GRK 2073 - Integrating Ethics and Epistemology of Scientific Research at Bielefeld University

About

The DFG research training group GRK 2073 "Integrating Ethics and Epistemology of Scientific Research" is a graduate research group (Graduiertenkolleg) funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). The group is chaired by Prof Dr Torsten Wilholt (Leibniz University of Hanover) and co-chaired by Prof Dr Martin Carrier (Bielefeld University). It combines the strengths of the universities of Hanover and Bielefeld in philosophy of science by creating a joint programme. The programme is directed at overcoming the divide between theoretical philosophy (epistemology and metaphysics) and practical philosophy (ethics and political philosophy) of science. It primarily focuses on research questions that require serious attention to both areas. The status of policy advice on the basis of computer simulations in climate science, the balancing of research goals and ethical aspects of medical treatment in clinical trials, the appropriate role of intellectual property in science, or the prospects of social scientific research on the basis of social network data are just a few examples of topics that ought to be treated by drawing on the resources of theoretical and practical philosophy and taking both equally seriously. The research group bridges the gap between theory and practice in a twofold way: firstly, it examines new connections between theoretical philosophy of science (epistemology, theory of science) and practical philosophy of science (ethics of science, political philosophy of science); secondly, it analyses relevant links between the cognitive dimension of the sciences (theories, hypotheses, discourses, models) and the material culture of the sciences (objects, equipment, experiments, practices). The group thus takes up contemporary tendencies to undercut traditional borders between epistemic and ethical, and between cognitive and material aspects of the sciences. It seeks to produce a rapprochement of the endpoints of both dichotomies. It systematically explores these connections and creates a framework that allows outstanding doctoral candidates to pursue integrated philosophical research into the sciences in a stable and stimulating research environment.

Requirements

Entry Requirements

Applicants must hold a pertinent university degree (typically an MA degree in Philosophy or History and Philosophy of Science) and must be eligible to enrol as doctoral students in philosophy at Leibniz University of Hanover or Bielefeld University. They need to specify a dissertation project that fits the aims of the research programme of GRK 2073 as described above.