Search result: Catalogue data in Spring Semester 2022

Science in Perspective Information
In “Science in Perspective”-courses students learn to reflect on ETH’s STEM subjects from the perspective of humanities, political and social sciences.

Only the courses listed below will be recognized as "Science in Perspective" courses.
Type B: Reflection About Subject-Specific Methods and Contents
Subject-specific courses. Particularly relevant for students interested in those subjects.

All these courses are also listed under the category “Typ A”, and every student can enroll in these courses.
D-PHYS
NumberTitleTypeECTSHoursLecturers
851-0585-38LData Science in Techno-Socio-Economic Systems Restricted registration - show details
Number of participants limited to 130.

This course is thought be for students in the 5th semester or above with quantitative skills and interests in modeling and computer simulations.

Particularly suitable for students of D-INFK, D-ITET, D-MAVT, D-MTEC, D-PHYS
W3 credits2VD. Helbing, N. Antulov-Fantulin, V. Vasiliauskaite
AbstractThis course introduces how techno-socio-economic systems in our complex society can be better understood with techniques and tools of data science. Students shall learn how the fundamentals of data science are used to give insights into the research of complexity science, computational social science, economics, finance, and others.
Learning objectiveThe goal of this course is to qualify students with knowledge on data science to better understand techno-socio-economic systems in our complex societies. This course aims to make students capable of applying the most appropriate and effective techniques of data science under different application scenarios. The course aims to engage students in exciting state-of-the-art scientific tools, methods and techniques of data science.
In particular, lectures will be divided into research talks and tutorials. The course shall increase the awareness level of students of the importance of interdisciplinary research. Finally, students have the opportunity to develop their own data science skills based on a data challenge task, they have to solve, deliver and present at the end of the course.
ContentWill be provided on a separate course webpage.
Lecture notesSlides will be provided.
LiteratureGrus, Joel. "Data Science from Scratch: First Principles with Python". O'Reilly Media, 2019.
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/2904392

"A high-bias, low-variance introduction to machine learning for physicists"
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0370157319300766

Applications to Techno-Socio-Economic Systems:

"The hidden geometry of complex, network-driven contagion phenomena" (relevant for modeling pandemic spread)
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/342/6164/1337

"A network framework of cultural history"
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/345/6196/558

"Science of science"
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/359/6379/eaao0185.abstract

