dr. R.G. (Rob) Withagen

I teach the courses on philosophy at the Department of Human Movement Sciences.

Theoretical issues in movement sciences

Bachelor course (second year)

Theories in human movement sciences are based on assumptions that are often the result of (old) philosophical debates. In this course we will examine these assumptions focussing on their historical context. We start with the ancient Greeks (Plato and Aristotle), and then subsequently address Newton, Descartes, Goethe, Darwin, Gibson, and the theory of self-organization. Central questions are: Is an animal a machine? Do animals and humans differ qualitatively? Is our body an instrument of our brain? How best to conceptualize the animals’ environment?

Philosophy of science and Ethics

Master course (first year)

Philosophy of sciences is, among other things, concerned with the strengths and weaknesses of the scientific method. In the first part of the course we will discuss the perspectives of Popper, Kuhn, and Lakatos and examine how they manifest themselves in human movement sciences. The second part of the course is concerned with ethical issues. After a general introduction in ethics we will address some ethical issues that are of special interest to human movement scientists.