Introduction to Philosophy of Science
This thoughtful reader represents a cooperative effort to provide an introduction to the philosophy of science focused on cultivating an understanding of both the workings of science and its historical and social context.
Abstract
COURSE DESCRIPTION The aim of this course is to give students a basic introduction to scientific practice and the kinds of knowledge produced thereby. Students will learn to understand how science differs from other ways of producing knowledge, and also about similarities of natural sciences, social sciences, and the humanities. After a historical overview of the development of sciences, we will address questions like the following: Is there a way to demarcate science from pseudo-science or ideology? How is scientific knowledge made reliable? What is induction? What is confirmation? Is it giving us access to reality or is it merely a tool, e.g., for successful prediction or explanation? The so-called “analytic” project within philosophy of science focused on these and similar (by now) classic questions. During the second half of the 20th century, when history of science and the intermingling of science and society were gaining a more prominent role in philosophical debates, attention in philosophy of science diversified towards further questions, for instance: What follows philosophically from looking at the history of science, in particular the study of scientific revolutions? If social values influence sciences, is that legitimate? In which sense, if any, is science itself social and political? How do we create order by classifying things into kinds (or sets)? What does it mean that sciences causally explain phenomena? And what shall one do with radical science skepticism, as in climate change denial?