Topic outline

  • General

    Course postponed to January 2023.


    Think like a philosopher, build like an entrepreneur

    At first glance, startups and philosophy seem like oil and water. Startups are all about hustling to get things done, quick and dirty. Philosophy is portrayed as quiet contemplation, slowing down and deep consideration. However, anyone really hoping to succeed as an entrepreneur needs also to learn to change frames of thinking, evaluate evidence critically and argue their position powerfully — all central philosophical and entrepreneurial skills. Here, philosophy is an action that we do on purpose.

    In the Startup Philosophy course, you will learn about key philosophical ideas, such as the nature of reality and ourselves, why we need question conventions, our epistemic boundaries, a philosophy of money and, of course, startup ethics. Teaching will start with argumentation and debate training that you will use throughout the whole course. The main teaching method will be facilitated group discussions.

    Ultimately, all great founders have always had the capability of seeing beyond the obvious. In this sense, they have almost without exception been capable of deep and sometimes even surprising philosophical thinking, even if they may not have been able to dress their thoughts in the garb of classical philosophy. By learning these philosophical concepts and ideas you can probe deeper into the very foundations of your ideas and ways of working.

    You don’t need knowledge of philosophical concepts or entrepreneurship education to be able to take this course. However, the nature of concepts that will be discussed and practiced throughout the course, assume a lot of readings of academic writings, as well as studying a few excerpts from classical and modern philosophical works. At the same time, the Aalto Ventures Program teachers will plant the concepts firmly into actual practical questions concerning starting and running a startup venture.

    The grading is pass or fail and the course will grant you 6 ECTS (162 hours of study) over 2 periods. The course is open to master’s and doctoral students at Aalto.

    After the course students will be able to (Bloom’s taxonomy): 

    ·        communicate ideas with structured argumentation and sell ideas (persuasion, argumentation, explanation); 

    ·        think critically about sustainability, society, and the role of the individual; 

    ·        question conventions; 

    ·        spot epistemic boundaries (also your boundaries) and know how to break through them; 

    ·        see the big picture of experience through interpretation;

    ·        use ethics to make better decisions in your professional life.


    Student’s feedback: “I liked that very different viewpoints, and approaches were brought up by the professor and lecturer(s). It was nice that there was both this introductory and a deeper learning approach on the course since philosophical concepts are relatively new to me, particularly the more theoretical and academic aspects. I believe the course also encouraged going out of my comfort zone during, e.g., the discussion sessions, Zoom breakout rooms and particularly the debate session”