Search result: Catalogue data in Autumn Semester 2023
Science in Perspective  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 ContentsSubject-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. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Number | Title | Type | ECTS | Hours | Lecturers | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 851-0101-86L | Complex Social Systems: Modeling Agents, Learning, and Games  Prerequisites: Basic programming skills, elementary probability and statistics. | W | 3 credits | 2S | D. N. Dailisan, D. Carpentras, D. Helbing | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract | This course introduces mathematical and computational models to study techno-socioeconomic systems and the process of scientific research. Students develop a significant project to tackle techno-socio-economic challenges in application domains of complex systems. They are expected to implement a model and to communicate their results through a project report and a short oral presentation. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Learning objective | See your own field of study in a wider context (“Science in Perspective”), e.g. see the psychological, social, economic, environmental, historical, ethical,or philosophical connections and implications. Learn to think critically and out of the box. Question what you believe you know for sure. Get to know surprising, counterintuitive properties of complex (non-linearly interacting, networked, multi-component) systems. Learn about collaboration. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Content | By the end of the course, the students should be able to better understand the literature on complex social systems, develop their own models for studying specific phenomena and report results according to the standards of the relevant scientific literature by presenting their results both numerically and graphically. At the end of the course, the students will deliver a report, computer code and a short oral presentation. To collect credit points, students will have to actively contribute and give a circa 30 minutes presentation in the course on a subject agreed with the lecturers, after which the presentation will be discussed. The presentation will be graded. Students are expected to implement themselves models of techno-socio-economic processes and systems, particularly agent-based models, complex networks models, decision making, group dynamics, human crowds, or game-theoretical models. Credit points are finally earned for the implementation of a mathematical or empirical model from the complexity science literature, its presentation, and documentation by a project report. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lecture notes | The lecture slides will be presented on the course Moodle after each lecture. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Literature | Agent-Based Modeling https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-24004-1_2 Social Self-Organization https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783642240034 Traffic and related self-driven many-particle systems Reviews of Modern Physics 73, 1067 https://journals.aps.org/rmp/abstract/10.1103/RevModPhys.73.1067 An Analytical Theory of Traffic Flow (collection of papers) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261629187 Pedestrian, Crowd, and Evacuation Dynamics https://www.research-collection.ethz.ch/handle/20.500.11850/45424 The hidden geometry of complex, network-driven contagion phenomena (relevant for modeling pandemic spread) https://science.sciencemag.org/content/342/6164/1337 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prerequisites / Notice | The number of participants is limited to the size of the available computer teaching room. The source code related to the seminar thesis should be well enough documented. Good programming skills and a good understanding of probability & statistics and calculus are expected. Students need to present a new subject, for which they have not earned any credit points before. Good scientific practices, in particular citation and quotation rules, must be properly complied with. Chatham House rules apply to this course. Materials may not be shared without previous written permission. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 851-0742-01L | Contract Design II Does not take place this semester. To be considered for Contract Design II, you must have completed Contract Design I in the same semester. Students can only register for Contract Design II after having obtained approval by Prof. Stremitzer. | W | 1 credit | 1U | A. Stremitzer | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract | Contract Design II is a masterclass in the form of an interactive clinic that allows you to deepen your understanding of contracting by applying insights from Contract Design I to a comprehensive case study. Together with your classmates, you are going to advise a (hypothetical) client organization planning to enter a complex transaction on how to structure the underlying contract. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Learning objective | There is a possibility that representatives from companies that were previously engaged in similar deals will visit us in class and tell you about their experience firsthand. In Contract Design I, you will receive more detailed information on the content and learning objectives of Contract Design II. If you have urgent questions, please do not hesitate to send an e-mail to Professor Stremitzer’s Teaching Assistant Diego Caldera (diegoalberto.calderaherrera@uzh.ch). | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prerequisites / Notice | To enable you to work under the close supervision of your professor and his team, only a small group of students with backgrounds in law, business, or engineering is admitted to this course. This simulation is time-consuming and challenging. Hence, we can only admit the most successful and motivated students to this class. Further information on the application process will follow. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 851-0196-00L | Philosophy of Pure and Applied Mathematics: From Foundations to Practice | W | 3 credits | 2S | Y. P.