We will have three meetings. As this is an intensive course based on independent study, participation in class in all meetings is required. Texts will be made available in Moodle. 

Wed 19th Sep 4pm A preliminary meeting: divide the tasks.  

Fri Nov 9th 10am - 2pm. Carl Schmitt: The Concept of the Political. The participants give 5 min presentation on the alloted pages. Each participant reads the whole book and prepares a summary of the book with own comments.  

Tue Dec 4th 10 am - 4 pm Hannah Arendt: The Human Condition. The participants give 5 min presentation on the alloted pages. Each participant reads the whole book and prepares a summary of the book with own comments.

It is widely agreed that social criticism requires knowledge, preferrably from many disciplines of social research. Social ontology studies the most general questions of the nature of social reality. Different scientific approaches make different ontological commitments, and participation in everyday life may make some other ontological commitments appropriate. At least since Habermas (1968), the critical knowledge interest has been distinguished as possibly requiring its own kind of theory (cf. also Horkheimer's distinction between traditional and critical theory). These plural approaches raise the philosophical question of uniting the perspectives, but this lecture series focuses on the critical perspective, asking what kind of social ontology does critical theory require.

Students will learn to understand the basics of economic way of thinking, especially as expressed in the idea of competive markets in both national and international contexts. On this basis, students will get a grasp of the signifigance of economics to a modern liberal-democratic politics - apparent, for example, in interpretations of the ideas of freedom, justice and democracy.

In questions concerning course content, please contact Petri Räsänen: e.petri.rasanen(a)uta.fi

We will have three meetings. As this is an intensive course based on independent study, participation in class in all meetings is required. Texts will be made available in Moodle. 

Wed 19th Sep 4pm A preliminary meeting: divide the tasks.  

Fri Nov 9th 10am - 2pm. Carl Schmitt: The Concept of the Political. The participants give 5 min presentation on the alloted pages. Each participant reads the whole book and prepares a summary of the book with own comments.  

Tue Dec 4th 10 am - 4 pm Hannah Arendt: The Human Condition. The participants give 5 min presentation on the alloted pages. Each participant reads the whole book and prepares a summary of the book with own comments.

It is widely agreed that social criticism requires knowledge, preferrably from many disciplines of social research. Social ontology studies the most general questions of the nature of social reality. Different scientific approaches make different ontological commitments, and participation in everyday life may make some other ontological commitments appropriate. At least since Habermas (1968), the critical knowledge interest has been distinguished as possibly requiring its own kind of theory (cf. also Horkheimer's distinction between traditional and critical theory). These plural approaches raise the philosophical question of uniting the perspectives, but this lecture series focuses on the critical perspective, asking what kind of social ontology does critical theory require.

Two meetings:

19.2.2019 Orientation 10-11

7.5.2019 Discussion 10-18

Two meetings:

19.2.2019 Orientation 10-11

7.5.2019 Discussion 10-18

This course will examine the moral questions raised by research practices in different disciplines. It will cover the origins of research ethics, and look at the ways in which different moral theories respond to the challenges of research. It will include a focus on the 'Four Principles' approach to research ethics - and consider whether this offers advantages over traditional moral theories. Participants will be asked to deliberate on a series of case studies highlighting a variety of ethical issues, drawn from real-world examples. They will have a possibility to think about the ways in which research ethics applies to research in their own disciplines. In addition to the specifics of research ethics, students will explore the question of what constitutes research, and whether the focus on ethics in relation to research per se constitutes a problem with regard to 'research exceptionalism'.

Instructor: Associate Professor Anna Smajdor, University of Oslo

Before first meeting, readan article from Rosamond Rhodes "Rehtinking Research Ethics" (2006):  https://www.dropbox.com/s/spb22yugn926xz1/Rethinking%20Research%20Ethics.pdf?dl=0

This course cannot be used to replace the mandatory research ethics requirement for doctorate students.