History and Philosophy of Objectivity

Course goals

Upon completing this course, you will be able to explain the central positions in a core debate in history and philosophy of science; identify and evaluate a number of main puzzles and arguments around objectivity; make an original contribution to the scholarship on these topics. You will also have developed your skills in writing conference reports; presenting and discussing work with colleagues; and writing a formal academic paper.

Content

What is it to be objective? Is objectivity always desirable? How can we achieve objectivity, or when should we rather avoid it? Objectivity seems to be one of the key ideals of a scientific and philosophical understanding of the world. However, it is still far from clear what exactly objectivity is, and whether it is something uniform across all domains. In this course we will investigate the notion of objectivity. We will work through Daston and Galison’s Objectivity (2007) in full, and consider selected studies on objectivity in relation to (scientific) objects, the notion of facticity, ancient epistemology, ethics and medicine, and to 19th/20th-century ideas on relativism. This way, we will build a methodologically and historically informed philosophical reflection on objectivity as an ideal within science and culture – also, we want to provide you with the conceptual and historical equipment to critically discuss Daston and Galison’s idea.

This course is for RMA students in the Graduate School of Humanities and students in the History and Philosophy of Science. Students of other MA-programmes (such as Applied Ethics), should check with the course coordinator or the RMA Philosophy coordinator (Niels Miltenburg <n.miltenburg@uu.nl>), before enrolling, to ensure that they have the requisite philosophical background.
The entrance requirements for Exchange Students will be checked by International Office and the Programme coördinator. Therefore, you do not have to contact the Programme coördinator yourself.

 

Additional information

Please note: the time slot shown here is not yet final and may still be modified until the 3rd Wednesday in September.

Counts towards the fulfillment of the “Interdisciplinary Research Area” requirement for RMA Philosophy students.