Philosophy of Science: In-depth studies

More about the course content: The scientific realism debate is one of the classical debates in philosophy of science. Scientific realists claim that the core tenets of predictively successful and empirically well-confirmed scientific theories should be taken to be approximately true. Often, this view is understood in the sense that the theory’s scientific objects refer to something in the external world. Scientific antirealists, to the contrary, deny those claims. The debate is of crucial importance for understanding the status of scientific reasoning. In the course, we will develop a broad perspective on the debate. We will start by looking at the related but different metaphysical realism debate, which addresses the question as to whether it makes sense to posit a world independent from the human perspective. We will then discuss the historic roots and classical core arguments of the scientific realism debate. The final part of the course will address recent developments and perspectives.

Learning platform: Reading instructions, detailed course planning, etc. will be posted on the course's Canvas page. Admitted students who have activated their student account and have been registered for the course will automatically become participants on the course's Canvas page.

Teacher and examiner autumn semester 2026: Richard Dawid

Language of instruction autumn semester 2026: English

For more information about the course (teaching method, expected study results, attendance requirements, examination method, grading scale, etc.), see the course syllabus.