scholarly journals Integrating philosophy of science in civil engineering: an integrative course design strategy

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Miles MacLeod
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
Course Design ◽  
Civil Engineering ◽  
Scientific Practice ◽  
Design Strategy ◽  
Science And Engineering ◽  
Direct Role ◽  
Educational Structure ◽  
Scientific Decision ◽  
Science Material

AbstractMany philosophers of science think scientific practice can benefit from philosophical concepts, and as such philosophy of science should play a direct role in science and engineering education. In this paper we consider a highly integrative course design strategy for integrating philosophy of science in specific disciplinary educational programmes through adaptation, operationalization and embedding of philosophy of science material to fit both the scientific and educational structure of a programme. The goal of the strategy is to help encourage students to recognize the value of philosophical concepts to scientific decision making and to apply them in their own scientific practice. We use the example of a 7.5 ECTS civil engineering course which implements this design at a European technical university, to elaborate these concepts, and present some evidence on how students receive the course. We discuss some of challenges and limitations of implementing this kind of strategy for teaching philosophy of science.

Causal Powers

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
Philosophy Of Mind ◽  
Scientific Practice ◽  
Laws Of Nature ◽  
Causal Powers ◽  
Important Work ◽  
Space And Time ◽  
Metaphysics Of Mind

This collection brings together new and important work by both emerging scholars and those who helped shape the field on the nature of causal powers, and the connections between causal powers and other phenomena within metaphysics, philosophy of science, and philosophy of mind. Contributors discuss how one who takes causal powers to be in some sense irreducible should think about laws of nature, scientific practice, causation, modality, space and time, persistence, and the metaphysics of mind.

scholarly journals Scientific Practice and the Epistemology of Governing Laws

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 174-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
TYLER HILDEBRAND
Keyword(s):  
British Journal ◽  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
Scientific Practice ◽  
Laws Of Nature ◽  
General Interest ◽  
Natural Properties ◽  
Fundamental Properties ◽  
Epistemic Access ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThis article is concerned with the relationship between scientific practice and the metaphysics of laws of nature and natural properties. I begin by examining an argument by Michael Townsen Hicks and Jonathan Schaffer (‘Derivative Properties in Fundamental Laws,’ British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 2017) that an important feature of scientific practice—namely, that scientists sometimes invoke non-fundamental properties in fundamental laws—is incompatible with metaphysical theories according to which laws govern. I respond to their argument by developing an epistemology for governing laws that is grounded in scientific practice. This epistemology is of general interest for non-Humean theories of laws, for it helps to explain our epistemic access to non-Humean theoretical entities such as governing laws or fundamental powers.

scholarly journals GLOBAL CLASSROOM: A CASE STUDY IN ONLINE LEARNING ON SUSTAINABLE CITIES

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadine Ibrahim ◽  
Allison Van Beek
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Course Design ◽  
Civil Engineering ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Sustainable Cities ◽  
Diverse Classroom ◽  
Design Learning ◽  
Global Classroom

A new learning opportunity among civil engineering students is learning about urbanization in cities, which combines the sub-disciplines of civil engineering in a seamlessly interdisciplinary manner.  One of the greatest benefits of learning about a global phenomenon such as urbanization is introducing the opportunities to offer examples of the technological, cultural and social diversity surrounding the evolution of urban design, technologies and sustainable strategies from global cities. The ability to have a globally diverse classroom to bring in these perspectives and create a learning experience that captures this information sharing and exchange can be created through course design, learning activities, and assessments, hence the “global classroom.”  The authors present a case study of the global classroom for the online course “Sustainable Cities: Adding an African Perspective” and share their perspective on learner-driven formats that support the global classroom, which hinges upon students’ own interest and commitment to an online learning format.  

