Serendip is an independent site partnering with faculty at multiple colleges and universities around the world. Happy exploring!

Reply to comment

Paul Grobstein's picture

Philosophy of Science 2008 - Schedule

Submitted by Paul Grobstein on Sat, 01/19/2008 - 12:26pm

Bio 310=Phil 310, Bryn Mawr College, Spring 2008

22 Jan	MK, PG	Introduction and the demarcation problem past and present	See Evolution and Intelligent Design: Perspectives and Lakatos
29 Jan	MK	Realism and the Aim of Science I	Karl Popper in Popper Selections, Chapters 11, 12, 17
5 Feb	MK	Realism and the Aim of Science II	Karl Popper in Popper Selections, Chapters 7, 8, 9, 10
12 Feb	MK, PG	Constructivism and Scientific Revolutions I	Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Chapters 1-9
19 Feb	MK, PG	Constructivism and Scientific Revolutions II	Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Chapters 10-13 and Postscript Donald Davidson, "On the very idea of a conceptual scheme" Available: video on quantum physics
Paper #1 Due noon, Friday February 22
26 Feb	PG	Scientific Realism	Nelson Goodman, "The Way the World Is" Michael Mckenna, "A Metaphysics for Krausz" Carl Hempel, "Comments on Goodman's Wonderful Ways of Worldmaking"
4 March	MK	Appearance and Reality in Physics	Kosso, Appearance and Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Physics, Chapters 1,2,8
Spring Break
18 March	PG	Science and the Brain	Grobstein, "Getting It Less Wrong the Brain's Way" Krausz, "Replies to Grobstein"
25 March	PG	Science and Story Telling	Grobstein, "Science as Story Telling and Story Revising
Paper #2 Due noon, Friday March 28
1 April	MK	Relativism and Science	Krausz, "Mapping Relativisms" Krausz, "Interpretation and Its Objects: A Synoptic View"
8 April	PG	Evolution, Complexity, Emergence	Daniel Dennett, Darwin's Dangerous Idea, selections Steven Johnson, Emergence, Introduction and Chapter 1
15 April	PG	Emergence as a Framework for Science	Grobstein, From Complexity to Emergence and Beyond: Towards Empirical Non-Foundationalism as a Guide to Inquiry
22 April	PG	Multiple Paths to Non-Foundationalism	William James, Pragmatism's Conception of Truth Imre Lakatos, Science and Pseudoscience Paul Feyerabend, Against Method Feminist Epistemology and Philosophy of Science George Lakoff, Philosophy in the Flesh Kyle Stanford, Science, History and the Problem of Unconceived Alternatives
29 April	MK, PG, class	Conclusions and Extensions
Paper #3 Due noon, Friday May 2

Reply