"Generalized network dismantling"
https://www.pnas.org/content/116/14/6554

Further literature will be recommended in the lectures.
Prerequisites / NoticeGood programming skills and a good understanding of probability & statistics and calculus are expected.
CompetenciesCompetencies
Subject-specific CompetenciesConcepts and Theoriesassessed
Techniques and Technologiesassessed
Method-specific CompetenciesAnalytical Competenciesassessed
Decision-makingassessed
Media and Digital Technologiesassessed
Problem-solvingassessed
Project Managementassessed
Social CompetenciesCommunicationassessed
Cooperation and Teamworkassessed
Customer Orientationfostered
Leadership and Responsibilityassessed
Self-presentation and Social Influence assessed
Sensitivity to Diversityassessed
Negotiationfostered
Personal CompetenciesAdaptability and Flexibilityassessed
Creative Thinkingassessed
Critical Thinkingassessed
Integrity and Work Ethicsassessed
Self-awareness and Self-reflection assessed
Self-direction and Self-management assessed
851-0433-00LBioethics and the Shadow of the Holocaust: A Comparative, Interdisciplinary Outlook Restricted registration - show details W2 credits1SR. Zalasik
AbstractThe course deals with impact of the Holocaust on discourse of bioethics in Israel, the U.S. and Germany from the end of WWII until the present. It explores the questions how and to what extent Nazi medical crimes (euthanasia, human medical experiments, involvement of German doctors in the murder of handicaps, mentally ill, Jews and concentration camps prisoners) has influenced medical practice.
Learning objectiveThe course aims to critically explore the development of bioethics and the shadow of the Holocaust Israel, Germany and the U.S. constructing a triangle of the representative of the victims, the perpetrators and the victorious with the emphasize on beginning and end life, fertilization technologies and informed consent.
ContentBioethics in its current form has emerged only after World War II. The influence of the Holocaust played a direct role in its development especially with the Nuremburg doctors’ trials and the creation of the “Nuremberg Code”, which was written by American doctors and jurists in an effort to avoid the recurrence of such medical atrocities and to clearly differentiate between the crimes committed by Nazi doctors and ordinary medical research. A common claim is that the Holocaust had a deep influence on the birth of bioethics, and the Nuremberg code, being a watershed moment in its history. In contrast, some scholars contend that the Nuremberg trials and the Nuremberg Code had a rather limited influence on the development of bioethics.
851-0183-00LFeminist New Materialisms: Philosophies of Physics, Biology and Society Restricted registration - show details W3 credits2SR. Wagner
AbstractReading and reflection on Karan Barad's and Deboleena Roy's new materialist feminist philosophies of physics, biology and the social.
Learning objective- Acquaintance with contemporary feminist new materialist philosophies of science ans society
- Ability to apply these ways of thinking to the context of scientific practice and their social impact
ContentIn this course we will read excerpts of Karan Barad's "meeting the universe half way" and Deboleena Roy's "Biology, becomings and life in the lab". These books apply feminist philosophies and new-materialist approaches in order to break the boundaries between our thinking about the natural or material on the one hand and the social or discursive on the other. They engage classical ontological/epistemological questions in the philosophy of science as well as socio-political and ethical questions in a continuous manner, emphasizing a feminist point of view. The course will follow their reasoning and analyze it in the context of contemporary philosophy and science studies.
851-0125-65LA Sampler of Histories and Philosophies of Mathematics Restricted registration - show details
Particularly suitable for students D-CHAB, D-INFK, D-ITET, D-MATH, D-PHYS
W3 credits2VR. Wagner
AbstractThis course will review several case studies from the ancient, medieval and modern history of mathematics. The case studies will be analyzed from various philosophical perspectives, while situating them in their historical and cultural contexts.
Learning objectiveThe course aims are:
1. To introduce students to the historicity of mathematics
2. To make sense of mathematical practices that appear unreasonable from a contemporary point of view
3. To develop critical reflection concerning the nature of mathematical objects
4. To introduce various theoretical approaches to the philosophy and history of mathematics
5. To open the students' horizons to the plurality of mathematical cultures and practices
851-0557-00LSoccer Analytics
Students should be comfortable with mathematical derivations and scripting for data analysis.
W3 credits2GU. Brandes
AbstractSoccer analytics refers to the use of data in tactical decision-making, strategic planning, and fan engagement in the context of association football. This course is first and foremost about data, problems, and methods. They are discussed, however, with reference to the broader context of measurement and data science in sports and society.
Learning objectiveStudents gain insight into the role of data science in professional football. They learn about attempts to capture aspects of the beautiful game in observable data to inform tactical, strategic, and communicative decision-making. By appreciating difficulties that arise even in activities with highly regulated interactions such as team sports, they reflect on the use of data science in the study of collective behavior.
ContentThe content is organized into lectures with time for reflective discussions and a practical part, in which small teams use free software tools to gain first-hand experience in working with sports data.

The following is a tentative overview of course contents, with exemplary aspects listed for each topic. A major element for each of the analytic topics are various forms of visualization such as timelines, step plots, scatterplots, density maps, shot maps, and networks.

1. Introduction
- history of measurement and analytics in sports
- laws of the game: equipment, space, time, players
- data: master, match, event, tracking; sources, availability, uses

2. Scores
- competitions: tournaments, leagues
- ranking teams: coefficients, latent strengths
- predicting results: odds, statistics

3. Individual Actions
- running: heatmaps, pitch control
- passing: packing, line breaking, crosses
- shooting: expected goals & co.

4. Match Phases
- set pieces, penalties, free kicks, etc.
- possession, location, organization

5. Collective Behavior
- formations: spatial distributions, proximity networks
- attacking: possession value, positional play, passing networks
- defending: (counter-)pressure, marking networks
- team composition: plus/minus, interactions

6. Environment
- recruitment: player profiles, transfer market, agents, salaries
- governance: clubs, leagues, associations, confederations
- engagement: attendance, merchandise, social media
- simulation: robocup, esports, fantasy football
- betting market

Fair warning: This is the first edition of the course and it may be adjusted depending on interest and feedback.
Prerequisites / NoticeCredits are awarded for active participation and a group project. To get the most out of the project, basic knowledge of programming languages such as python or R is advisable.
Whether the course is offered again will be decided at the end of the semester.
851-0172-00LAround 1936: The New Language of Science Restricted registration - show details
Number of participants limited to 40.

