Ingrid Jepsen,
Midwife, lecturer, University College Northern Denmark, the midwifery department
How to transfer knowledge of philosophy of science from theory to practice
Assisted by:
• Annegrethe Nielsen
• Grit Niklasson
The topic for the workshop
The workshop will be an
illustration of how we teach philosophy of science
in the beginning of the midwifery study
What is philosophy of science…? and what’s the use of it?
Students a
ttude…
What do we do?
The Midwifery students
are introduced to natural
science, humanities and
social sciences by three
different teachers. (2 x 45
min for each “science”).
Then we make a work-shop (3 x 45 min) to try to :
• Make the students understand the difference between the sciences
• Show how philosophy of science can make sense in relation to clinical practice
• Show what questions you ask according to a scientific
perspective
The students receive the questions for the workshop the day before the
workshop Workshop
The students are at first divided into 3 groups: natural science, humanities and social science.
Each group has a teacher as a
supervisor (the teacher who has taught philosophy of science)
Each group is told to watch a video focusing on their specific scientific perspective (and the questions).
The students watch the video (45 min)
V id eo
Natural science
Humanities
Social science
• Together with the three
teachers/ supervisors the class splits up into three groups to work with the questions
according to their ”science” (45 min)
• Finally the students prepare and make presentations for each other in the class room
-and they share and discuss their answers (45 min)
And now you are going to try it!
What are we going to do together?
“Count to three” to get your group allocation
1. Humanities 2. Natural science 3. Social science
A brief information about what in general constitutes the chosen sciences is handed out together with the questions for the video
Watch the video all together
Answer the questions in groups (together with the supervisor)
Presentation in plenum: You present your answers to the questions
What is natural science, humanities and social sciences?
(Holm AB, Philosophy of science, 2013, Frederiksberg, samfundslitteratur.)
Natural science
• Scientific knowledge is acquired through the systematic gathering of empirical data and only theories derived from such data can be
considered scientific (positivism)
• Scientific true theories are verifiable
• Only empirical and measurable “things” count
• Based on natural sciences
• Normative
• Neutrality, unprejudiced researcher
• Objectivism, an object is the sum of our sensory perception of it
• Observations: thorough, systematic, logically stringent, aimed at a particular target, generalizations
What is science, humanities and social sciences?
(Holm AB, Philosophy of science, 2013, Frederiksberg, samfundslitteratur.)
Humanities
• All expressions of human life are the object of humanities
• The interpretative way of human sciences in principle constitutes a never- ending process
• Working with human beings; there are no correct answers and there is no absolute truth
• Understanding, but complete understanding will never be reached
• The researcher works within a framework of understanding
• More in common with dialogue than experiments and observation
• Individuality
• Experiences are in focus
• Knowledge in depth and not in general
What is science, humanities and social sciences?
(Holm AB, Philosophy of science, 2013, Frederiksberg, samfundslitteratur.)
Social sciences
• All social sciences must be based on an ide of what a society is and what characterizes one’s social interaction
• Social life
• Family
• Network
• Problems and methods vary greatly according to which sociologist you are inspired:
• - Study social facts not individuals: religion, morals, language (Durkheim)
• - Class society, positions, capitalism, power struggles and conflicts of interests (Marx)
• - Individual behaviour (motives)(Weber)
• Being critical of the ethical or political consequenses of science is important. The researcher: critical of the role their research plays in society
• Uses different research-methods
Questions to answer in groups
Find examples in the video where you can see your scientific perspective represented
What kind of questions are you able to ask from your ”scientific”
perspective? - Choose one of your questions
What kind of study/research/methods would you choose to get answers to your question?
Try to find some arguments according to your “science”for the truth of this knowledge?
What is the use of your chosen research/investigation?
