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Introduction to the Philosophy of Science: Science, History, and Society
General Description: SUMMER TERM 2024 BA + Erasmus Module Mondays, 15:50-17:20, P217 Instructor & contact: Dr. André Martin, andre.martin@ff.cuni.cz This course will serve as an introduction to the philosophy of science with a focus on its historical and social developments, in seeming contrast with its more ideal objective aims. We will pursue such questions as: What makes scientific knowledge the apparent gold standard of knowledge? What are the methods of science, are they distinct, and are they distinctly modern? How can science both change over time and claim to provide privileged knowledge (or any at all) of a mind-independent world? The first two units of this course will be more explicitly historical: Unit 1 will start with a look at the direct roots of contemporary philosophy of science in early 20th century analytic empiricism, along with its challenges, especially from the deeply historical approach of Thomas Kuhn; Unit 2 will take a step back and consider some of the prior approaches of ancient to early modern science. In the second two units of this course, we will examine the varied methods of more contemporary science, in light of past and persisting challenges: e.g., the use of ideal models, experimental tools, abductive reasoning, and, most notably, social, value-laden, systems of knowledge generation. The historical approach to the philosophy of science will nonetheless return at the end of this course, most explicitly, when we examine the surprisingly deep challenges to be found in how we came to measure temperature with modern thermometers, via Hasok Chang’s Inventing Temperature. Poslední úprava: Martin André, Ph.D. (15.02.2024)
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Aims of the Course: This course will aim to introduce students to the philosophy of science, and related philosophical questions, by looking at its historical development and by examining its specific arguments and debates. It will also more generally aim to improve students’ abilities to process and discuss difficult historical and contemporary texts. The course meetings will consist of both lectures and discussion. Students are expected to have read the day’s texts and be ready to discuss. Class discussion, and in-class assignments, will aim to provide students with a low-risk environment to ask questions, try out different interpretations, and make use of each others’ perspectives. Poslední úprava: Martin André, Ph.D. (30.01.2024)
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Methods of Evaluation: Evaluation will be based on (i) in class participation (50%) and (ii) a final essay or oral exam (50%). In class participation will chiefly consist in in-class assignments (40%) but will also include regular discussion (10%). In-class assignments will consist of students submitting their own motivated questions, twice per term, before class, to aid in class discussion. The final assessment will either consist, according to your choice, of a critical paper of around 1500 words or a final oral exam, of around 30 minutes, with a focus on one or two texts from the class. More details will be provided during the term. Poslední úprava: Martin André, Ph.D. (30.01.2024)
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Course Materials: All required readings will be made available through the course website. Poslední úprava: Martin André, Ph.D. (30.01.2024)
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Schedule:
Unit 1: Early Analytic Philosophy of Science and its Challenges
Week 1: Logical Positivism Rudolph Carnap, “The Elimination of Metaphysics” & “Logical Foundations of the Unity of Science” [Optional: Kent Staley, “Logical Empiricism” Grover Maxwell, “The Ontological Status of Theoretical Entities”]
Week 2: Falsification and Demarcation Karl Popper, excerpts from, "Science: Conjectures and refutations" [Optional: Kent Staley, “Falsificationism: science without induction?”]
Week 3: Underdetermination Pierre Duhem, excerpts from The Aim and Structure of Physical Theory [Optional: Kent Staley, “Underdetermination”]
Week 4: Incommensurability, Historiography, and Anti-Realism Thomas Kuhn, excerpts from The Structure of Scientific Revolutions [Optional: Laura Schroeter, “The Limits of Conceptual Analysis” Kent Staley, “Kuhn: scientific revolutions as paradigm changes”]
Unit 2: Background in Ancient to Early Modern Science
Week 5: Aristotelian Science and its Legacy Aristotle, excerpts from the Physics, Metaphysics, and Posterior Analytics Aquinas, “Is Theology a Science?” (ST I.1) [Optional: James Lennox, “Aristotle’s Biology” (SEP) Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā), “A Verification of the True Account of the Soul” (The Soul, V.7)]
Weeks 6 & 7: Reason and Experiment in Early Modern Science James Robert Brown, “Illustrations from the laboratory of the mind” (On Galileo and Newton) [Optional: Alexandre Koyré, “Galileo’s Treatise ‘De Motu Gravium’”]
Émilie Du Châtelet, excerpts from the Foundations of Physics [Optional: Katherine Brading & Marius Stan, excerpts from Philosophical Mechanics in the Age of Reason David Hume, excerpts from An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding]
Unit 3: Scientific Method: Science and Society
Week 8: Feminist and Social Epistemology Sandra Harding, “Borderland Epistemologies” Helen Longino, excerpts from Science as Social Knowledge [Optional: Kent Staley, “Values in Science”]
Week 9: Explanation in the Social Sciences J.W.N. Watkins, “Historical explanation in the social sciences” Steven Lukes, “Methodological individualism reconsidered” [Optional: Émile Durkheim, excerpts from On Suicide Joseph Heath, “Methodological Individualism” (SEP)”]
Unit 4: Scientific Method: Value-Free Tools?
Week 10: Models, Abduction, and Anti-Realism Bas van Fraassen, excerpts from The Scientific Image Gilbert Harman, “The Inference to the Best Explanation” [Optional: Ronald Giere, “Models and Theories” from Explaining Science: A Cognitive Approach]
Weeks 11 & 12: Experiment and Measurement Allan Franklin, “How to avoid the experimenters' regress” [Optional: Harry Collins, “Detecting Gravitational Radiation: The Experimenter’s Regress”]
Hasok Chang, excerpts from Inventing Temperature [Optional: Eran Tal, “Measurement in Science” (SEP)]
Poslední úprava: Martin André, Ph.D. (12.02.2024)
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