Required Texts:

IPoS Arthur Zucker, Introduction to the Philosophy of Science, Prentice Hall, 1996.

PNS Carl G. Hempel, Philosophy of Natural Science, Prentice Hall,1966.

SSR Thomas S. Kuhn, Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 3rd edition, U. Chicago Press, 1996

CCP: A course-copy packet of material available online via WebCT.

Summary:

Over the past 100 years, science has grown into a remarkable and behemoth institution for the creation of knowledge. The U.S. Federal Government alone spends billions of dollars every year on physics, astronomy, biology, archaeology, genetics, psychology, neuroscience, economics, geology, etc. But what is science and how exactly does it work? What makes astronomy a “science,” but astrology something else? At what point, if any, does a scientific theory become a scientific law or fact? These questions and others fall under the purview of the sub-discipline of philosophy known as “philosophy of science”. We will read about several key episodes in the history of science. With this material as introduction, we will consider the two most influential, yet significantly different, 20th century views of science: First, we will consider Carl Hempel’s classic characterization of science, which is exemplary of the Logical Positivist movement. Second, we will look at the work of Thomas Kuhn, whose ideas have been highly influential in discrediting the Positivist view of science. With these two core texts under our belts, we will then consider the realism/antirealism debate (which asks whether theoretical entities—photons, genes, etc.—are metaphysically “real” in any robust sense of that term). At the end, we will take a short excursion into a case study, namely, the possibility of a science of the content of dreams.

Assessment:

Three things will determine to your final grade: 1) a take-home midterm (on Logical Positivism) {30%}, 2) a take-home midterm (on Kuhn and his aftermath){30%}, 3) EITHER a) an in-class comprehensive final exam OR b) a 8-10-page term paper on a topic negotiated between you and the professor {40%}

Note:

This class is not recomended for first-years (aka "freshmen"). Generally, the course is offered yearly, so you should have 3 chances to take it. Note to others: As you'll note from the list of readings in the syllabus and the amount of work listed in the "assessment" just above, this course is high-paced and reading & writing intensive. It's not recommended as a "fifth" (or sixth!) class.