As a research seminar, this course is mostly suitable for MA and PhD students.
W3 credits2SJ. L. Gastaldi
AbstractThe years around 1936 witnessed an intense intellectual production in all fields of knowledge. All those contributions had a common denominator: the reorganization of their fields around a formal conception of language, which changed our linguistic practices both in science and in everyday life. This seminar proposes a comparative reading of those texts, to understand that transformation.
Learning objectiveDuring the seminar, students will be able to:
⁃ Acquire a broad interdisciplinary perspective on the history of formal languages and sciences
⁃ Obtain philosophical and historical tools for critically assessing the status language and sign systems in scientific practices
- Become acquainted with concepts and methods in the history and philosophy of science
⁃ Develop a critical understanding of the notion of formal
⁃ Discuss the methodological capabilities of historical epistemology
ContentThe years around 1936 (say, between 1934 and 1938) were the occasion of an intense and fertile intellectual production, opening new and long-lasting perspectives in practically all fields of knowledge, from mathematics and physics to linguistics and aesthetics, and even inaugurating or prefiguring new disciplines such as computability, complexity or information theory. Indeed, within those few years, famous seminal papers and works appeared by authors such as Einstein, Turing, Church, Gödel, Kolmogorov, Bourbaki, Gentzen, Tarski, Carnap, Shannon, Fisher, Hjelmslev, Schoenberg or Le Corbusier.

Despite the diversity of fields of knowledge concerned by this intense production, all those contributions seem to have a common denominator. In essence, they all concern a reorganization of their respective fields around a new conception of language as being of a purely formal nature. In hindsight, it can be said this simultaneous intellectual effort ended up changing our conception and practice of language, of what it means to read and write, both in science and in everyday life. However, although simultaneous, those efforts were not necessarily convergent. Multiple tensions, incompatibilities and fragile alliances accompanied the emergence of orientations such as computability theory, complexity theory, structuralist mathematics, proof and model theory, logicism, information theory, structuralist linguistics or aesthetical formalism and constructivism.

This seminar proposes, then, to perform a comparative reading of those original texts, to understand the nature of that transformation, the convergences and divergences between the different projects at stake, and how the singular way in which they have historically communicated still determines our contemporary practices and conceptions of language.

Students will be required to choose one of the proposed texts corresponding to their area of competence, and present it to the other students in an accessible way. Presentations will be followed by a collective discussion, putting in perspective all the texts discussed so far.
Prerequisites / NoticeAs a research seminar, this course is mostly suitable for MA and PhD students
CompetenciesCompetencies
Method-specific CompetenciesAnalytical Competenciesassessed
Social CompetenciesCommunicationassessed
Cooperation and Teamworkassessed
Customer Orientationassessed
Sensitivity to Diversityassessed
Negotiationassessed
Personal CompetenciesAdaptability and Flexibilityassessed
Creative Thinkingassessed
Critical Thinkingassessed
Integrity and Work Ethicsassessed
Self-awareness and Self-reflection assessed
851-0125-81LHow Free Are We? Philosophical Theories on Freedom and Determinism
Particularly suitable for students of D-BIOL, D-HEST, D-INFK, D-CHAB, D-HEST, D-PHYS
W3 credits2GL. Wingert
AbstractWe are praised for our achievements and blamed for our failures. It is presupposed that our doings are something that is up to us. "It is up to us" often expresses our attitude to treat us as free beings. But are we really free, hence responsible for our behavior? Or is our behaviour entrenched in conditions properly understood as deterministic ones?
Learning objectiveParticipants should learn to know and evaluate answers to the following questions:
1. How do determinists conceive of determinism and freedom?
2. What has freedom1 to be like, if we adult and healthy human beings should be responsible for our actions?
3. Are we justified in claiming that we do possess such a freedom1?
4. Is a scientific world view compatible with the ascription of freedom1 to us?
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