(Fwd) tudfil olvaso

ISSUES IN PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE G. Fekete This course is intended as an introduction to some of the recent issues and problems in philosophy of science. These issues will be grouped more or less under two fundamental topics: 1) the role of science, scientific objectivity, reference, confirmation and the interpretation of scientific theories; 2) causation, the unity of science, laws and their role in scientific explanation and reductionism. Time and student interest permitted we may also discuss some themes related to special fields within the philosophy of science, such as philosophical implications of the quantum theory (philosophy of physics), the problem of innateness (philosophy of biology) or other current methodological questions related to the philosophy of psychology. Requirements: Two short discussion papers (approx. 1,000 words, 40% each); participation (20%). Reading list: A The interpretation of scientific theories 1. Moritz Schlik: Positivism and Realism 2. Rudolf Carnap: Empiricism, Semantics and Ontology 3. Karl Popper: selections from The Logic of Scientific Discovery 4. Thomas Kuhn: Scientific Revolutions 5. V. O. Quine: Natural Kinds 6. Bas van Fraassen: To Save the Phenomena B Causation, explanation and reductionism 1. Bas van Fraassen: The Pragmatics of Explanation 2. Richard Boyd: Observations, Explanatory Power, and Simplicity: Toward a Non-Humean Account 3. Rudolf Carnap: Logical Foundations of the Unity of Science 4. Paul Oppenheim and Hilary Putnam: Unity of Science as a Working Hypothesis 5. Jerry Fodor: Special Sciences 6. Alan Garfinkel: Reductionism