The course aims to provide students with a foundational framework in critical thin-king, that can be a good criterion for orientation in the field of science and politics. The course is structured around two main objectives : 1. Students will be introduced to an epistemological model for the scientific explana-tion of social, economic, historical, and political phenomena. This model draws on key traditions including critical rationalism, fallibilist epistemology, methodological indi-vidualism, hermeneutics, and social evolutionism. The goal is to develop students’ ability to critically distinguish between scientific theories and other forms of knowledge, particularly in the realm of social sciences, and to engage in objective in-quiry of social phenomena. 2. The course will explore the epistemic underpinnings of the “open society” and the philosophical foundations of democracy, understood as a community rooted in critical dialogue. Emphasis will be placed on equipping students with conceptual tools for an epistemological defense of democratic values, as well as for critically understanding the risks and opportunities posed by new forms of opinion formation in the digital environment. More specifically, the aim is to outline the kind of critical thinking required for democracy to meet the challenge of adapting to the digital environment in a globalised world.

At the end of the course, students will be able to: a) understand how to test a scientific explanatory hypothesis; b) distinguish a scientific theory from an ideological or philosophical interpretation; c) distinguish a scientific prediction from a prophecy or a wishful statement; d) identify possible ideological interpretations present in historiographical, sociological, economic, or political science theories; e) objectively reconstruct the meaning of a text; f) understand the rational mechanisms underlying subjective decisions; g) understand the mechanisms governing the evolution of macro-social phenomena; h) identify epistemological threats to democracy and freedom; i) possess critical tools to better navigate the deregulated cognitive marketplace of the digital environment characterized by overinformation.

1. The Epistemological Status of the Social Sciences The first part of the course will be dedicated to the analysis of the logical structure of scientific theories and the tools for their logical and empirical control. The focus will be primarily on the issue of logical asymmetry between verification and falsification, with the aim of highlighting the logical foundations of the unified Popperian method: problems-theories-criticisms. Following this perspective, the epistemological reasons that underlie the anti-dogmatic attitude for the critical search for truth, both inside and outside science, will be investigated. The nomological-deductive model will be examined in order to explore the epistemological structure of scientific explanation and prediction. Particular emphasis will be placed on the paradigm of ‘knowledge through traces’, highlighting how it follows the logic of abduction, which is nothing more than a form of ‘hermeneutic knowledge’ based on the principle of causality. The discussion of the notion of the ‘hermeneutic circle’, proposed by H.-G. Gadamer, will allow for an understanding of the cognitive process that enables one to arrive at an objective interpretation of any text. 2. The Scientific Explanation of Social Phenomena The second part of the course will be specifically dedicated to the method of the social sciences. Starting from the perennial dispute between individualism and collectivism, the two complementary aspects of individualistic explanation will be examined: the theory of rationality for explaining human action in relation to its causes, and the theory of unintended consequences for explaining the evolutionary genesis of social phenomena produced by the spontaneous combination of the outcomes of actions aimed at other goals. Emphasis will be placed on the complementarity between indi-vidualistic explanation, nomological explanation, and on the considerable heuristic potential of this evolutionary perspective for explaining the genesis and transforma-tion of large social institutions. This epistemological perspective allows for a solid ex-planation of the micro-macro problem and, more generally, the problem of the genesis of social order. 3. Democracy and Critical Thinking in the Digital Age The third part of the course will explore, using the tools developed throughout the lessons, the connection between democracy and critical thinking. Starting from the Popperian distinction between "open society" and "closed society", the main "invisible geniuses" of democracy will be examined: defense of the human person, epistemologi-cal fallibilism, ethical relativism, autonomy of judgment and critical capacity. It will be shown how this approach allows for an effective theoretical defense of democracy and liberty. In relation to the autonomy of judgment and the critical capacity that the democratic individual must necessarily possess, the effects of the deregulation of the cognitive market in the digital environment will be examined, characterized by a radical change in the subjects, means, and procedures for the production and circula-tion of information intended to form public opinion. Emphasis will be placed on how some of the epistemological tools developed during the course can represent a resource to enhance critical capacities and the autonomy of judgment of the individual, thus enabling democracy to face the challenge of the digital age in the era of globalization.

Required: E. Di Nuoscio, Metodo scientifico e pensiero critico. Epistemologia delle scienze sociali, Mondadori, Milano, 2026 E.Di Nuoscio, I geni invisibili della democrazia, Mondadori, Milano 2022. Recommend reading: K.R. Popper, Tutta la vita è risolvere problemi, Rusconi, Milano 1997.

Lessons and seminars

Written exam

Strong interest in the subject