For those who resist easy certainties and engage in critical inquiry.

Modern societies depend on knowledge claims—scientific, historical, and political—yet disagreement about truth, evidence, and authority is increasingly visible. Knowledge advances not through certainty alone, but through inquiry, criticism, error, and revision.

This seminar examines how truth claims are formed, tested, and corrected across science, history, and philosophy. It explores reasoning under uncertainty, the productive role of error, and the importance of criticism and intellectual humility for responsible inquiry.

Participants develop a clearer understanding of how knowledge grows, where its limits lie, and what intellectual responsibility requires in complex and contested contexts.

What You'll Study

Four interconnected strands that explore personhood, freedom, and human flourishing from philosophical, psychiatric, and ethical perspectives.

Knowing in Science: Models, Evidence, and Uncertainty

Scientific knowledge is shaped by models, experiments, and interpretation rather than by facts alone. This strand examines how evidence is generated and evaluated, how uncertainty and complexity are handled, and why judgment remains essential when data and models are incomplete.

OUTCOME

A clearer understanding of scientific reasoning, uncertainty, and the limits of prediction.

What Makes Science Scientific? Methods, Models, and the Limits of Proof

This strand explores the principles that distinguish scientific inquiry: hypothesis formation, measurement, modeling, and error correction. Using examples from the natural sciences, it examines where scientific knowledge is robust, where it remains provisional, and why openness to revision is central to truth-seeking.

OUTCOME

Sound judgment about scientific methods, evidence, and the role of error in progress.

4 HOURS

History and Error: Narrative, Interpretation, and Truth

Historical knowledge rests on incomplete sources and contested interpretations. This strand examines how historians deal with ambiguity, bias, and contradiction, how narratives take shape, and how critical reading and contextual judgment support responsible historical understanding.

OUTCOME

Greater clarity about interpretation, narrative, and truth in historical inquiry.

6 HOURS

Truth and Error: Foundations of Critical Inquiry

This strand introduces core questions about truth, error, and rational inquiry. It examines why error is not a failure of reason but a condition of learning, and how criticism, fallibility, and intellectual humility sustain inquiry across disciplines.

OUTCOME

Orientation toward critical inquiry as a responsible, fallible human practice.

Aloysius Ventham

Academic Director Villa Steiner Enrichment Program

We expect selected faculty for this seminar. Faculty reflects the academic focus of the seminar and may evolve in response to availabity.

Marta Bertolaso

Professor of Philosophy of Science, Roma

Georg Reider

Professor emeritus of Physics at TU Wien.

NEXT STEPS

Apply for Truth, Knowledge, and Reasoning

Applications close August 1, 2026. Rolling admissions—early application recommended.