‑H. Hamami | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract | This course is a general introduction to the philosophy of mathematics for science, mathematics and engineering students. It will introduce the main views and debates on the nature of mathematics present in contemporary philosophy. A special focus will be put on questions pertaining to the foundations of mathematics as well as on philosophical issues emerging from actual mathematical practice. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Learning objective | The objective of this course is to help students develop a reflective stance on what mathematics is and on its special place in the landscape of human knowledge. We expect students to be able to report the main philosophical conceptions of what mathematics is. We also expect them to be familiar with key debates in the philosophy of mathematics. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Content | This course is a general introduction to the philosophy of mathematics for science, mathematics and engineering students. It will introduce the main views and debates on the nature of mathematics present in contemporary philosophy. A special focus will be put on questions pertaining to the foundations of mathematics as well as on philosophical issues emerging from the actual practice of mathematics. The course is composed of four parts. Part I: Foundations of Mathematics. In this first part of the course, we will present the debates concerning the foundations of mathematics at the turn of the twentieth century. We will review the three main philosophical conceptions of mathematics developed during this period: logicism, formalism and intuitionism. Part II: Ontology and Epistemology of Mathematical Objects What is the nature of mathematical objects? And how can we acquire knowledge about them? Here we will present several ways of approaching these questions. We will discuss philosophical views that conceive mathematical objects as similar to physical objects, as creations of the human mind, as fictional characters, and as places in larger structures. We will see the strengths and weaknesses of these different views. Part III: Philosophy of Mathematical Practice In this part of the course, we will be concerned with a recent movement in the philosophy of mathematics dealing with the actual practice of mathematics. We will see two trends of research developed within this tradition. The first one aims to explain how we can think and reason mathematically with non-linguistic representations such as diagrams and symbolic notations. The second one asks whether there could be such things as explanations in mathematics and if yes what they are. The paradigmatic examples we will discuss here are mathematical proofs that not only establish that a theorem is true but also explain why it is true. Part IV: The Applicability of Mathematics to the Natural World It is a truism that mathematics is used everywhere in the natural and social sciences. But how come that mathematics applies so well to the natural world? If mathematics is just a pure game with symbols, or a pure invention of the human mind, it seems difficult to explain why it is so useful when formulating scientific theories about the world. In this part of the course, we will discuss this problem known as the applicability of mathematics, and we will see different philosophical solutions that have been developed to address it. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 851-0162-00L | Philosophy of Physics | W | 3 credits | 2S | M. Hampe, R. Wallny | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract | Close reading of and reflection about selected texts from physicists (e.g. C.F: Weizsäcker, Wilczek, Susskind) on the philosophical problems and consequences of their work. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Learning objective | Participants should develop a clear view of the epistemological foundations of their work and its consequences for philosophy of science and philosophy of nature. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Content | Newton's opus magnum of 1687 is still called a philosophy of nature: "Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica". The separation of physics from philosophy is new, and institutionally executed only in the 19th century. Since than the experiment is not a philosophical method and mahematical symbolization not part of the languages of philosophy anymore. But although the subjects were divided methodically they stayed in contact via their content. This can be seen in the reflexions of physicists like C. F: v. Weizsächer, Frank Wilczek or Leonard Susskind, who were all concerned with epistemological questions and topics related to the philosophy of science and philosophy of nature. The seminar is devoted to these reflections and will ask in what relation the philosophy of physicists stands to the physics of their time. We will discuss problems of the unity of physics, of emerging laws and of the beauty or ugliness of the physical universe resp. the theories about it. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Literature | see moodle | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prerequisites / Notice | The course follows the concept of an "inverted classroom". A prerequisite is that the relevant texts have been read prior to the lecture. The assistants will give support. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 851-0763-00L | Supervised Research (Law, Economics, and Data Science) | W | 3 credits | E. Ash, S. Galletta | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract | This is a supervised student project for 3 ECTS, supervised by the professorship of Elliott Ash (D-GESS). Students will adapt tools from econometrics and machine learning to questions in law, data science, and social science. Students must have some data science and/or statistics experience. Some programming experience in Python, Stata, or R is required. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Learning objective | Apply tools from data science and social science to a new project, potentially in a group, to develop a paper or app. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prerequisites / Notice | Some programming experience in Python, Stata, or R is required. Some experience with data science or statistics is required. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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