S4002 Law, ethics and philosophy of science

Faculty of Science
Autumn 2024
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 2 credit(s) (plus 2 for the colloquium). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Taught in person.
Teacher(s)
doc. Mgr. Jan Havliš, Dr. (lecturer)
Mgr. Bc. Michal Koščík, Ph.D. (lecturer)
JUDr. MgA. Jakub Míšek, Ph.D. (lecturer)
prof. JUDr. Radim Polčák, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. Mgr. Jan Havliš, Dr.
National Centre for Biomolecular Research – Faculty of Science
Supplier department: National Centre for Biomolecular Research – Faculty of Science
Prerequisites
there are no particular prerequisites, except for at least partial practice in science and research on a level of diploma thesis.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 8 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
the main objective of the course/workshop is to acquaint students with practical aspects of gaining and treating scientific knowledge.
Learning outcomes
at the end of the course, students should be able to:
to better understand the importance of methodology, ethics, and law in science
to know the basics and background of epistemological approaches in science
to find one's way into ethical corners of contemporary scientific conduct
to be aware of ethically exposed legal issues in science (intellectual property, copyright, data protection).
Syllabus
  • part I. - Jan Havlis
  • 1. cognition - how our mind works
  • 2. epistemology / methodology of science - how knowledge acquisition works
  • 3. argumentation - how the knowledge propagation and sharing works
  • 4. ethics of scientific conduct / misconduct - how the knowledge acquisition, propagation and sharing fails
  • part II. - Michal Koscik, Matej Myska
  • 1. human rights and proportionality of legal principles
  • 2. methods for solving ethically exposed legal issues
  • 3. intellectual property rights – subject, structure, introduction to copyright
  • 4. copyright - rights to publications, licensing practices, transfers in projects and research consortia
  • 5. data protection in science and research – personal data, research data
  • 6. industrial intellectual property rights in science and research – patents, utility models, specific types of rights
Teaching methods
part I. - course/workshop will be supported by PPT presentations consisting of sets of tasks to demonstrate principles and to practice them, students will also receive guidelines and extended study materials. part II. - lectures, either offline or online, will be given using a combination of hand-outs and consequent discussion on the topic.
Assessment methods
active participation in both parts of the workshop is required. to receive a grade, two seminar papers in english covering topics of part I and part II should be submitted no later than 14 days before the end of the examination period.

to pass the S4002 subject part I, a student has to write a semestral project. to do so, choose just one particular subtopic from any of the two general sets of topics (methodology of science & ethics of science) that will present a base for an essay to be written by generative AI (ChatGPT, Bard, …). optimally, the AI-generated essay should discuss the importance of the chosen subtopic for the science, its consequences for research or scientific community.
then, the AI-generated essay should be critically analysed by the student. the critical analysis should include factual & conceptual analyses, along with an evaluation of the references in the AI-generated essay and their eventual completion to support the analyses, as mentioned earlier, as it is still an academic text that should be adequately referenced.

the semestral project should consist of these four parts, an altogether extent of approx. 6-8 pages
1. name the AI you have used
2. formulate exactly what assignment you gave to AI
3. present the result from the AI
4. present your analysis of the AI output

below are the two primary topics further specified; for more inspiration, check the file S4002_study materials
methodology of science subtopics
knowledge and cognition, scientific research process, hypothesis and its testing, paradigm and scientific theory, proper argumentation in favour of the presented scientific results, …
ethics of science subtopics
basic ethical rules in scientific conduct, scientific misconduct and its different subtypes, the role of honest error in science, pseudo-science, research integrity and its assurance, predatory practices, etc.…

essay for part II should deal with a given topic in legal aspects of science. in the case of absence, the student has to issue a letter of apology and submit two essays instead of one for the part missed.
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
The course can also be completed outside the examination period.
The course is taught annually.
The course is taught: in blocks.
Teacher's information
part I - philosophy and ethics of science

monday december 11 11:00 - 16:00 E35-145a

tuesday december 12 10:00 - 15:00 E35-145a

part II - science, ethics and law

monday december 13 10:00 - 15:00 E35-145a

tuesday december 14 11:00 - 16:00 E35-145a

the deadline for submission of the essays for part I is february 2, 2024.

The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2011 - acreditation, Autumn 2014, Autumn 2015, Autumn 2016, autumn 2017, Autumn 2018, Autumn 2019, Autumn 2020, autumn 2021, Autumn 2022, Autumn 2023.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2024, recent)
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