Philosophy of Science

Catalog description

This course is intended as an introduction to the philosophical issues that arise in the sciences. The course will cover some selection of the following philosophical topics: Demarcation: What is the difference between science and non-science? What makes it the case that the theories of one are scientific and the other are not? What is pseudo-science? And is it dangerous? Scientific Explanation: What do we do when we seek to provide scientific explanations? Do explanations have to be true to explain? Theories and Confirmation: Scientists provide theories about the world around us: what is the nature of those theories? Can they be proven true? How rigorous must testing be for us to accept scientific theories? What do we do if two theories are equally supported by the scientific evidence? Scientific Realism: What is the ontological status of entities posited by our best theories? What attitude should we take towards those posited entities? Do advancements in science get us closer to truth? Laws of Nature: What is the nature of the laws of nature? Can the laws of nature change, or are they fixed? Do the laws of nature govern? Are they exceptionless? Scientific Objectivity: Are scientists objective? And what does that even mean? Does the sociological aspect of scientific practice, e.g., being dominated by men, make it less objective? How might we address this problem if it does? Is it even reasonable to investigate science from a sociological perspective? Scientific Reduction: In what sense are the sciences unified, if at all? Is there a sense in which all the sciences could be replaced by fundamental physics? If not, why not?