By taking current problems and challenges such as the climate crisis, sustainability issues, and the coronavirus crisis as case studies, the summer school addresses three general topics:

1. Science, pseudoscience, and non-science

Scientific knowledge, scientific institutions and scientists are often at the center of public critique. These critiques range from genuine concerns coming from various societal actors to anti-intellectualism and ‘alternative facts’. In this situation, science (again) faces the necessity to reflect on its values, in order to understand the epistemic and non-epistemic values according to which it should conduct and communicate research, secure its integrity and distance itself from other kinds of knowledge production and/or public opinion. This includes reflecting on the value (and duties) of science in society in contrast to other knowledge systems.  

2. Interdisciplinarity

Today, interdisciplinarity is often taken to be a virtue in itself or, in some general way, to allow for better or more complete knowledge about complex issues through scientific pluralism. Philosophers have rarely explored the exact values that make interdisciplinarity desirable and possible. In order to avoid that ‘interdisciplinarity’ turns into an empty label, such reflection is strongly needed. We will discuss criteria of epistemic pluralism as well as differences (and similarities) in explanatory standards across disciplinary boundaries. We will also pay attention to epistemic injustice problems especially in transdisciplinary science and to the authority of different ‘knowers’ involved in epistemic practices. Moreover, we will reflect on whether interdisciplinarity is a value in itself in face of global challenges that are orthogonal to traditional disciplinary boundaries of science.

3. Complexity and uncertainty

In a world that seemingly gets more complicated by the minute and in which science is addressing more and more complex phenomena, traditional values like simplicity and predictive power of scientific explanations becomes problematic. In face of this challenge, we ask, among others, whether science needs new value systems for Big-Data approaches and for addressing complex global challenges. We discuss how in past and present investigations of complex phenomena, phases of doubt and uncertainty originate, and whether uncertainty should be considered less of a vice and more of an epistemic virtue that can drive scientific enterprises. We will also analyze the consequences of different approaches to uncertainty and complexity in society at large.