New Master’s Program Brings Together Philosophy & Data Science
A new master’s program offered by the Center for Philosophy, Science, and Policy (CPSP) at the Marche Polytechnic University combines data analysis, machine learning, programming, and philosophy.
The “Statistics, Data Intelligence, and the Foundations of the Sciences” program “aims to fill a gap in the Data Science and STEM fields by integrating theoretical tools and empirical methods for an educated approach to data analysis, scientific experimentation, use of simulation tools in scientific inference and forecasting, as well as evaluation of evidence for policy purposes.”
The program is launching in the fall.
Courses will cover topics such as
- advanced data analysis and inferential techniques (machine learning, deep learning, AI)
- data processing tools (Python, STATA, R, Matlab)
- epistemology
- philosophy of science
- political and economic analyses of science in society
- the role of scientific evidence in decision-making
- public policy
You can learn more about the program, for which applications are currently being accepted, here.
(via Michał Sikorski)
Related: New: an MA Program in Philosophy & Computing
Also, Philosophy of Data Science (PODS) at Guelph, https://www.uoguelph.ca/arts/pods
Relatedly, colleagues at Uni Bayreuth are starting a new MA program “Philosophy and Computer Science”. https://www.philcs.uni-bayreuth.de/en/index.html
I like this idea
Someone argued to me once, though, that all data science students should be required to “take” philosophy of science. That I don’t believe. Work-a-day data workers do not necessarily need to reflect on, say, the demarcation problem.
In a similar vein, we are starting a Philosophy and AI BA programme here in Umeå next semester (mixed Swedish/English, mixed Philosophy/Computer Science): https://www.umu.se/utbildning/program/kandidatprogram-i-filosofi-och-artificiell-intelligens/
This in interesting and already sparks conscience affirmation of Information Evolution, Computer vernaculars and Syntaxing values at the highest possible rate of language exchange and the barriers needed to overcome circumstances in order to extrapolate the meaning of life.