Course Topics
Topics: - “good science” vs. “bad science” - falsificationism, the methodology of scientific research programmes, methodological anarchism - the structure of hypothetical knowledge - explicit and implicit assumptions - model building and experienced reality - motivations for model building - operative ends and ends in themselves - the operative concepts of needs, the human being, time - welfare- and scarcity-based definitions of economics - scientific responsibility and the ethical scope of scientific knowledge.

Teaching format
Seminar style.

Educational objectives
Knowledge and understanding: 1. knowledge and understanding of the scope and task of scientific research; 2. knowledge of the structure of hypothetical knowledge; 3. knowledge of basic ethical issues of scientific research. Applying knowledge and understanding: 1. development of the capacity for distinguishing between scientific performance and scientific truth; 2. development of the ability to discern between relations of cause and effect and the truth of a phenomenon; 3. development of the capacity for critically assessing the formulation and implementation of a research endeavour. Making judgments: 1. understanding the peculiarity of scientific judgments; 2. understanding and applying the difference between making a judgment and evaluating; 3. understanding and applying the difference between making a judgment and expressing an opinion. Learning skills: 1. autonomous reasoning; 2. interpretive abilities exercised on economic texts; 3. oral and written expression of autonomous thinking.

Assessment
Short essay based on course readings and/or class discussion and/or methodological reflections on relevant scientific literature.

Evaluation criteria
Willingness to engage in meta-scientific (ethical and methodological) reflection; clarity and consistency of reasoning.