FA17 PHIL381

PHIL381: Philosophy of Science
Professor: Cory Wright
TuTh 12:30–1:45pm, UTC–101

PHIL381 is an introduction to core issues in contemporary philosophy of science. These include scientific reasoning, models and modeling, the distinction between science and pseudoscience, the problems of induction and confirmation theory, scientific laws, and conceptions of scientific explanation. A range of philosophical positions will be considered, including naturalism, empiricism, and scientific realism, as well as classic and contemporary readings from Comte, Popper, Hempel, Feyerabend, Salmon, Lauden, Wimsatt, Cartwright, and others. The course will focus on a range of subdisciplines rather than any particular one. Participants need not have a background in science, but are encouraged to bring to the discussion material from sciences that they are familiar with if so. Having completed the course, students will have an appreciation for the central issues in philosophy of science, will be better prepared to critically assess reasoning in scientific texts, and will have developed both their skills in writing and analysis and their abilities to articulate and evaluate arguments.