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Philosophy of Science

Philosophy 418/520

Fall 2004, MWF 1:40-2:35, HU-109

Professor:   P.D. Magnus

Campus phone 2-4251

Office hours:   T 1:00-2:00, W 2:45-3:45,

and by appointment

Texts:  

Requirements

PAPER1   5 pages/1500 words. A rough draft will be due during Week 7 (Monday, October 11). The paper will be returned to you with comments and the final draft will be due during Week 9 (Monday, October 25). You should turn in the rough draft along with the final.

The draft will be marked with the grade it would have received if it were a final draft. If the paper is not improved, however, the final draft will not receive this grade! If you turn in the paper unmodified, you will get one letter grade less than the grade marked on the draft.

PAPER2   For undergraduates, the paper should be 5 pages/1500 words; for graduate students, 8-10 pages/2500 words. There is no formal draft process for the second paper.

Participation:   Participation in class discussion is required. Exemplary participation in class discussion will add to your grade, up to two-thirds of a letter grade.

Late papers:   Assignments will be considered late if they are not ready to hand in at the beginning of class on the day they are due. Each day late will result in a loss of one letter grade.

Academic honesty:   Students are encouraged to discuss issues from the course with each other and with others outside of class, but they are responsible for their own ideas. Cheating on exams will not be tolerated. Papers should include citations to any works cited or consulted, as well as acknowledgments of helpful interactions.

Absences:   Students who will need to miss class for religious observance, away games, or for other scheduled reasons should discuss these issues with the professor at the beginning of the term. If an emergency results in absence, the student should contact the professor as soon as possible. Make-up exams will be given only for documented, excused absences.

Schedule

This schedule is approximate. The topics for a given day may change as the term progresses.

M 8/30
Introduction
W 9/1
Thought experiments in science
Read Brown, CoDe 23-43
F 9/3
-continued-
Read Norton, CoDe 44-66

After Positivism

M 9/6
Constructive Empiricism
Read van Fraassen, Oxf 82-92
W 9/8
-continued-
Read Ellis, Oxf 166-193
F 9/10
Positivism and theory identity
Read Sklar, Oxf 61-81

M 9/13
-continued-
WF 9/15-17
NO CLASS

Laws of Nature

M 9/20
A crash course on causation
Read Psillos, C&E 3-8
W 9/22
Laws of nature as regularities
Read Psillos, C&E 137-158
F 9/24
Laws as necessities
Read Psillos, C&E 159-177

M 9/27
More about laws
Read Psillos, C&E 179-211
W 9/29
The patchwork view of laws
Read Cartwright, Oxf 314-326
F 10/1
EXAM 1

M 10/4
Are there laws in the social sciences? No!
Read Roberts, CoDe 151-167
W 10/6
Yes!
Read Kincaid, CoDe 168-187

Explanation

F 10/8
The DN model
Read Psillos, C&E 215-239

M 10/11
Statistical explanation
Read Psillos, C&E 241-262
PAPER1 draft due
W 10/13
Explanation of laws
Read Psillos 263-279
F 10/15
Explanation and metaphysics
Read Psillos, C&E 281-293

M 10/18
Inference to the best explanation
Lipton, Oxf 93-106
W 10/20
Explanationist realism
Read Boyd, Oxf 215-255
F 10/22
-continued-

Scientific success

M 10/25
Does the success of science justify realism? Yes!
Leplin, CoDe 117-132
PAPER1 due
W 10/27
No!
Kukla and Walmsley, CoDe 133-148
F 10/29
-continued-

M 11/1
EXAM 2
W 11/3
The pessimistic induction
Read Laudan, Oxf 107-138
F 11/5
Structural realism
Worrall, Oxf 139-166

M 11/8
-continued-
W 11/10
A crash course on probability
F 11/12
The base rate fallacy
Reading TBA

Science and probability

M 11/15
For Bayesianism
Read Salmon, Oxf 256-290
W 11/17
-continued-
F 11/19
NO CLASS

M 11/22
Against Bayesianism
Read Glymour, Oxf 290-313
WF 11/24-6
NO CLASS

M 11/29
Is justification about probabilities? Yes!
Maher, CoDe69-93
W 12/1
No!
Kelly and Glymour, CoDe 94-114
F 12/3
-continued-

M 12/6
Methodology vs. metaphysics
Read Laudan, Oxf 194-215
PAPER2 due
W 12/8
Conclusion
Final
EXAM 3