 13-14	Sem 8 G1	V12	Some Scientific Problems
	3 Dec 13-14	Sem 8 G2	1537
	3 Dec 14-15	Sem 8 G3	V12
	3 Dec 14-15	Sem 8 G4	1537
	5 Dec 13-14	Sem 8 G5	D34
	5 Dec 13-14	Sem 8 G6	1537
	5 Dec 14-15	Sem 8 G7	D34
	5 Dec 14-15	Sem 8 G8	1537
50	10 Dec 10-12	F11	D3	The Role of Science in Society
	10 Dec 13-14	Sem 9 G1	E51	Ethics
	10 Dec 13-14	Sem 9 G2	1537
	10 Dec 14-15	Sem 9 G3	E51
	10 Dec 14-15	Sem 9 G4	1537
	12 Dec 13-14	Sem 9 G5	D34
	12 Dec 13-14	Sem 9 G6	1635
	12 Dec 14-15	Sem 9 G7	D34
	12 Dec 14-15	Sem 9 G8	1635
51	17 Dec 10-12	F12	V1	Computer Science - Guest lecture by prof Jan Gulliksen
	17 Dec 13-14	Sem 10 G1	D35	Scientific Articles
	17 Dec 13-14	Sem 10 G2	1537
	17 Dec 14-15	Sem 10 G3	D35
	17 Dec 14-15	Sem 10 G4	1537
	19 Dec 13-14	Sem 10 G5	E32
	19 Dec 13-14	Sem 10 G6	1537
	19 Dec 14-15	Sem 10 G7	E32
	19 Dec 14-15	Sem 10 G8	1537
	18 Dec 13-17	Exam E-grade		There will be individual time-bookings
	19 Dec 8-12	Exam E-grade
	19 Dec 15-18	Exam E-grade

Lecture notes and homework

Moment	Notes	To read
F1	F1	Okasha, ch. 1
F2	F2	Okasha, ch. 1
Sem 1	Homework: Read the attached text	Science as Falsification
F3	F3	Okasha, ch. 2
Sem 2	Homework
F4	F4	Okasha, ch. 3
Sem 3	Homework
F5	F5
Sem 4	Homework	KnightLeveson
F6	F6
F7	F7
Sem 5	Homework
F8	F8 del1, F8 del2
Sem 6	Homework	Is Computer Science Science?
F9	F9	Okasha, ch. 4
Sem 7	Homework	Should Computer Scientists Experiment More?
F10	F10	Okasha, ch. 4
Sem 8	Homework	If you want some ideas for how to write a summary you can have a look at How to write a summary
F11	F11	Okasha, ch. 7
Sem 9	Homework is an ethic dilemma; contact Linda (linda@nada.kth.se) if you have lost the assignment you got at last weeks seminar.
F12	F12
Sem 10	Read article number 1 first, then apply the template when taking notes on article number 2. You may substitute article 2 for a scientific article of your choice (but ask Johan or Linda first). Hand in your notes at next seminar. Diagram som sammanfattar Anderbergs "Konsten att argumentera" med några exempel.	How to Read a Scientific Article Recurrent Neural Learning for Classifying Spoken Utterances