Philosophical questions [SSPSB101]

Objectives

Initiate the students to philosophy, with a specific focus on the relationships between philosophy and science.

Content

Specially designed for students in science, the course is divided into 4 parts:

- The nature and importance of philosophy, notably in its relation to science;

- The methodology of philosophy, with its differences and commonalities with scientific methods;

- Classic epistemology pertaining to the question of the origin of (scientific) knowledge;

- Some elements of scientific metaphysics.

Each of these 4 parts will be supplemented by the (personal) reading of a text, whose content will be discussed in "travaux pratiques".