In this course, students should acquire an understanding for basic issues in philosophy of science and
become aware how they relate to the computing field. In view of the heterogeneous background of the
candidates, no assumptions on previous education in philosophy are made.
The objectives are:
• to characterize modern science as a specific way of human knowing,
• to present philosophical positions on human knowing,
• to sketch the emergence and mainstream discussion in philosophy of science,
• to introduce key critical schools of thought,
• to locate and reflect on computing within the scientific landscape.
The term ‘computing’ is used here as an encompassing notion. It refers to academic disciplines like
‘informatics’, ‘computer science’, and so on, whose names and definitions vary from one country to
another. It also denotes the practice of developing computational artifacts at the levels of hardware
and software in both research and application. Three aspects of computing are of particular interest:
• Computational intelligence: the computer as agent,
• Developing computational artifacts: the practice of programming,
• Using computational artifacts: IT systems in human contexts.
