030077 Science in a political world (Seselja, Straßer)
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Scientific inquiry is embedded in society and it is influenced by cultural, political, economic and historical contexts. Which questions to inquire, which hypotheses to pursue, which methods to employ and which theories to accept as the basis for policy guidance is influenced not only by scientific evidence and epistemic values, but also by non-epistemic (or social) values. At the same time, scientific findings should have the mark of objectivity rather than the mark of politicized processes. In this course, we will explore complexities that underpin this tension. We will start with the literature on the value-free ideal of science and proceed towards discussions on politicized science. Throughout the seminar we will use articles from online media, illustrating the tension between science and politics through various examples, as the testbed for philosophical accounts on the given issues.
030061 Agent-Based Simulations in Philosophy (Seselja, Straßer)
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In recent years digital aspects have entered philosophy, both in terms of providing a plethora of new topics and by providing new perspectives on old questions. Moreover, the digital age also equips philosophy with new computational methods for tackling philosophical questions, such as computer simulations. This course is dedicated to this topic.
Computer simulations in the form of agent-based models (ABMs) have in recent years become a popular method in philosophy, particularly in social epistemology, philosophy of science and political philosophy. In this course we discuss some of the central philosophical questions studied by means of ABMs. For instance, can groups of rational agent polarize, if yes, under which conditions? Can groups composed of agents that reason individually fully rationally (e.g., according to Bayesian standards) still be inefficient as a group? If yes, how so? Other topics concern questions from social epistemology and philosophy of science, such as the division of cognitive labor, cognitive diversity and expertise, opinion dynamics, etc.
This course will consist of three parts:
1. In October and November we will cover some of the most prominent modeling frameworks used in the philosophical literature and beyond. The readings will be aimed at preparing students for talks by experts on the topic, which constitute part 2.
2. On the 7-8th of December, 2023 we will have a (full day) workshop in which experts working in this field will come to RUB and present their work. No further classes will take place in December. Instead, students will choose a topic related to one of the talks in the workshop and start their project on it. The topics for student projects will be agreed upon in (individual) online meetings. The project should result in a presentation and an essay.
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The reading list will be provided during the course.
030074 Agent-based simulations in philosophy: theoretical part (Seselja, Straßer)
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In recent years digital aspects have entered philosophy, both in terms of providing a plethora of new topics and by providing new perspectives on old questions. Moreover, the digital age also equips philosophy with new computational methods for tackling philosophical questions, such as computer simulations. This course is dedicated to this topic.
Computer simulations in the form of agent-based models (ABMs) have in recent years become a popular method in philosophy, particularly in social epistemology, philosophy of science and political philosophy. In this course we discuss some of the central philosophical questions studied by means of ABMs. For instance, can groups of rational agent polarize, if yes, under which conditions? Can groups composed of agents that reason individually fully rationally (e.g., according to Bayesian standards) still be inefficient as a group? If yes, how so? Other topics concern questions from social epistemology and philosophy of science, such as the division of cognitive labor, cognitive diversity and expertise, opinion dynamics, etc.
This course will consist of three parts:
1. From October until December we will cover some of the most prominent modeling frameworks used in the philosophical literature and beyond. The readings will be aimed at preparing students for talks by experts on the topic, which constitute part 3.
2. At the end of January (part 3) we will have a workshop in which experts working in this field will come to RUB and present their work. During December students will choose a topic related to one of the talks in the workshop and start reading the relevant literature on it.
3. There will be no classes in January except for the workshop, which will take place from January 29-31, 2025 (we will start on January 29 in the afternoon). Students will have a task to follow the talks, and to subsequently submit a 2-pages protocol of one of the talks.
To get the ungraded 3 credit points for the course, students will have to:
submit the protocol of one of the workshop talks
prepare a question for the talk and ask the question either during the workshop, or submit it afterwards, together with the protocol.
To get 6 credit points and a grade for the course, students will have to submit the above mentioned assignments, and in addition, to submit a term paper.
We highly encourage the students to attend also the Practical part of this course: 030076, Agent-based simulations in philosophy: practical part, which takes place in the same room, right after the current course.
030062 Philosophy of Models and Simulations (Seselja)
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Models are commonly used across sciences. What is more, they are of central importance in the production of scientific knowledge. Yet, how exactly we can learn from them, how do we determine what a model represents, and what kind of explanation it provides – are questions that are not easy to answer, which is why they have been hotly debated by philosophers. Take, for instance, highly idealized computer simulations, frequently developed in social sciences and in philosophy. What do such models represent? How are they related to the real-world? And when can we take results of such models seriously, for example, as the basis for policy guidance? Or consider opaque machine learning models, which can be used to make predictions. When do they help to increase our understanding of the world?
This course will consist of three parts:
1. In October and November we will discuss some of the central publications written on the above topics. The readings will be aimed at preparing students for talks by experts on the topic, which constitute part 2.
2. On the 6th of December, 2023 we will have a (full day) workshop in which experts working in this field will come to RUB and present their work. No further classes will take place in December. Instead, students will choose a topic related to one of the talks in the workshop and start their project on it. The topics for student projects will be agreed upon in (individual) online meetings. The project should result in a presentation and an essay.
3. In January classes will consist of student presentations, focusing on the projects agreed upon in December. We will also cover some additional readings, supplementing the student presentations.
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The reading list will be provided at the start of the course.
030076 Agent-based simulations in philosophy: practical part (Michelini)
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Can groups of biased scientists outperform groups of unbiased ones? Can citizens with only a slight preference for having like-minded neighbors give rise to a highly segregated city? Can rational epistemic agents polarize over the truth of a sentence?
The effect of individual actions on the collective outcome has always fascinated philosophers of many disciplines. In the last decade, to answer these and many more questions, philosophers have extensively used agent-based models. Agent-based models are computational programs that allow to explore the behaviour of a group of agents, starting from the rules guiding the actions of the individuals. As such, it is the ideal tool to explore the collective outcome of individual practices.
This course is meant to teach participants how to build an agent-based model from scratch. No pre-existing knowledge about programming is required: philosophy students with no computational background, you are welcome! At the same time, the course is also ideal for people already experienced with programming who want to learn about how to use agent-based models.
We recommend taking this course in combination with the course “Agent-based simulations in philosophy: theoretical part”, although you can also take each of them separately (that would make sense if you followed the theoretical part last year). Each course can provide up to six credits.
The course is composed of four parts.
1. In October, I will teach you some fundamental basics required for programming. You will learn what program to use, how to install it, and which procedures are useful when building an agent-based model.
2. In November, we will go through some of the most famous examples of agent-based models in philosophy. I will teach you how to program them, and how to collect data from them.
3. Finally, December and January are dedicated to you building your own model. We will discuss together how to formulate nice ideas on which model to build, and I will help you step-by-step in building your own model.
4. The final three lectures will be dedicated to you presenting your work.