Dear PhD candidates,

The courses of the Netherlands School for Research in Practical Philosophy (NSRPP) are open to PhD candidates who have been admitted into the NSRPP. Research Master students may also participate in the courses, if the director of the NSRPP gives his/her approval. PhD students who have not been admitted into the NSRPP may also participate in the courses, but a standard fee of 250 euro applies, payable by their institution.

To apply for a course, please send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , mentioning the name of the course, your affiliation and postal address. 

1. Ethics and the Empirical Sciences (September 21-December 16, 2009)

2. Ethics of Care and Health (19, 26 February; 5, 12, 19 March 2010 - Fridays)

3. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, Winterschool (22-26 March, 2010)

4. Ethics and Technology (14, 22, 28 April; 12, 19 May 2010 - Wednesdays, except for April 22: Thursday) 

5. Political Philosophy: Contemporary Theories of Justice (4, 11, 18, 25 June 2010 -  Fridays)

For more details about these courses, please see below. 

The course Food and Responsibility has been cancelled as there were an insufficient number of applications. 

Cursus Ethiek van Zorg en Gezondheid

Guy Widdershoven ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it )

Docenten

Inez de Beaufort, Hans van Delden, Maartje Schermer, Marian Verkerk, Guy Widdershoven

Doelstelling

In deze cursus wordt een overzicht geboden van een aantal actuele thema’s in de gezondheidsethiek. Centrale vraag is hoe filosofische theorieën en benaderingen kunnen helpen bij het omgaan met ethische vragen in de zorg. Voor onderzoekers in de gezondheidszorg biedt de cursus de mogelijkheid kennis te maken met filosofie en ethiek, voor filosofisch geschoolde onderzoekers biedt de cursus zicht op een belangrijk toepassingsgebied met eigen vragen en discussies. 

Werkwijze

Deelnemers lezen vooraf literatuur. Tijdens de bijeenkomst wordt het thema ingeleid door de docent. Daarna geven twee deelnemers een korte presentatie over de literatuur (een referaat en een kritische stellingname). Vervolgens discussie over de literatuur in de groep. Na de pauze volgt een bespreking van casuïstiek in subgroepen en een plenaire terugkoppeling.

Opzet per dagdeel:

-       Inleiding docent (20 minuten)

-       Referaat over de literatuur door een van de deelnemers (10 minuten)

-       Kritische stellingname t.o.v. de literatuur door een van de deelnemers (5 minuten)

-       Discussie door de deelnemers (40 minuten)

-       Pauze (15 minuten)

-       Bespreking casuïstiek in subgroepen (45 minuten)

-       Plenaire terugkoppeling (30 minuten)

Toetsing

Aanwezigheid (max. 1 maal afwezig, dan vervangende opdracht), actieve deelname, 1 maal referaat, 1 maal kritische stellingname, poster waarin theorie en praktijk op elkaar worden betrokken

Programma

19 februari 2010 (Guy Widdershoven): Universiteit Utrecht, Stijlkamer van Ravesteijn (1.06), Kromme Nieuwegracht 80, Utrecht

ochtend: kennismaking, filosofie en gezondheidszorg (reflectie op de gelezen inleidende teksten)

middag: autonomie, dwang en drang in de psychiatrie

26 februari 2010 (Marian Verkerk): Universiteit Utrecht, A.W. de Grootkamer (0.19), Trans 8, Utrecht

ochtend: lichamelijkheid (biobanken, body shopping)

middag: disability studies

5 maart 2010 (Maartje Schermer): Universiteit Utrecht, Stijlkamer van Ravesteijn (1.06), Kromme Nieuwegracht 80, Utrecht

ochtend: (wordt nog bekendgemaakt)

middag: enhancement

12 maart 2010 (Hans van Delden): Universiteit Utrecht, Stijlkamer van Ravesteijn (1.06), Kromme Nieuwegracht 80, Utrecht

ochtend: research ethics

middag: levenseinde

19 maart 2010 (allen): Universiteit Utrecht, Stijlkamer van Ravesteijn (1.06), Kromme Nieuwegracht 80, Utrecht

ochtend: posterpresentaties deelnemers

middag: verantwoordelijkheid: individueel of relationeel?

Ethiek als ambacht

Basisvragen in het dagelijks ethisch onderzoek

De Promovendiraad van de Landelijke Onderzoekschool Ethiek organiseert ook in 2010 weer een aantal landelijke seminars voor alle promovendi in de ethiek. Deze bijeenkomsten zijn bedoeld om je blik als ethicus te scherpen, je onderzoeksvaardigheden te verdiepen en collega-promovendi te leren kennen.

De Seminarserie 2010 heeft het thema Ethiek als ambacht. In drie bijeenkomsten komen basisvragen aan de orde waar iedere wetenschapper binnen de ethiek dagelijks mee worstelt. Zeker als je een proefschrift schrijft.

De data: 23 april (thema; afbakening en afronding); 2 juli (thema: ethiek en publiek) en 3 december (thema: stijlen van ethiek).

Topic
Moral agency and the empirical sciences

Scientific frame
More and more empirical scientists do not only do research on matters which until then predominantly were considered to belong to the domain of philosophy, but with the results of their research they also get involved with philosophical discussions. In addition, more and more philosophers themselves incorporate the results of empirical-scientific research into the formulations of their theories. Evolutionary biologists try to explain how the process of evolution could lead to the emergence of morality and they show that morality is to a much lesser degree an exclusively human phenomenon than usually is thought. To their mind, morality is not a product of culture but on the contrary, is connected with features and skills which are deeply rooted in our nature. Social-psychologists have tried to pull the rug out from under virtue ethics by concluding, based on various experiments, that concepts such as ‘character’ and ‘virtue’ are empirically untenable. More recent socio-psychological research has been done on moral judgements which shows that moral judgements often are intuitive, i.e. fast, automatic, unconscious, affection-charged reactions, in short ‘gut’ feelings. Reasons and reasoning rarely constitute moral judgements, but often are post hoc rationalisations of those judgements. Neuroscientists support that view by demonstrating that in cases of moral intuitions and moral reasoning different parts of the brains are active. Neuroscientists also try to get a grip on matters such as free will, weakness of will and amorality. As was mentioned, this generation of empirical scientists also gets involved with philosophical discussions. A widespread (but not generally) shared view among them is for instance that the Humean view of morality empirically is more adequate than the Kantian one and that the so-called ‘free will’ which ‘the’ philosophers talk about is an illusion. In order to evaluate these conclusions as philosophers and make a critical contribution to the broad discussions which at the moment are devoted to these empirical studies, we will also have to take a serious look at the results upon which they are based.
Philosophers cannot, nor ought to ignore the results of empirical research on moral agency. The formulation of ethical theories in future ought to be empirically well informed. But this does not imply that ethicists should resign themselves to the (philosophical) conclusions which empirical scientists draw. For the conceptual frames of empirical sciences are theory-charged, as well.

Aim
The course aims at 1) offering insight into the empirical presuppositions of philosophical and ethical theories to graduate students, 2) informing graduate students about relevant recent empirical-scientific research, and 3) asking graduate students to reflect on the consequences such research may have for philosophical and ethical concepts and theories.

Coordination
Prof.dr. A.W. Musschenga (VU University) and dr. M.M.S.K. Sie (EUR)

Structure
The course is split up into 10 sessions and takes place on 5 days spread out over three consecutive months. During the first session of a day relevant empirical research will be examined after which in the second session, the philosophical aspects will be considered and discussed.
The participants are expected to read all the assigned literature, to do assignments, to actively participate in the discussions and to write a paper at the end of the course.