General Methodology

Pre-requisites: None

Course objectives: Students should improve their knowledge of general methodology issues, especially in relation to the specialization they have chosen, based on the understanding of methodological norms applicable in a given scientific and philosophical area.

Course description: Lecturing plan is focused on the concept, origin, status and type of methodological norms, and includes the following topics: 1. Origin and epistemological status of methodological norms (inductivism, naturalism, apriorism) 2. Types of methodological norms 3. Logical foundations and empirical motivation of methodological norms 4. Methodological norms in the history of science and scientific practice 5. Sociological, psychological and heuristic aspects of the methodological norms 6. Methodological norms and organization of science 7. The development and evolution of the methodological norms 8. Relation between various norms and problems of their interpretation 9. The role of norms in the actual growth of scientific knowledge 10. General and specific norms 11. Relationships between methodological and others norms of scientific practice (ethical, axiological, praxeological, etc.) 12. The function of methodological norms in context of discovery and context of justification (estimation) 13. Absolutism and relativism in following or pursuing methodological norms.

Learning Outcomes: Student must show that he or she has mastered philosophical-methodological contents to the extent that it enables him or her to detect and apply specific methodological conceptions in the development of a doctoral thesis. It would be optimal that each student write a seminar paper.