Application of Nanotechnology in Civil Engineering

2011 ◽  
Vol 261-263 ◽  
pp. 520-523 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamed Nabizadeh Rafsanjani ◽  
Mehdi Kadivar
Keyword(s):  
Civil Engineering ◽  
Characteristic Dimension ◽  
Science And Engineering ◽  
Research Areas ◽  
Active Research ◽  
Design Construction ◽  
Broad Overview

Nanotechnology is a science concerned with the design, construction and utilization of functional structures with at least one characteristic dimension measured in nanometres. Nanotechnology initially developed in the fields of physics and chemistry, and most fundamental developments still occur in these fields. Nanotechnology also needs to be applied in areas such as the engineering field. Obviously, the application of nanotechnology to science and engineering has increased in other fields over the years. One area which is one of the most active research areas in the field of nanotechnology is civil engineering. This paper presents a broad overview of the application of nanotechnology in the civil engineering.

scholarly journals The levels problem in psychopathology

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus I. Eronen
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Scientific Practice ◽  
Pragmatic Approach ◽  
Multiple Levels ◽  
Different Levels

Abstract Psychiatric disorders are studied at multiple levels, but there is no agreement on how these levels are related to each other, or how they should be understood in the first place. In this paper, I provide an account of levels and their relationships that is suited for psychopathology, drawing from recent debates in philosophy of science. Instead of metaphysical issues, the focus is on delivering an understanding of levels that is relevant and useful for scientific practice. I also defend a pragmatic approach to the question of reduction, arguing that even in-principle reductionists should embrace pluralism in practice. Finally, I discuss the benefits and challenges in integrating explanations and models of different levels.

scholarly journals From Explanation to Understanding: Normativity Lost?

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 327-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henk W. de Regt
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
Scientific Practice ◽  
Focus Of Attention ◽  
Scientific Understanding ◽  
Rhetorical Theory ◽  
Chemical Revolution ◽  
Normative Power ◽  
Contextual Theory ◽  
Psychological Dimensions

Abstract In recent years, scientific understanding has become a focus of attention in philosophy of science. Since understanding is typically associated with the pragmatic and psychological dimensions of explanation, shifting the focus from explanation to understanding may induce a shift from accounts that embody normative ideals to accounts that provide accurate descriptions of scientific practice. Not surprisingly, many ‘friends of understanding’ sympathize with a naturalistic approach to the philosophy of science. However, this raises the question of whether the proposed theories of understanding can still have normative power. In this paper I address this question by examining two theories of scientific understanding: Jan Faye’s pragmatic-rhetorical theory and my own contextual theory of scientific understanding. I argue that both theories leave room for normativity, despite their naturalistic tendencies. The normative power of my contextual theory is illustrated with a case study of the chemical revolution.

scholarly journals Imagining Mechanisms with Diagrams

2019 ◽  
pp. 178-209
Author(s):  
Benjamin Sheredos ◽  
William Bechtel
Keyword(s):  
Circadian Rhythms ◽  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
Scientific Practice ◽  
Scientific Work ◽  
Philosophical Analysis ◽  
Hypothetical Mechanism ◽  
Scientific Endeavor ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Circadian Biology

Philosophy of science has long focused on how scientists achieve successful explanations of a phenomenon. But much of scientific work is aimed at something more basic: successfully and coherently imagining how a phenomenon might be explained—for example, hypothesizing a mechanism that could possibly produce the phenomenon. This chapter examines the graphics and diagrams that scientists in the field of circadian biology have generated and used to externalize and stabilize their imaginative reasoning. In particular, it examines how scientists revise their graphics as they sharpen and constrain their imaginative construal of a hypothetical mechanism. This analysis examines published diagrams that reflect the community’s developing understanding of the mechanism responsible for circadian rhythms in cyanobacteria and zeroes in on unpublished graphics from a single lab as they developed one operation in the mechanism. The goal is to understand how circadian biologists rely on graphics to overcome the difficulties of imagining the complex working of hypothetical mechanisms over time. Throughout, the chapter emphasizes that pursuing imaginative success is a scientific endeavor governed by its own internal norms, distinct from the norms of successful explanation. The aim is to direct philosophical analysis to scientists’ imaginings and to encourage integrating this understudied dimension of scientific practice with traditional philosophical analysis of normativity in scientific practice.

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