Dr. Benedikt Fait

Sprechstunde (GA 7/55):
Nach Vereinbarung, auf Wunsch auch via Zoom.

Office hours (GA 7/55):
By appointment, also via Zoom if desired.

New Book: Kausalerklärungen der Ökonomik (Mentis 2020)

See online

Research Areas

Specialization

• Philosophy of Science
• Philosophy of the Social Sciences
• Computational Social Science
• Philosophy of Economics
• Causality

Competence

• Philosophy of Mind
• Digital Humanities
• Philosophy of Language
• Logic

Vita

Academic Education

• 08/2014–09/2018
  Dissertation in Philosophy, Ruhr University Bochum. Title: "Kausalerklärungen in der Ökonomik. Eine wissenschaftstheoretische Untersuchung zu Intervention, Invarianz und Prognose" (Causal explanation in economics. Intervention, invariance, and forecast from the philosophy of science point of view) (summa cum laude).
• 12/2012
  Master of Arts (Philosophy, graduation with distinction, Ruhr University Bochum).
• 09/2009
  Bachelor of Arts (two-subject: Philosophy + Business Administration, Ruhr University Bochum).
• 06/2005
  School leaving examination (Abitur, final grade 1.0).

Academic Positions

• Since 10/2018: Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Philosophy I, Ruhr University Bochum.
• 09/2017–09/2018: Research Fellow, Department of Philosophy I, Ruhr University Bochum.
• 08–10/2016: Visiting PhD Student, Academy of Finland Centre of Excellence in the Philosophy of the Social Sciences (TINT), University of Helsinki.
• 03–07/2012: Student Assistant, Chair of Political Philosophy and Philosophy of Law (Prof. C. Mieth), Department of Philosophy I, Ruhr University Bochum.
• 10/2011–03/2012: Student Assistant, Chair of Human Resource Management (Prof. S. Winter), Faculty of Management and Economics, Ruhr University Bochum.
• 03/2007–02/2012: Student Assistant, Professorship of Logic and Philosophy of Language (Prof. U. Pardey), Department of Philosophy I, Ruhr University Bochum.
• 10/2009–03/2010: Student Assistant, Chair of Human Resource Management (Prof. S. Winter), Faculty of Management and Economics, Ruhr University Bochum.

Scholarships

• 08/2014–07/2017: PhD scholarship funded by Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (Friedrich Ebert Foundation).
• 02/2008–03/2012: Undergraduate scholarship funded by Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes (German Academic Scholarship Foundation).

Teaching

• Computer Simulations in Science (Master level)
• Einführung in die Wissenschaftstheorie (Introduction to Philosophy of Science, Bachelor level)

• Einführung in die Philosophie der Sozialwissenschaften (Introduction to the philosophy of the social sciences, Master level)
• Nietzsche und die Wissenschaft (Nietzsche and science, Bachelor level)

• Understanding Economic Models (Master level)
• Einführung in die Erkenntnistheorie (Introduction to epistemology, Bachelor level)

• Hume: Untersuchung über den menschlichen Verstand (Hume: An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Bachelor level)

• Theories of Causality (Master level)

• Historisch-systematische Einführung in die Wissenschaftstheorie (Historical-systematic introduction to philosophy of science, Bachelor level)

• Wissenschaftlicher Wandel und Erkenntnisfortschritt (Change in the sciences and growth of knowledge, Master level)

• Philosophy of Economics (Master level)

• Einführung in die Wissenschaftstheorie (Introduction to philosophy of science, Bachelor level)
• Wert und Werte von Wissenschaft in Zeiten von Trump und Pegida (Value and values of science in times of Trump and Pegida, Master level; seminar + workshop, together with Jan Baedke and Maria Sojka)

Reviewing

• Journal for General Philosophy of Science
• KRITERION

Selected Talks

• 27 September 2017: “What Phillips Has Actually Done – and What Not. A Woodwardian-Style Reconsideration of the Origin of a Paradigmatic Macroeconomic Generalization", XXIV. Kongress der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Philosophie (DGPhil), Humboldt University, Berlin.
• 6 October 2016: “What Phillips Has Actually Done – and What Not. An Interventionist Reconsideration of the Origin of a Pillar of Macroeconomics”, TINT, University of Helsinki, Finland.
• 17 November 2015: “Kausalerklärungen in der Ökonomie. Eine wissenschaftstheoretische Untersuchung über Invarianz, Intervention und Prognose” [“Causal Explanation in Economics. Invariance, Intervention, and Forecast from the Philosophy of Science Point of View”], Research Colloquium (Prof. G. Schurz), Department of Philosophy, Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany.
• 2 September 2014: “Kausalerklärungen in der Ökonomie” [“Causal Explanation in Economics”], workshop conducted by the interdisciplinary study group “Wissenschaftstheorie der Sozialwissenschaften” [“Philosophy of Science of the Social Sciences”] (Prof. R. Schützeichel and Dr. R. Greshoff), Faculty of Sociology, Bielefeld University, Germany.

Publications

Books and Editions

• Fait, B.: Kausalerklärungen in der Ökonomik. Eine wissenschafstheoretische Untersuchung zu Intervention, Invarianz und Prognose (Causal explanation in economics: Invariance, intervention, and forecast from the philosophy of science point of view], Paderborn 2020: Brill/Mentis.
• Fait, B. & Zumpf, D. (Eds.): Identität, Logik, Kritik. Festschrift für Ulrich Pardey zum 65. Geburtstag [Identity, logic, critique. Festschrift for Ulrich Pardey on the occasion of his sixty-fifth birthday], Münster 2014: LIT.