The course aims at providing students with the means to develop a personal philosophical view about concepts built and used in the material sciences.
The content of the course varies from year to year. It consists in the philosophical study of a scientific concept (or a concept used by scientists), such as matter, causation, law of nature, probability, space, time, atom, force, field, intrication, mesure, chaos, determinism, chance, etc.
This year, the chosen concept will be emergence (and reductionism) in its relation to complexity.
Oral exam about the content of the introductory lectures together with a brief presentation of the personal investigation.
A portfolio of ressources will be suggested and/or made available on WebCampus.
Slides of the introductory lectures will be provided on WebCampus.