Course guide for the summer term 2026

12:00 am – 11:59 pm

This course is taught en bloc. For dates and times, please see the entry on eCampus. Nico Orlandi (UC Santa Cruz, DAAD Gastprofessur Philosophy of Cognitive Science) Mental representation is the central explanatory notion of contemporary cogni- tive science. It is what presumably distinguishes the subject matter of psychol- ogy from the subject matter of the rest of the empirical sciences (physics, chemistry, biology etc.). And it is routinely appealed to, to explain how humans act, reason, remember, perceive and understand. Yet there is little agreement concerning what mental representations are, how they acquire their intentional content, and whether they are needed in a scientific study of the mind. This class explores contemporary accounts of mental representation in western cognitive science. It starts by outlining the function that the notion of representation is called to perform, and it then looks at two central debates: the debate concer- ning how representations acquire their content, and the debate concerning whether the notion of representation is needed to explain mental activity — a debate framed in the context of the contrast between classical and connec- tionist accounts of mental representation. This is a fairly advanced course in philosophy of mind designed for graduate students but recommended also to advanced undergraduates who are interested in cognitive science. The class does not require prior knowledge of philosophy of mind, but it does require an understanding of what arguments are and of how they should be reconstructed and evaluated. It also requires knowledge of how philosophy papers should be read and written.

12:00 am – 11:59 pm

This course is taught en bloc. For dates and times, please see the entry on eCampus. The goal of this course it to familiarize the students with some of the mathematical machinery commonly used by working (philosophical or otherwise) logicians. We will start with some rudimentary set theory such as (but not restricted to): set operations, tuples, order relations of different kinds, equivalence relations, lattices and so on. We will also discuss the role of both naive and axiomatic set theory for the development of modern logic. We will then transition to abstract treatments of logic via matrix semantics and (if time permits) algebraic semantics. The block seminar will include exercise sessions in which the students will be encouraged to discuss their solutions. We hope that the students will come out of this seminar having developed a good understanding of both the notions involved and the reasons for why they are so prominent in the literature on logic. The credits will be primarily awarded for participation in solving exercises during the seminar. Literature: [1] B.A. Davey and H.A. Priestley, Introduction to Lattices and Order. Cambridge University Press, 1990. [2] J.M. Font, Abstract algebraic logic: an introductory textbook. College Publications, 2016 [3] E. Mendelson, Introduction to mathematical logic. Princeton, 1964. [4] R. Wojcicki, Theory of Logical Calculi. Springer, 1988.

12:00 am – 11:59 pm

This course is taught en bloc. For dates and times, please see the entry on eCampus. tba

12:00 am – 11:59 pm

This course is taught en bloc. For dates and times, please see the entry on eCampus. The structural application of mathematical methods and ideas to philosophy is a fairly novel field, known as “mathematical philosophy”.We discuss some interesting case studies that are accessible to students in philosophy and related areas.All required concepts from logic and mathematics (e.g. computability theory) shall be introduced and explained to the extent necessary.

12:00 am – 11:59 pm

This course is taught en bloc. For dates and times, please see the entry on eCampus. Over the past two decades, the range of methods used by philosophers to address philosophical problems has expanded significantly. Alongside traditional philosophical approaches, philosophers have increasingly experimented with methodologies drawn from the empirical and formal sciences, including experiments, simulations, data analysis, and formal modelling. Data plays a central role in all of these approaches. This course aims to provide philosophy students with solid foundations in data science, equipping them with the technical knowledge needed to manage, analyse, and extract insights from data. The course covers key concepts in statistics, data representation, data analysis, and data visualization, applying them to the investigation of real-world datasets related to philosophy and its history. Students will also become familiar with R, a standard programming language for computational statistics and SQL, a standard language used to query databases, acquiring practical skills that are valuable not only for academic research but also on the broader job market.

