Theory of Science and Ethics
Ph.D. -course
- ECTS credits
- 5
- Teaching semesters Autumn, Spring
- Course code
- MNF990
- Number of semesters
- 1
- Teaching language
- English
- Resources
Course description
Objectives and Content
The course addresses key topics in theory of science and ethical questions of direct relevance for scientific practice. Examples are: the social organisation of science; academic integrity; the role and ethical responsibility of science in society; dilemmas in contract research; moral dilemmas created by modern science; how science can deal with complexity and uncertainty; and the consequences of training that can shape scientific thinking to become ethics-free and amoral. The course offers students an arena and opportunity to reflect critically upon their own research.
The course has a core part of seven lectures and seven discussion seminars and a selection of nine elective modules addressing specific topics or cases in theory of science and ethics of which each participant has to select three. Students write an essay about an epistemological or ethical problem of relevance to their own research field.
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course the students should have the following learning outcomes:
The student can:
- reflect critically upon the epistemic foundations of the sciences, as well as the implications of their own research;
- understand what science can, and cannot, deliver, and to understand how, and why, this is so;
- provide an overview of general debates about the theory of science, as well as perspectives on the relation between science/expertise and society;
- relate the debates on the theoretical and epistemic foundations of the natural sciences to similar debates within the humanities and the social sciences
- identify ethical questions of general relevance for their research field
- explain and prioritize ethical questions of specific relevance for their own projects
- develop an overview of epistemological, ethical and societal aspects of a study/research project in their field
ECTS Credits
Level of Study
Semester of Instruction
Required Previous Knowledge
Credit Reduction due to Course Overlap
MNF290 or MNF490 (3 ECTS)
MNF390 or PHDVIT (5 ECTS)
Access to the Course
Teaching and learning methods
The course is taught in concentrated form over a period of five and a half week. All contact hours take place in the first three course weeks. The instruction is a mixture of lectures and discussion seminars. The seminars address specific topics and go through exercises. During the course two written assignments have to be submitted. One of them is the final essay, which is due two and half week after the final lecture.
The course includes a number of mandatory requirements for attendance and active participation in presential as well as online activities, see below. The requirement of active participation includes the expectation that students come prepared to class.
Compulsory Assignments and Attendance
- Attendance and active participation in at least 80 % of the lectures and seminars
- Attendance and active participation in at least 3 modules.
- Submission of responses to at least 80% of the discussion prompts in the online tool for the course (Mitt UiB/Canvas)
All activities have to be completed.
Forms of Assessment
Grading Scale
Assessment Semester
Reading List
Course Evaluation
Programme Committee
Course Coordinator
AUTUMN 2026: Centre for the Study of the Sciences and the Humanities, Prof. Roger Strand, roger.strand@uib.no
SPRING 2027 and subsequent semesters: Centre for the Study of the Sciences and the Humanities, Prof. Jeroen van der Sluijs, jeroen.sluijs@uib.no