Philosophy of Science

Spring 2015

Professor: P.D. Magnus

• Syllabus [PDF]

Course readings

The legacy of positivism

• Moritz Schlick, Positivism and Realism
• Moritz Schlick, The Turning Point in Philosophy

Scientific realism

• Bas van Fraassen, To Save the Phenomena
• Kyle Stanford, Refusing the Devil's Bargain
• Richard Boyd; Realism, Approximate Truth, and Philosophical Method
• Larry Laudan, A Confutation of Convergent Realism
• P.D.M. and Craig Callendar, Realist Ennui and the Base Rate Fallacy

Laws of nature

• Nelson Goodman, The New Riddle of Induction
• Frank Ramsey, Law and Causality
• James Woodward, Simplicity in the Best Systems Account of Laws of Nature
• Tim Maudlin, from The Metaphysics Within Physics
• Nancy Cartwright, Fundamentalism vs. The Patchwork of Laws

Explanation

• James Woodward, Scientific Explanation
• Bill Bechtel and Adele Abrahamson, Explanation: a mechanist alternative

The unity of science

• Paul Oppenheim and Hilary Putnam, Unity of Science as a Working Hypothesis
• Jerry Fodor, Special Sciences
• Philip Kitcher, 1953 and all that
• Angela Potochnik, A Neurathian Conception of the Unity of Science
• Daniel Steel, Naturalism and the Enlightenment Ideal
• Kristen Intemann, Feminist Standpoint Empiricism