12:00 am – 11:59 pm

This course is taught en bloc. For dates and times, please see the entry on eCampus. Scientometrics is the quantitative study of science. It provides a distinctive perspective on how scientific knowledge develops, spreads, and changes over time and, in the last decades, it has become central in the management of scientific research, especially in research evaluation. For philosophers, scientometrics offers empirical tools to investigate classic questions about scientific progress, disciplinary structure, collaboration, and the dynamics of research communities. This course aims to introduce students to scientometrics by presenting both its applied side (quantitative methods for research evaluation) and its descriptive side, with a particular focus on science mapping, i.e., a set of data-driven techniques for constructing maps of scientific fields based on large collections of scientific publications. Students will not only learn the theoretical foundations of science mapping, but also acquire hands-on experience in creating their own maps using VOSviewer, a freely available science mapping software.

12:00 am – 11:59 pm

This course is taught en bloc. For dates and times, please see the entry on eCampus. : Scholars in digital humanities, scientometrics, and philosophy itself are increasingly using quantitative methods to study the structure and dynamics of philosophy as a discipline. This course aims to provide an overview of the main methodologies used in quantitative studies of philosophy, presenting key research in this emerging field and discussing influential case studies. In addition, the course will host invited talks by leading scholars who apply quantitative approaches to areas such as the history of twentieth-century philosophy, integrated history and philosophy of science, and philosophy of science.

12:00 am – 11:59 pm

This course is taught en bloc. For dates and times, please see the entry on eCampus. In this lecture series current topics in the history and philosophy of the life sciences will be discussed. The lecture series will host talks by international leading experts and local researchers, including philosophers and historians, but also scholars from the social and natural sciences. Participants will also have the opportunity to present their master and doctoral theses. Once per month (3-4 times during the whole term) the participants meet for a reading group meeting (instead of a lecture) in which current research literature is discussed. For students (especially, but not only students of the HPS+Logic program) who want to participate and receive course credits, please write to jan.baedke@rub.de and register via eCampus. Talks will be given in English and online (via Zoom). They will be announced on: https://rotorub.wordpress.com/roto-lecture-series/

12:00 am – 11:59 pm

This course is taught en bloc. For dates and times, please see the entry on eCampus. Nico Orlandi (UC Santa Cruz, DAAD Gastprofessur Philosophy of Cognitive Science) Mental representation is the central explanatory notion of contemporary cogni- tive science. It is what presumably distinguishes the subject matter of psychol- ogy from the subject matter of the rest of the empirical sciences (physics, chemistry, biology etc.). And it is routinely appealed to, to explain how humans act, reason, remember, perceive and understand. Yet there is little agreement concerning what mental representations are, how they acquire their intentional content, and whether they are needed in a scientific study of the mind. This class explores contemporary accounts of mental representation in western cognitive science. It starts by outlining the function that the notion of representation is called to perform, and it then looks at two central debates: the debate concer- ning how representations acquire their content, and the debate concerning whether the notion of representation is needed to explain mental activity — a debate framed in the context of the contrast between classical and connec- tionist accounts of mental representation. This is a fairly advanced course in philosophy of mind designed for graduate students but recommended also to advanced undergraduates who are interested in cognitive science. The class does not require prior knowledge of philosophy of mind, but it does require an understanding of what arguments are and of how they should be reconstructed and evaluated. It also requires knowledge of how philosophy papers should be read and written.

12:00 am – 11:59 pm

This course is taught en bloc. For dates and times, please see the entry on eCampus. The goal of this course it to familiarize the students with some of the mathematical machinery commonly used by working (philosophical or otherwise) logicians. We will start with some rudimentary set theory such as (but not restricted to): set operations, tuples, order relations of different kinds, equivalence relations, lattices and so on. We will also discuss the role of both naive and axiomatic set theory for the development of modern logic. We will then transition to abstract treatments of logic via matrix semantics and (if time permits) algebraic semantics. The block seminar will include exercise sessions in which the students will be encouraged to discuss their solutions. We hope that the students will come out of this seminar having developed a good understanding of both the notions involved and the reasons for why they are so prominent in the literature on logic. The credits will be primarily awarded for participation in solving exercises during the seminar. Literature: [1] B.A. Davey and H.A. Priestley, Introduction to Lattices and Order. Cambridge University Press, 1990. [2] J.M. Font, Abstract algebraic logic: an introductory textbook. College Publications, 2016 [3] E. Mendelson, Introduction to mathematical logic. Princeton, 1964. [4] R. Wojcicki, Theory of Logical Calculi. Springer, 1988.

