Reflections on IT (Spring 2025)

Abstract

The course provides a basic introduction to scientific thought and introduces central philosophical perspectives on science, epistemology and technology, including central concepts in scientific methodology. The course puts a special focus on IT technologies, exploring its foundations and ethical implications.  

Description

The course is important because it provides a set of concepts for critical evaluation of the theoretical and methodological basis underpinning research traditions in the information sciences.  

The student will receive a basic introduction to scientific thought and central philosophical perspectives on science, epistemology and technology. This includes gaining familiarity with central concepts in scientific methodology and foundational problems of computation. 

 Reflections on IT provides a basic introduction to scientific thought and introduces central philosophical perspectives on science, epistemology and technology. The literature introduces students to paradigms such as positivism, scientific realism, computationalism and utilitarianism. It also introduces central concepts in scientific methodology, including deductivism, inductivism and falsification. Finally, it encourages students to reflect on the interrelationships between science, technology and society.  

The objective of the course is thus to provide a set of coherent concepts for critical evaluation of the theoretical and methodological basis of research traditions in the information sciences. The course introduces students to important philosophical and historical perspectives on science and technology as well as to more general epistemological and reflexive issues relating to natural and social science disciplines.  

The course especially emphasizes topics that relate to information sciences and information technologies, including questions about how humans, technologies and knowledge are assumed to operate in the information and social sciences. 

Formal prerequisites

This course is part of the sixth semester on the bachelor programme in Software Developement

Intended learning outcomes

After the course, the student should be able to:

• Identify and account for key, select positions in the Philosophy of Science
• Account for relevant theoretical perspectives on technology with a particular emphasis on the interactions between IT, the general BA subject area and the broader context.
• Identify and analyze a problem of interest that touches upon the relationships between IT and its context (may it be of political, ethical, philosophical, historical or societal nature).
• Present relevant concepts from the curriculum accurately, and critically use these concepts in an investigation of the select problem

Ordinary exam

Exam type:
D: Submission of written work with following oral, External (7-point scale)
Exam variation:
D22: Submission with following oral exam supplemented by the submission.