The purpose of the course is to engage the doctoral students in a deep discussion to appreciate and understand the role and functions of philosophical reasoning in practical research. The course also presents different traditions of thinking concerning science and scientific work.

 The course covers the following content:

  1. Anglo-Saxon schools of thinking
  2. Continental schools of thinking
  3. Science versus pseudu-science

This course is built upon active participation in classroom discussion that require that the participant has read the assign texts for each session. Find below the schedule with the topics for each meeting:

06 Oct - 9-16
Warming up – philosophical reasoning
What is science and how do we define the demarcation line between science, pseudo-science, anti-science and non-science?

20 Oct - 9-16
The philosophical roots of induction and logical empiricism (aka classical/naïve positivism). Contemporary strands of induction – grounded theory and inspired by …

03 Nov - 9-16
Is deduction the solution to the problem of induction? Popper’s solution.
Critique of the critique – falsificationism is not the solution.

17 Nov - 9-16
Abduction/retroduction – origins and contemporary applications.
The reality revival – Bhaskar and critical realism

01 Dec - 9-16
Hermeneutics – Continental traditions.

15 Dec - 9-16
Paper presentations

The course has a maximum of 15 places. The seats are accessible via the "first come, first served" principle. The last day to apply is September 1, 2026.

Application form docx, 58.8 kB.

Course syllabus

If you have any questions, please contact the course coordinators:

Tomas Müllern, JIBS
Tomas.Mullern@ju.se