12:00 am – 11:59 pm

This course is taught en bloc. For dates and times, please see the entry on eCampus. tba

12:00 am – 11:59 pm

This course is taught en bloc. For dates and times, please see the entry on eCampus. The structural application of mathematical methods and ideas to philosophy is a fairly novel field, known as “mathematical philosophy”.We discuss some interesting case studies that are accessible to students in philosophy and related areas.All required concepts from logic and mathematics (e.g. computability theory) shall be introduced and explained to the extent necessary.

12:00 am – 11:59 pm

This course is taught en bloc. For dates and times, please see the entry on eCampus. Over the past two decades, the range of methods used by philosophers to address philosophical problems has expanded significantly. Alongside traditional philosophical approaches, philosophers have increasingly experimented with methodologies drawn from the empirical and formal sciences, including experiments, simulations, data analysis, and formal modelling. Data plays a central role in all of these approaches. This course aims to provide philosophy students with solid foundations in data science, equipping them with the technical knowledge needed to manage, analyse, and extract insights from data. The course covers key concepts in statistics, data representation, data analysis, and data visualization, applying them to the investigation of real-world datasets related to philosophy and its history. Students will also become familiar with R, a standard programming language for computational statistics and SQL, a standard language used to query databases, acquiring practical skills that are valuable not only for academic research but also on the broader job market.

12:00 am – 11:59 pm

This course is taught en bloc. For dates and times, please see the entry on eCampus. Scientometrics is the quantitative study of science. It provides a distinctive perspective on how scientific knowledge develops, spreads, and changes over time and, in the last decades, it has become central in the management of scientific research, especially in research evaluation. For philosophers, scientometrics offers empirical tools to investigate classic questions about scientific progress, disciplinary structure, collaboration, and the dynamics of research communities. This course aims to introduce students to scientometrics by presenting both its applied side (quantitative methods for research evaluation) and its descriptive side, with a particular focus on science mapping, i.e., a set of data-driven techniques for constructing maps of scientific fields based on large collections of scientific publications. Students will not only learn the theoretical foundations of science mapping, but also acquire hands-on experience in creating their own maps using VOSviewer, a freely available science mapping software.

12:00 am – 11:59 pm

This course is taught en bloc. For dates and times, please see the entry on eCampus. : Scholars in digital humanities, scientometrics, and philosophy itself are increasingly using quantitative methods to study the structure and dynamics of philosophy as a discipline. This course aims to provide an overview of the main methodologies used in quantitative studies of philosophy, presenting key research in this emerging field and discussing influential case studies. In addition, the course will host invited talks by leading scholars who apply quantitative approaches to areas such as the history of twentieth-century philosophy, integrated history and philosophy of science, and philosophy of science.

12:00 am – 11:59 pm

This course is taught en bloc. For dates and times, please see the entry on eCampus. In this lecture series current topics in the history and philosophy of the life sciences will be discussed. The lecture series will host talks by international leading experts and local researchers, including philosophers and historians, but also scholars from the social and natural sciences. Participants will also have the opportunity to present their master and doctoral theses. Once per month (3-4 times during the whole term) the participants meet for a reading group meeting (instead of a lecture) in which current research literature is discussed. For students (especially, but not only students of the HPS+Logic program) who want to participate and receive course credits, please write to jan.baedke@rub.de and register via eCampus. Talks will be given in English and online (via Zoom). They will be announced on: https://rotorub.wordpress.com/roto-lecture-series/