About us:

The MCMP hosts a vibrant research community of faculty, postdoctoral fellows, doctoral fellows, master students, and visiting fellows. It organizes at least two weekly colloquia and a weekly internal work-in-progress seminar, as well as various other activities such as workshops, conferences, summer schools, and reading groups. The primary language at the MCMP is English and fluency in German is not mandatory.

We are looking for you:

Postdoctoral Researcher (m/f/x)

in Munich

Your tasks and responsibilities:

The successful candidate will have a background in formal epistemology, social epistemology and agent-based modeling and will work on the project "Argumentation in a Social Context".

The project starts from the observation that argumentation is an inherently social activity. When we argue, we try to convince each other of certain claims, e.g., in law, politics, science, and everyday life. An important goal of the philosophical and psychological study of argumentation is the evaluation of arguments and argumentation schemes. To this end, Bayesian Argumentation is a promising normative framework that allows the study of the strength of different argumentation schemes. However, the current version of the theory has several weaknesses: (i) it does not handle complex arguments well, and (ii) it focuses only on a single agent, who may or may not change his or her beliefs in light of arguments put forward by another agent. This project will address these shortcomings and develop a fully social theory of Bayesian Argumentation that works for simple and complex arguments. The theory will be applied and tested in agent-based simulations assuming various social network structures. We will pay particular attention to the role of order effects and examine the consequences of the social structure of the group. Some of the predictions of our models will be tested in experiments.

The project is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and is conducted in collaboration with the psychologist Prof. Ulrike Hahn (Birkbeck, UK).

Your qualifications:

• A PhD in philosophy with a focus on formal epistemology, social epistemology and the philosophy of statistics.
• Qualified to do work in formal modeling and agent-based simulations.

Benefits:

The position is remunerated with a full-time employment contract under the German TV-L E13 salary scheme (conditions apply) and limited to 3 years. We also provide funds to cover costs to attend some workshops and conferences.The successful candidates will partake in the MCMP's academic activities and enjoy its administrative facilities and support. Your workplace is centrally located in Munich and well connected to public transport.

We offer an inclusive environment and encourage members from underrepresented groups to apply.

Also possible in a part-time capacity.

Contact:

Applications (including a cover letter that addresses, amongst others, one's academic background, research interests, fit to the project and the proposed starting date, a CV, a list of publications, and a sample of written work of no more than 5000 words) should be sent by email (in one PDF document) to the chair's office by 15 November, 2024. Additionally, two confidential letters of reference addressing the applicant's qualifications for academic research should be sent to the same email address from the referees directly. Candidates who have not finished their PhD at the time of the application deadline have to provide evidence (in the cover letter or in the reference) that they will have their PhD in hand at the time the position starts.

For further information, please contact Prof. Stephan Hartmann.

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