Philosophy of Science

Catalog description

Some philosophers contend that the apparent understanding of events and regularities produced by scientific explanations is of limited value and can even lead us astray. At the other extreme are those who take understanding to have intrinsic value and to be an end in itself. In between are those who take understanding to have mere instrumental (e.g., predictive) value. On all sides, there is debate about the potential marks of understanding, about what it is in and of itself, about how cognitive systems attain it, and about what explanations are such that they can supply it. We will study proposals regarding these issues offered, past and present, by prominent philosophers of science and cognitive scientists. Additional topics will include modes of knowledge production and analysis of so-called "scientific objectivity."