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The course focuses on key questions in philosophy and philosophy of science and on their relation to contemporary scientific practice. Teaching combines short thematic lectures, readings of primary texts, moderated discussion, and work with examples from the natural sciences. Students learn to reconstruct arguments, formulate objections, compare different conceptions of scientific knowledge, and defend their own positions.
Last update: Světlík Martin Karel (13.09.2026)
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R: Aristotelés, Fysika, Praha 1996, 80-86027-03-1 R: Kuhn T. S., Struktura vědeckých revolucí, Praha 1997, 80-86005-54-2 R: Hume D., Zkoumání o lidském rozumu, Praha 1996, 80-205-0521-0 R: Skolimowski H., Účastná mysl, Praha 2001, 80-204-0918-1 R: Putnam,Rorty, Co po metafyzice, Bratislava 1997, 8071151394 R: Bacon F., Nové Organon, Praha 1974, 80-86473-19-8 R: Feyerabend P., Rozprava proti metodě, Praha 2001, 80-7299-047-0 R: Descartes R., Meditace, Praha 2003, 80-7298-084-X A: Popper, K., Logika vědeckého bádání, Praha 1997, 80-86005-45-3 A: Husserl E., Krize evropských věd, Praha 1996, 8020503110 A: Fajkus B., Filosofie a metodologie vědy, Praha 2005, 80-200-1304-0
Last update: Světlík Martin Karel (13.09.2026)
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1. 1. What is science? Myth, philosophy, and science; the historical distinctiveness of modern science. 2. Doubt, the subject, and the possibility of objective knowledge – René Descartes. 3. Induction, causality, and the limits of experience – David Hume. 4. Falsification, critical rationalism, and the problem of demarcation – Karl Popper. 5. Normal science, paradigms, and scientific revolutions – Thomas S. Kuhn. 6. Research programmes and methodological pluralism – Imre Lakatos, Paul Feyerabend. 7. Observation, experiment, and the role of theory – Ian Hacking. 8. Scientific explanation – laws, causes, and mechanisms. 9. Models and idealization – the relationship between models and reality. 10. Scientific realism and instrumentalism. 11. Evidence, error, uncertainty, and reproducibility. 12. Objectivity and values in science. 13. The scientific community, expertise, and trust in science. 14. Contemporary problems of scientific knowledge and final synthesis. Last update: Světlík Martin Karel (13.09.2026)
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Selected primary texts, reading guides, discussion questions, presentations, and other study materials are made available through the UCT Prague e-learning platform. Last update: Světlík Martin Karel (13.09.2026)
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Students will be able to: Analyse key problems in philosophy and philosophy of science and identify major approaches to their solution. Reconstruct an argument in a philosophical text and distinguish its thesis, reasons, assumptions, and objections. Compare different conceptions of scientific knowledge and apply them to examples from the natural sciences. Formulate, support with arguments, and orally defend their own position. Critically assess the grounds for accepting scientific claims, including the role of experiment, models, uncertainty, and the scientific community. Last update: Světlík Martin Karel (13.09.2026)
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No formal prerequisites are required. Students are expected to be willing to work with philosophical texts in Czech and English and to participate actively in discussion. Last update: Světlík Martin Karel (13.09.2026)
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