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POLS1130 - Logic and formal structures in social sciences
Credits :
4
Lecturer :
Teaching assistants :
Mode of delivery :
Face-to-face , first term, 30 hours of theory and 15 hours of exercises.
Timetable :
First term Friday from 11:00 to 13:00 at 109 Marais 100
Language of instruction :
French
Learning outcomes :
The aims of this course are:
- to situate, in anthropological and historical perspectives, various concepts and results of the construction of mathematical thinking; - to develop the student's ability to apply basic mathematical techniques to issues of social sciences, using a formalisation, deduction and formal language tool. - to develop the analysis of structures which enable to understand theoretical developments in social sciences. Structure analysis being one of the major constituents of mathematics; - to provide the students with the necessary mathematical tools to follow the subsequent courses resorting to statistical techniques and data analysis.
Prerequisites :
None
Co-requisites :
None
Course contents :
Mathematics being primarily and generally a reasoning method, they enable to analyse relations between entities at a level of abstraction, a rigor and efficiency that is not always possible with ordinary language. This course will be considered at different levels, addressing the idea of mathematics as construction of knowledge, development of a tool and analysis of structures. It will be different from other mathematics courses due to its constant interaction with social themes.
Course outline:
Chapter 1: A bit of Social Choice Theory (and an impossibility theorem) Chapter 3: Structures and (thinking) Mathematics; Chapter 2: Logic and valid reasoning; Chapter 4: Shapley value in a cooperative game Chapter 5: Matching
Planned learning activities and teaching methods :
Lecture and tutorials
Assessment methods and criteria :
Written examination. Calculators are prohibited. It consists of four parts in order to cover all of the subject matter (including exercise sessions).
Recommended or required reading :
The references included here are the sources that have guided the preparation of certain parts of the course.
Balinski M., Le suffrage universel inachevé, Belin, 2004. (Surtout les pages 283-311).
Freund M., Logique et Raisonnement, Ellipse, 2011.
Gura E.-Y. and Maschler M. B., Insights into Game Theory -- An alternative mathematical experience, Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Hudry O., Votes et paradoxes~: les Èlections ne sont pas monotones !, Mathématiques et Sciences humaines / Mathematics and Social Sciences, n∞ 163, 2003, p. 9-39.
Lucas Th., Berlanger I. et De Greef I., Initiation à la logique formelle, Ed. de Boeck, 2003.
Taylor A.D. and Pacelli A.M., Mathematics and Politics -- Strategy, Voting, Power and Proof, Second Edition, Springer, 2008.
Other references are available in the course notes.
Other information :
A copy of the slides designed to be complete during the lecture, will be available.
Additional notes (incorporating more mathematical developments and readings) are also available at the reprography service.
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