This biannual course is taught on years 2015-2016, 2017-2018, ....
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Reading knowledge of English sufficient to allow study of contemporary texts in the area of the philosophy of the human and social sciences.
Each year the course will concentrate on a particular theme, and will make sure to present and contrast different philosophical approaches to the theme. The course will also attempt to combine the study of the selected theme with a reflection on the aims and methods of the philosophy of the human and social sciences.
Upon completion of the course, the student should be able to pursue, in a well-informed and original manner, a question chosen from the area of the philosophy of the human and social sciences.
After completing the course, the student should be able to :
- Use research tools appropriate for the philosophy of human sciences ;
- Conceptualise the question that has been selected;
- Situate the answers to this question within the framework of the history of key concepts in the human and social sciences, and in contemporary philosophical debates between different approaches and theories ;
- Include, in the philosophical discussion of the selected question, contributions from other disciplines that bear upon the response to the question ;
- Develop arguments regarding the response to the question in an original way. Submit the method chosen for the study of the selected question to a critical reflection.
The contribution of this Teaching Unit to the development and command of the skills and learning outcomes of the programme(s) can be accessed at the end of this sheet, in the section entitled “Programmes/courses offering this Teaching Unit”.
Short personal work of 1,5 pages to be realized based on the reading of one the texts indicated with « * » in the bibliography (1 page synthesis of the text, ½ pages critical analysis). Oral presentation of the work during the course (compulsory) during the session of the 3rd or the 10th of December : 20% of the evaluation.
Oral examination : interrogation on one of the 8 texts indicated with an asterisk « * » and printed in the syllabus (selected at random at the exam). The oral examination will assess two items: a structured summary of the text and the capacity to situate the argument of the text in the broader argument of the course: 80% of the evaluation.
Format of the work of 1,5 pages :
' First page: 300 words max, containing: a short introduction on the topic of the fragment and/or the key thesis that is advanced. Then, presentation of the arguments that are developed
' Second page: short critical remarks, justified with one or two arguments (200 words maximum)
Format of the slides for the oral presentation :
' Three slides in power point to be send by email before the presentation: MAX 50 words for each dia. First slide: title of the fragment and bibliographical reference. Second slide: short introduction on the topic of the fragment and/or the key thesis that is advanced. Third slide: presentation of the arguments that are developed.
The course uses an interactive methodology, which requires an active participation to the sessions of the course. Three pedagogical tools will be used : (1) interactive forum on which the students can send short critical comments on the short text extracts that need to be read before the course (dates and fragments distributed during the first course); (2) ex cathedra course; (3) presentation and critical debate on the article summaries during the 2 sessions in December.
Ex cathedra course: 24th of September ; 1,8,15,22,29 October ; 5,12, 26nd of November
Presentation of the article summaries by the students: 3, 10th of December
Topic of the course in autumn 2015:
'Critical hermeneutics of contemporary science and social transformation'
The first part of the course will be dedicated to a reconstruction of the main methodologies of the bio-physcial sciences, the social sciences and the hermeneutic sciences. Based on the seminal work of Jean Ladrière, Helga Nowotny and Paul Ricoeur, the relations between these methodologies and the normative ambitions of the various sciences will be compared and made explicit (such as progress through innovation, emancipation and mutual understanding).
The second part will be critical: it will confront these normative ambitions to their use in practical action contexts. Adopting the anti-representationalist stance articulated by Richard Rorty, scientific knowledge will be confronted to various forms of non-formal knowledge that pay a role in practice, such as tacit knowledge (Karl Polanyi), knowledge in use (Chris Argyris), knowledge of the oppressed (Paolo Freire) or knowledge of practitioners (Andreas Reckwitz). On the base of this mutual confrontation, various ways to combine scientific knowledge (from the bio-physical, social and hermeneutic sciences) and the non-formal social actors' knowledge in so-called 'partnership research' will be considered.
Finally, in the third part, the concept of partnership research will be applied to the partnership between researchers and social actors on the topic of the role of social imagination in the theories of ecological and social transition.
The empirico-deductive and hermeneutic sciences
Ladrière, J. Les sciences de la nature. 1984. Dans : Articulation du sens, tome I. Les éditions du Cerf.
Nowotny, H., Scott, P., Gibbons, M. 2003. Repenser la science. Savoir et société à l'ère de l'incertitude. Editions Belin.
(*) Jerry W. Willis. 2007. Foundations of qualitative research. Interpretive and critical approaches. Sage. Ch3 and ch 4: pp. 67-141.
(*) Ricoeur, P. 1986. Qu'est-ce qu'un texte ? Expliquer et comprendre. Dans : Du texte à l'action. Essais d'herméneutique. Editions du Seuil, pp. 137-159.
The role of non-formal knowledge (tacit knowledge, knowledge in use, knowledge of the oppressed or knowledge of practitioners)
(*) Argyris, Ch. 2000. La causalité intentionnelle : expliquer, suivre et intégrer divers points de vue. In Ch. Argyris. Savoir pour agir, Dunod, Paris, pp. 257-294.
(*) Reckwitz A 2002 Towards a theory of social practices A development in culturalist theorizing
(*) Rorty, R. 1994. Objectivisme, relativisme et vérité. PUF (fragment)
Partnerships between social actors and university researchers
VAILLANCOURT, Yves ( 2005), La démocratisation des connaissances : L'expérience des pratiques de recherche misant sur un partenariat université-communauté, Montréal, Cahiers du LAREPPS no 05-19, Laboratoire de recherche sur les pratiques et les politiques sociales (UQAM), 19 p.
(*) Dedeurwaerdere, T. (2013). Les sciences du développement durable pour régir la transition vers la durabilité forte (fragment)
(*) Daniel J. Lang. 2002 Transdisciplinary research in sustainability science: practice, principles and challenges. Sustainability Science vol. 7 (supplement 1), pp. 28-43.
Application : rething social imagination and social transformation in theories of ecological and social transition
(*) Grin J., Rotmans J. and Schot J. 2010. Transitions to Sustainable Development. Routledge (fragment)
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