History and Philosophy of Science

History and Philosophy of Science

Prof. Patrick Frierson

Office Hours in Olin 151:

Wednesday 2-4, Thursday 10-11.

Purpose:

The primary purpose of this course is to encourage you to think more deeply about the status of science in the light of the history of science. Science classes often take for granted the basic nature of science, but this will be a course in which we will use historical perspectives on science to challenge and enrich our own views about the nature of science. We will focus on five key philosophers of science: Aristotle, Bacon, Descartes, Kant, and Kuhn. A secondary goal of this class is learning to read and understand difficult texts and to express yourself in writing and orally.

Assignments:

Participation. Participation is a crucial part of this class. I expect students to attend every class having read the material more than once, thought carefully about the questions on the syllabus, and completed any ancillary assignments. When you come to class, you should be ready to participate and to be called upon to participate at my discretion. You should bring specific questions you have about the text. And you should be clear, concise, and respectful in your comments. Although participation does not count for any specific percentage of your grade, it can substantially alter your grade for both better and worse. (Realistically, this means that you could get straight B's on your papers and exam but end up with an A- if you participate exceedingly well. On the other hand, you could get straight As on papers and exams and get a B- or even lower if you blow off class or are exceedingly disrespectful of your classmates.)

4 short papers (1000-1500 words).

On the syllabus, I have printed six questions based on the readings. I take papers very seriously, and I give significant feedback on papers that you write. Thus writing papers is one way of getting the kind of close attention from professors that you came to Whitman to get. Thus I strongly recommend that you write all six papers. However, you are required to write papers answering four of the questions. (The first paper is not optional; you must write a paper on that one). Because the papers often will be discussed in class on the day in which they are due, there are NO EXTENSIONS. ALL PAPERS MUST BE EMAILED TO ME BY 2:30 ON THE DAY THAT THEY ARE DUE. I will be glad to read papers turned in late and I will comment on them, but they will receive an F. However, if the class discussion leads you to reevaluate your paper, you are welcome to send me a "supplement" of up to 500 words explaining how your view has changed and why. These supplements are due at MIDNIGHT on the day the papers were due, and I will take these supplements into account in assigning your grade on the paper. Each short paper will be worth 20% of your grade. If you complete more than four papers, I will count the highest four grades.

For advice on writing papers in philosophy, I strongly recommend that you refer to Joe Cruz’s Writing Tutor at

http://www.williams.edu/philosophy/faculty/jcruz/writingtutor/ .

I expect you to have consulted this Writing Tutor before completing your first paper.

Take Home Final Exam. The final exam will be an open-book take home final exam. I will hand out the exam on the last day of class and it is due in my office by 5 PM on Tuesday, December 18. You have 24 hours to complete the exam. (When you open the exam, write your start time on the top of the examination sheet, and when you have completely finished, write your end time.) I will give you four general essay questions, of which you must answer two. The final exam is worth 20% of your grade.

Books:

Aristotle, Introduction to Aristotle, ed. Richard McKeon.

Francis Bacon, New Organon, ed. Michael Silverthorne and Lisa Jardine.

Rene Descartes, The Philosophical Writings of Descartes, volume 1, ed. Cottingham, Stoothoff, and Murdoch.

Immanuel Kant, The Philosophy of Material Nature

Thomas Kuhn, Structure of Scientific Revolutions.

Optional: Newton’s Philosophy of Nature: Selections from his Writings, ed. Thayer.

Timeline:

Aug.	29	Introduction. Lecture on the history of the philosophy of science.
	31	Aristotle, Posterior Analytics, Book I, §§ 1-4, 6, 10, 18, 28, 31, 33-34. (Why is scientific knowledge "not possible through the act of perception" (see I.31)? How then is scientific knowledge possible? What is scientific knowledge?)

Sept	5	Aristotle, Posterior Analytics, Book II, §§ 1-2, 8-9, 11, and 19.
	7	Aristotle, Physics, Book II (entire).

	12	On the Generation of Animals, Book I, chapters 21-23. (To print just chapters 21-23, I recommend that you try printing only pages 27-31.)
	14	Aristotle, Nic. Ethics, Book I, §§ 1, 7, and Book VI, §§ 1-7.
		Paper #1draft due: Is Aristotle's science consistent with his philosophy of science? (Give a general explanation of Aristotle's philosophy of science and use at least two specific examples to illustrate the consistency or lack thereof of his science with his philosophy of science.)

	19	Lecture on Medieval science. Final draft of paper #1 due. This paper is not optional.
	21	Bacon, The New Organon, pp. 1-56 (focus on pp. 33-56).

	26	Bacon, The New Organon, pp. 56-101 (focus on §§ 69, 95, 99- 106).
	28	Bacon, The New Organon, pp. 101-135 (you can skim the long lists). Work on compiling tables of your own for some form other than heat.

Oct.	3	Bacon, The New Organon, pp. 135-238 (focus on §§ 21-24, 36 (to p. 162), 38, 39, 44, and 52. Skim the rest.)
	5	Review Bacon and Aristotle. Paper # 2 due: How is Bacon's philosophy of science different from Aristotle's? In what ways is it better? In what ways is it worse? How would you improve on Bacon's philosophy of science?

	10	Mid-semester break.
	12	Descartes, Discourse, pp. 111-151 (focus on sections 2, 4-6). [This text can be found at http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/descartes/descartes_method.html.]

	17	Descartes, The World and Principles, pp. 81-84, 90-98, 179-192. (You should also look over the contents of the Principles, just enough to get a sense of the order of topics discussed in that book.)
	19	Descartes review. Paper #3 due. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of Descartes’s philosophy of science with specific reference to one or more examples of recent scientific progress. (You can get these examples from textbooks, news sources, etc.)

	24	Newton’s Philosophy of Nature (on reserve) pp. 3-5, 9-40.
	26	Newton, continued. Paper #4. Of the philosophies of science that we have read so far, whose best fits the science of Newton? What limitations does Newton’s science bring out in that philosophy?

Nov.	31	Kant, Prolegomenon, Preamble and Part 1 (pp. 11-37).
	2	Kant, Prolegomenon, Part II (pp. 38-64).

	7	Kant, Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science, Preface (pp. 3-17), and pp. 18-20, 106-111.
	9	Kant, Critique of Judgment, 5: 360-1, 370-7, 400, 409-11 (passages marked on handout).

	14	Review of Kant Paper #5: Write an encyclopedia article on Kant’s philosophy of science. Give clear explanations of the key ideas of that philosophy of science, as well as connections (where applicable) to his predecessors.
	16	Positivism. "The Scientific Conception of the World: The Vienna Circle" and selections from Carnap's The Logical Structure of the World (handouts).

		Thanksgiving Break (I strongly recommend getting started on Kuhn over the break. We’ll be moving very fast once we get back!)

Nov.	28	Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Preface and Chapters 1-5.
	30	Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Chapters 6-9.

Dec.	5	Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Chapters 10-13.
		Paper #6 Due: Of the figures we have read in this class, who would Kuhn consider the most important? Why? Or: If Kuhn is right, how should the way “we” engage in scientific research change? (And how should science education change?)
	7	Review.