Schedule & Readings
Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9 | Week 10
All dates and readings are subject to change. Any changes will be announced via email and posted here.
The majority of readings come from Introductory Readings in the Philosophy of Science, 3rd. ed., edited by E. D. Klemke. Readings are to be completed prior to lecture and you must bring the book with you to class.
Week 1
March 30: Lecture
April 1: Lecture
Week 2
April 6: Lecture
April 8: Lecture
- Required Reading: "What Is Science" by John Ziman in Introductory Readings in the Philosophy of Science, 3rd. ed., pp. 48-53. (you must be logged in to SmartSite to access PDF)
Week 3
April 13: Lecture
- Required Reading: "Science: Conjectures and Refutations" by Karl Popper from Introductory Readings in the Philosophy of Science, 3rd. ed., pp. 38-47.
April 15: Lecture
Week 4
April 20: Lecture
- Required Reading: "The Nature of Theories" by Rudolf Carnap from Introductory Readings in the Philosophy of Science, 3rd. ed., pp. 316-332.
April 22: Lecture
- Required Reading: "What Theories Are Not" by Hilary Putnam from Introductory Readings in the Philosophy of Science, 3rd. ed., pp. 333-338.
Week 5
April 27: Lecture
- Required Reading: "Observation" by N. R. Hanson from Introductory Readings in the Philosophy of Science, 3rd. ed., pp. 339-351.
April 29: Lecture
Week 6
May 4: Lecture
- Required Reading: "Do Sub-Microscopic Entities Exist" by Stephen Toulmin from Introductory Readings in the Philosophy of Science, 3rd. ed., pp. 358-362.
May 6: Test 1 (Bring a Blue Book)
Week 7
May 11: Lecture
- Required Reading: "The Ontological Status of Theoretical Entities" by Grover Maxwell from Introductory Readings in the Philosophy of Science, 3rd. ed., pp. 363-373.
- Group Project Assignment Handed Out
May 13: Lecture
Week 8
May 18: Lecture
- Required Reading: "Is There a Significant Observational-Theoretical Distinction" by Carl A. Matheson and A. David Kline from Introductory Readings in the Philosophy of Science, 3rd. ed., pp. 374-390.
May 20: Lecture
- Required Reading:
"The Truth Doesn't Explain Much" by Nancy Cartwright from Introductory Readings in the Philosophy of Science, 3rd. ed., pp. 233-240.
Week 9
No Class because of holiday
May 25: Lecture
- Required Reading:
"Explanatory Unification" by Philip Kitcher from Introductory Readings in the Philosophy of Science, 3rd. ed., pp. 278-301.
May 27: Lecture
- Required Reading: Truth & Explanation online and on PDF.
"The Five Great Problems in Theoretical Physics" by Lee Smolin from The Trouble with Physics: The Rise of String Theory, the Fall of a Science, and What Comes Next, pp. 3-15.
- Study Guide for Test 2 Handed Out
Week 10
June 1: Lecture
June 3: Test 2 (Bring a Blue Book)
June 6: Group Project due by 9 p.m.