B_BA_FIL_k Philosophy for Managers

NEWTON University
winter 2026
Extent and Intensity
0/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
PhDr. Jiří Nesiba, LL.M., Ph.D. (lecturer)
PaedDr. Mgr. Bc. Tomáš Gábriš, PhD. (seminar tutor)
Guaranteed by
PhDr. Jiří Nesiba, LL.M., Ph.D.
Centre for Humanity Studies – Academic Department – NEWTON University
Timetable of Seminar Groups
B_BA_FIL_k/301k: Sun 18. 10. 8:45–11:55 BA Učebna 03 - modrá, 12:30–14:00 BA Učebna 03 - modrá, Sun 8. 11. 12:30–15:40 BA Učebna 03 - modrá, Sun 22. 11. 12:30–15:40 BA Učebna 03 - modrá, T. Gábriš
Prerequisites (in Czech)
(!B_BA_FIL_p Philosophy for Managers) && (!B_BA_FIL_k Philosophy for Managers) && (!B_BR_FIL_p Philosophy for Managers) && (!B_BR_FIL_k Philosophy for Managers) && (!B_PH_FIL_p Philosophy for Managers) && (!B_PH_FIL_k Philosophy for Managers)
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is offered to students of any study field.
Course objectives

The course Philosophy for Managers is grounded primarily in contemporary modern philosophy and focuses on introducing the fundamental concepts of European philosophy. It addresses the theoretical and practical foundations of scientific methodology, general scientific procedures, and selected issues in the theory of science. The course may be characterised as a practical introduction to a methodical approach to investigating the social world. At the same time, it contributes to the development of graduates’ critical thinking with regard to ethical and value-based approaches to management.

Course objectives


The course aims to:


  • Develop critical thinking, argumentation skills, and the ability to conduct dialogue and participate effectively in discussions.


  • Improve students’ preparation for their own academic work, particularly their final bachelor’s thesis.


  • Develop competences and skills in scientific reasoning in relation to specific problems under investigation, with particular emphasis on management-related issues and the social world.

Syllabus

Main course topics


  1. Introduction to philosophical methodology – the relationship between ontology, epistemology, and axiology; an introduction to the foundations of holistic philosophy, including selected chapters from the history of philosophy and science; an explanation of the fundamental philosophical distinction between opinion (doxa) and knowledge (epistēmē). Key chapters from the history of philosophy illustrating the development of scientific conceptions of time and space will be presented, particularly in relation to their social and cultural contexts.


  2. Epistemological concepts – fundamental approaches in the theory of knowledge, including the relationship among noetics, gnoseology, and epistemology; basic principles of pre-scientific natural philosophy in relation to knowledge; the emergence of modern science and the development of its relationship with religion and ethics; the relationship between scientific theory and practice; and the distinction between verification and falsification.


  3. Observation – an introduction to the principal concepts of positivist science, including empiricism, sensationalism, scepticism, materialism, and atomism; the correspondence theory of truth; and the problem of the fallacious confusion of causality and correlation.


  4. Classification – coherence and consistency in scientific theory; basic orientation in rationalist scientific approaches and schools of thought, including dualistic conceptions, structuralism, the development of fundamental classification schemes, predicate logic, deduction, and analysis; historical and contemporary systems for classifying the sciences; the tree of knowledge; and binary and general classifications of the sciences.


  5. Formulating hypotheses and research questions – scientific discoveries and the context of their emergence; developing one’s own scientific hypotheses and research questions in relation to specific issues of the social world; the theory of the transition from mythos to logos; examples from the history of philosophy concerning the influence of idealism, Romanticism, and emotivism on the development of science; typologies of creativity and psychological approaches to inspiration; individual and group creative methods; and the pragmatic theory of truth.


  6. Metacognition – the relationship between qualitative and quantitative approaches to knowledge; an introduction to major schools of thought criticising the one-sided reduction of scientific inquiry to the so-called objective world, including modern schools of logic and mathematics, phenomenology, linguistics, semiotics, and the syntax of language; key “therapeutic” currents in twentieth-century philosophy, including logotherapy, hermeneutics, and existentialism; the influence of twenty-first-century global culture on scientific thinking; and the search for a unifying theory connecting individual scientific approaches.


