ESF:BPH_ZAFI Fundamentals of argumentation - Course Information

BPH_ZAFI Fundamentals of argumentation and ethics

Extent and Intensity

0/1/0. 3 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
In-person direct teaching

Teacher(s)

Mgr. et Mgr. Tomáš Ondráček, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Dr. Magdalena Adamus (seminar tutor)

Guaranteed by

Mgr. et Mgr. Tomáš Ondráček, Ph.D.
Department of Business Management – Faculty of Economics and Administration
Contact Person: Bc. Tereza Tomešová
Supplier department: Department of Business Management – Faculty of Economics and Administration

Course Enrolment Limitations

The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 200 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/200, only registered: 83/200, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 74/200

fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with

• Business Management (programme ESF, B-PEM)

Course objectives

Specific objectives:
- Students will be able to substantiate their statements, opinions, or positions, both in professional and practical life.
- Students will distinguish reasonable arguments from unreasonable, manipulative, or otherwise problematic persuasive practices.
- Students will be able to recognize complex problems and work with them
- Students will be able to detect pseudo-problems arising from misunderstanding or having no real impact.
- Students will distinguish what science is and what is pseudo-science or is different from science.
- Students will consider and work with ethical issues in practice and theory concerning science, organizations, and society.
Overall, students will be able to take a critical science-based approach to decision-making in theory and practice within the framework of ethical principles and individual values.
General objectives of the course:
- the cultivation of critical (argumentative) thinking,
- acquisition of basic concepts in the field of argumentation and ethics,
- the cultivation of theoretical thinking,
- the cultivation of scientific thinking,
- cultivation of ethical thinking.

Learning outcomes

After completing the course, the student will be able to:
- clearly formulate the reasons for their claims, i.e., present arguments for her/his thesis;
- evaluate the arguments of others;
- distinguish between what there is, what exists, and what is not;
- evaluate how something can be known;
- distinguish between what is science and what is not science;
- describe fundamental problems in science and pseudo-science;
- discuss possible approaches to assessing whether something is good;
- discuss and evaluate possible ethical issues of research;
- discuss and evaluate possible ethical issues in the corporate context (discrimination, coercion, …).

Syllabus

• Thematic plan of lectures:
• Block A - What are your reasons for this? (argumentation)
• 1. What are arguments and argumentation? (basic concepts of argumentation theory)
• 2. Does this necessarily follow? (formal arguments and logical errors)
• 3. Does it make sense? (informal argumentation and argumentation schemes)
• 4. Is this a good reason? (argumentation in context, argumentation errors, and evaluation of arguments)
• 5. How to say it? (the rhetorical side of communication)
• Block B - What is it about? (theory of science)
• 6. What is it? What can be known? (ontology, definition of individual, group, enterprise, epistemology, knowledge, group knowledge, organizational knowledge, sources of knowledge)
• 7. What is science? What is not science?(demarcation of science, observation, experiment, justification and explanation, pseudoscience, parascience, conspiracy and immunization strategies)
• Block D - Is it good? (ethics)
• 8. What exactly is good? (basic terms and concepts of ethics)
• 9. Good for one or all? (society and ethics)
• 10. Can we study hamsters on cocaine? (research ethics)
• 11. What can be sold and how? (business and organizational ethics)

Literature

required literature
• Speciální číslo o argumentaci online časopisu Filosofie Dnes: Filosofie Dnes, 2018 [online]. 10(2) [2021-14-05]. 1804-0969. Dostupné z: https://filosofiednes.ff.uhk.cz/index.php/hen/issue/view/23.
• JACKO, Jan Franciszek. Morality Management and Situation Ethics : Metatheory and Practice. Taylor & Francis, 2025. info
• BOUWMEESTER, Onno. Business Ethics and Critical Consultant Jokes: New Research Methods to Study Ethical Transgressions. Springer, 2023. info
• VAN EEMEREN, Frans H. and Rob GROOTENDORST. A Systematic Theory of Argumentation : The Pragma-dialectical Approach. Cambridge University Press, 2004. info

recommended literature
• FAIR, Frank and Daniel FASKO. Critical Thinking and Reasoning : Theory, Development, Instruction, and Assessment. Sense Publication, 2021. info
• The Sage handbook of marketing ethics. Edited by Lynne Eagle - Stephan Dahl - Patrick de Pelsmacker - Charles R. Taylor. Los Angeles: SAGE Reference, 2020, 1 online. ISBN 9781529736786. URL info
• CHATFIELD, Tom. Critical thinking : your guide to effective argument, successful analysis & independent study. First edition. Los Angeles: Sage, 2018, vii, 314. ISBN 9781473947139. info
• SIMS, R. R. Ethics and corporate social responsibility: why giants fall. 1st ed. Westport: Praeger, 2003, 318 pp. ISBN 0-275-98039-1. info
• WALTON, Douglas N. Media argumentation : dialectic, persuasion, and rhetoric. 1st pub. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007, xiii, 386. ISBN 9780521700306. info
• GOVIER, Trudy. A practical study of argument. 7th ed. Belmont: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2010, xiii, 417. ISBN 9781439035764. info
• POPPER, Karl R. Conjectures and refutations : the growth of scientific knowledge. 1st ed. London: Routledge Classics, 2002, xiii, 582. ISBN 0415285933. info

Teaching methods

The course is taught in the form of seminars and self-study.

Assessment methods

To pass the course, the student must do the following:
1. Active participation in seminars
- Attend seminars, be prepared for each seminar, i.e. have studied the assigned material, and actively participate in discussion and other activities.
2. Produce a group seminar paper
- According to the assignment in the interactive syllabus, prepare and submit a seminar paper.
3. Pass an oral exam
- This will be based on the seminar paper and the material assigned or discussed in the seminars.

Specific course completion requirements are outlined in the interactive course syllabus.
Any copying, recording, or leaking tests, use of unauthorized tools, aids, communication devices, or other disruptions of objectivity of exams (credit tests) will be considered non-compliance with the conditions for course completion and a severe violation of the study rules. Consequently, the teacher will finish the exam (credit test) by awarding a grade "F" in the Information System, and the Dean will initiate disciplinary proceedings that may result in study termination.
If the student enrols in the course during their trip abroad, the same conditions apply, i.e., the student must write a seminar paper on the chosen topic and then take an oral examination. It is advisable to contact the instructor at the beginning of the semester to agree on the topic of the paper, study materials, and the course of completion.

Language of instruction

Czech

Further comments (probably available only in Czech)

The course is taught annually.
The course is taught every week.
General note: Přednášky jsou dostupné online a ze záznamu. Předmět byl inovován v rámci projektu MUNI/IVV/0648/2024.
Information on course enrolment limitations: max. 20 cizích studentů; cvičení pouze pro studenty ESF

Teacher's information

If the student enrolls in the course during their trip abroad, the same conditions apply, i.e., the student must write a seminar paper on the chosen topic and then take an oral examination. It is advisable to contact the instructor at the beginning of the semester to agree on the topic of the paper, study materials, and the course of completion.

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