Syllabus-斯坦福科学哲学introduction

Philosophy 60, Introduction to Philosophy of Science, Stanford University, Fall Quarter 2021

I. DESCRIPTION:

For most of us, contemporary life would be unrecognizable without science and its technological offshoots. But what is science, and what, if anything, separates science from other forms of disciplined inquiry? Can there be necessary and sufficient conditions to distinguish science from non-science? Is this a distinction worth drawing? And if so, should science always strive to be value-free? What is scientific objectivity and how does it arise? How is scientific consensus formed or perhaps manufactured? Both philosophers and scientists have sought to address these, and related, questions with varying degrees of success. We’ll examine these attempts as well the distinctive views about science they often presuppose concerning scientific rationality and method, the relation of models and theories to observation and evidence, the meaning of the ‘objectivity’ bestowed upon scientific knowledge claims, and whether science is capable of yielding mind-independent truths about entities, processes and structures in the world.

II. COURSE OBJECTIVES:

to read and analyze contemporary literature in philosophy of science to think critically about claims regarding ‘the nature of science’ to write clear arguments in defense of your views about the knowledge science produces

III. PREREQUISITES: There are no prerequisites. A previous course in analytic philosophy and/or elementary symbolic logic (first-order predicate calculus) will be useful but is not necessary.

IV. REQUIRED READINGS. Available in paper editions at the Stanford Bookstore.

1) Thomas S. Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Third ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996 (First ed., 1962).

2) Richard Feynman, The Character of Physical Law. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2017 (First ed., 1965).

3) Samir Okasha, Philosophy of Science: Very Short Introduction. Second ed. NY: Oxford University Press, 2016.

In addition to the above, readings (approx. 40 pages per week) are on the course Canvas site or from the online Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

[..]

IX. TOPICS and LECTURES: Week 1 (Sept. 21 & 23): Introduction. What is Science? Science and Scientism.

-- readings: Okasha, ch. 1; Haack (2012) Weinberg (1994)

Week 2 (Sept. 28 & 30): Scientific method. -- readings: Newton (1729); Mill (1872); Ayala (2009); Einstein (1933); Popper (1953)

Week 3 (Oct. 5 & 7): Two views of science: -- part 1: selections from Feynman’s Character of Physical Law.

Week 4 (Oct. 12 & 14): Two views of science: -- part 2: selections from Kuhn’s Structure of Scientific Revolutions; Okasha, ch. 5.

Week 5 (Oct. 19 & 21): Scientific progress. Objectivity and values in science. -- readings: Laudan (1987); Weinberg (1993); Kuhn (1977); Megill (1994)

Week 6 (Oct. 26 & 28): First Essay Due at beginning of class, Oct. 28. Lectures by John Wilcox. Scientific confirmation. -- required reading: Strevens (2017, sections 1-5); optional reading: Wilcox (2021a, 2021b, 2021c, 2021d)

The readings are accessible here: https://www.johnwilcox.org/reading-guide-for- confirmation-lectures.html

Week 7 (Nov. 2 & 4): Scientific explanation. Laws of nature. -- readings: Okasha, ch. 3; Woodward & Ross (SEP); van Fraassen, selections from (1989; ch. 1-2)

Week 8 (Nov. 9 & 11): Lectures by John Wilcox. Theory choice. Underdetermination of theory by evidence. -- required readings: Duhem (1914/53), Strevens (2017, section 10); optional reading: Lipton (1991) & (2000)

Week 9 (Nov. 16 & 18): Scientific realism, instrumentalism and non-realism -- readings: Okasha, ch. 4; Psillos (2005) & (1996); van Fraassen (2001); Fine (1996)

Week 10 (Nov. 30 & Dec. 2): Summary and Conclusions. Open class discussion.