  7. Experiment – the benefits and risks of modern science in relation to the possibility of objective knowledge through experimentation, including the dissolution of the classical conception of subject–object reality; the compatibility of scientific approaches across disciplines, including tensions between the quantum world and the theory of relativity; typologies of experiments, such as blind, controlled, and grounded experiments; social experiments; and the pragmatic theory of truth.


  8. Explanation and interpretation – an introduction to philosophical traditions employing dialectical methods; propositional logic, including modus tollens and modus ponens; the art of dialogue; work with analogies and abstraction; the art of synthetic knowledge; symbolic forms of philosophy; and the consensus theory of truth.


  9. Evaluation – the development of scientific paradigms from antiquity to the present; retrospective evaluation and the incorporation of incoherent phenomena into theory; the formulation of criteria determining a theory of values; the application of ethics to the methodology of science; errors of cognition arising from the absence of ethical principles; the integral interconnection of scientific theories, including theories of everything and critiques of materialist methodology; and an explanation of the principle of reverse gnoseology.


  10. Life biographies – an introduction to synergistic and integrative approaches in science for understanding the contemporary world, including social psychology and generative sciences; integrative models of individual and social perceptions of time and space in the context of the interconnection of ethics, epistemology, and ontology, for example field theory, autopoietic systems, systems theory, and sociobiology.


  11. Case studies of new trends in contemporary science in a global world I – an introduction to complex methodological approaches, particularly the relationship among economics, nature, law, and ethics.


  12. Case studies of new trends in contemporary science in a global world II – an introduction to complex methodological approaches, particularly the relationship among economics, nature, law, and ethics.


Guest lectures


The course will include occasional guest lectures by invited experts from a wide range of disciplines whose scholarly work extends into philosophical themes and who will help students develop critical-thinking approaches. Specialists from psychology, physics, mathematics, natural sciences, and social sciences will complement the course framework.


Seminar topics


  1. Assignment of individual seminar-paper topics to students; an introductory presentation of philosophy as a way of understanding the world; cognitive fallacies; discussion of philosophical paradoxes in science; discussion of the methodology of final theses; and assignment of preparatory work for the following seminar.


  2. Review of students’ work assigned in the previous seminar; discussion of methodological issues; group methodological guidance for the preparation of final theses; and individual presentations of seminar papers by selected students scheduled for the relevant seminar session.


  3. Review of students’ work assigned in the previous seminar; discussion of the formulation of bachelor’s thesis objectives and scientific hypotheses; presentation of case studies concerning the development of scientific hypotheses and research questions from the history of science and philosophy; and individual presentations of seminar papers by selected students scheduled for the relevant seminar session.


  4. Review of students’ work assigned in the previous seminar; discussion of motivation and the formation of the meaning of research work in an individual’s personal development; followed by individual presentations of seminar papers by selected students scheduled for the relevant seminar session.


  5. Review of students’ work assigned in the previous seminar; discussion of the assessment and retrospective review of scholarly work; risks of scientific error; examples of cognitive fallacies from the history of science and philosophy; risks and opportunities associated with contemporary scientometrics; and, in the second half of the seminar, individual presentations of seminar papers by selected students scheduled for the relevant seminar session.


  6. Review of students’ work assigned in the previous seminar; concluding discussion of progress in designing research for the final thesis; the use of the most appropriate methods, including the relationship between quantitative and qualitative approaches; discussion of possibilities for the synergistic use of different scientific methods; integral methodology and synthetic knowledge; and, in the second half of the seminar, final individual presentations of seminar papers by selected students scheduled for the relevant seminar session.

Assessment methods

Course credit


  • Full-time study mode: Verified seminar attendance is required, with a minimum of 4 out of 6 seminars attended; an individual in-class presentation on an assigned topic; and submission of a written paper of five standard pages, including properly cited sources.


  • Part-time/combined study mode: An individual in-class presentation on an assigned topic and submission of a written paper of five standard pages, including properly cited sources.


Examination


  • Full-time and part-time/combined study modes: A written test and an oral final examination.

Language of instruction
Czech
Further Comments
The course is taught annually.
The course is also listed under the following terms winter 2024, winter 2025.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.newton.cz/course/nu/winter2026/B_BA_FIL_k