Course syllabus

Theory of Science and Production of Knowledge within the Humanities, 7.5 HEC

 

  • Course duration: XXXX.
  • Form of teaching: Lectures and seminars. See Schedule with literature for each lecture. If you have trouble finding literature for a lecture, please contact the teacher for that segment.
  • Place:
  • Course language: English
  • Education cycle: Third cycle (Ph.D. Education)
  • Course coordinator: Christopher Kullenberg, FLoV (christopher.kullenberg@gu.se)


Course content:

The course aims to give Ph.D. students tools that will give them the ability to reflect and situate their own knowledge production within both a disciplinary and an epistemic tradition, as well as within the current (inter)national research policy context. The course is comprised of three thematic sections: 1. Different modes of scientific knowledge production, key-concepts within each mode, as well as what scientific claims made by each mode. 2. Epistemic and methodological positions with regards to the relationship between scientific knowledge and power, as well as how this relationship affects or structures our understanding of what counts as relevant research and what kind of research questions that can be posed. 3. Current prerequisites for research, both within the humanities, as well as within other areas, with a specific focus on collaboration, democratization of research, and how the humanities are affected by research evaluations and research policies.    

Learning outcomes:

After finishing the course, the students should be able to:  

Knowledge and understanding

  • To demonstrate knowledge about different epistemic traditions within Theory of Science and within the humanities.
  • To demonstrate an increased knowledge and understanding of the epistemic and methodological foundations within the student’s own academic discipline.

Skills and abilities

  • To analyze key-issues within the course literature and to associate this analysis to the research process of the student’s own thesis.
  • Identify and compare the basis for different types of claims for truth within scientific research.

Judgement and approach

  • To critically discuss the epistemological premises of the student’s own research field and its relationship to the surrounding society, as well as the research questions and methods that comprise the basis for the student’s own thesis.