1st Semester 2019/20: Hypothetical Reasoning: its development and impact
- Instructors
If you are interested in this project, please contact the instructor(s) by email.
Registration until 17 December 2019, 13:00 hr. through https://datanose.nl/#specialenrol, using the course code: 5314RHYR6Y
- ECTS
- 6
- Description
Hypothetical reasoning is essential in many areas of life:
- planning (“If we take the train, we’ll be there earlier.”)
- determining causation (“If the sensors had been working, the plane would not have crashed”)
- drafting policy (“If we build social housing, poverty levels will decline”)
- attributions of moral responsibility, praise and blame (“The accident is your fault: if you had been more aware, the accident would not have happened“)
- law (“If the candidate were male, her salary would be higher: so the employer unlawfully discriminated on the basis of sex”)
In this project we investigate the psychological development and moral implications of hypothetical reasoning.
- Organisation
The course will feature lectures during the first two weeks, on the following topics:
- Moral responsibility
- The psychology of hypothetical reasoning (guest lecture by Ivar Kolvoort from the UvA faculty of psychology)
- Causation: morality and gradability
- Causation in the law, a case study: discrimination law
Students will then have supervision meetings to develop their own ideas.
A detailed description of the project is available on the project homepage.
- Prerequisites
An interest in the topic.
- Assessment
Pass/fail based on:
- Class participation
- A presentation at the end of the third week
- A two-page conference abstract
- References
Please consult the project homepage.