Although we do not always realize it, «Configurational Thinking» is everywhere, in science as well as our daily life. For instance, whenever scientists hypothesize about necessary conditions, whenever talk is of “recipes” for success or disaster, and whenever we say that something “depends”, we engage in configurational thinking. But while such thinking is ubiquitous and widespread, it remains surprisingly little understood, taught and studied.

In this seminar, students will be introduced to the philosophical foundations of configurational thinking, its formal language(s), and its methodological tools. So as to realize the widespread applicability of this seminar‘s content, we will look into several adjacent disciplines, including political science, law, economics as well as health studies, to discover in what ways configurational thinking has heavily influenced real-world scientific research and findings.

By the end of the course, students will have obtained a thorough understanding of how configurational causation works, and how it can be analyzed using state-of-the-art methods and actual empirical data. The ability to properly evaluate and assess configurational research in their main field of interest, and the capability to carry out such research themselves, will be one of the major benefits to students.