Evolutionary Game Theory
Language: English or Hungarian
Animals settle conflicts over food, habitat and mating partners by engaging in antagonisic and cooperative behaviours. Some forms of fighting involve physical injury and death, while other encounters are resolved through posturing, displays and trials of strength. Evolutionary biologists seek to understand which strategies are used in which environments. In mathematics, games are defined as interactions in which participants select from a discrete set of strategies, and the outcomes for each participant depend on their strategy and the strategy of others. Biologists apply game theory to understand evolutionary strategies of organisms in multi-individual interactions. In this session, students will gain an insight into the evolution of non-injurious fighting and cooperation through the evolutionary game theory approach of John Maynard Smith and other scholars. The lecture is primarily recommended to students with an interest in mathematics, biology and economics.
The History of Time Concepts – The Birth of the Future
Language: English
The lecture entitled ‘The History of Time Concepts – The Birth of the Future’ leads students to consider that our understanding of time and its conceptual division have their own history. Basing the lecture on the original research and paradigmatic thinking of German historian of thought Reinhart Kosselleck, the lecture will introduce how various epochs have thought about notions of time from antiquity through the middle ages to modernity. It will give students an understanding of the underlying processes and causes that have lead to the emergence of the ‘future’ as an open an unpredictable space of possibilities. The lecture will talk of cyclical time, eschatology, and how humans have come to understand themselves in relation to “spaces of experience and horizons of expectation”.
The place of culture in the history of sociology
Language: English or Hungarian
The lecture entitled “The place of culture in the history of sociology” provides an overview of the various approaches to “culture” in the history of sociology. Following a general introduction of key concepts such as culture, society, civilization, mass and popular culture, first the Chicago School tradition of urban sociology and it’s exemplary theme of “subcultures” will be presented. In the second part of the presentation we are shipping up to the Midlands of England from the US in order to outline the characteristics of cultural studies throughout the works of noteworthy researchers of the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies. The stake of this part of the presentation is to understand why this research tradition understands youth cultures as a potential resource to counterbalance the homogenizing effects of capitalism. The last part of the presentation will be dedicated to the presenter’s own research about the Hungarian jazz scene.
Társadalmi mítoszok a szak- és egyetemválasztással kapcsolatban
Language: Hungarian
A workshop célja, hogy végigvegyük, milyen hatások alapján választanak a diákok egyetemi szakokat, milyen mítoszok és elvárások húzódnak meg a háttérben. Valójában milyen motivációk húzódnak az elképzelések mögött és ezek mennyire felelnek meg a valóságnak? Célunk, hogy a résztvevők megértsék: az orientáció egy tudományos és személyes fejlődési folyamat, ami a tanuláshoz szervesen kapcsolódik, és nem egy “megvilágosodási” pillanat.