PHIL 265

PHIL 265 Philosophy of Science

Instructor: Mike Lockhart

Course Description

Have you ever noticed how appeals to scientific explanations are meant to be authoritative in virtually all discussions? Should they be? And what counts as a scientific explanation as opposed to a pseudo-scientific one? Science seems increasingly successful. Does that mean it is also progressively more accurate at describing the world? Or is its success better understood in terms of our personal or societal interests and what we find pragmatic at the time?

This course discusses a range of issues in philosophy of science including: The nature of scientific explanation and natural law, testing and confirmation of theories, scientific realism and anti-realism, the problem of induction, theories of truth, and sociological issues concerning science.

Course Outcomes

At the end of this course the student should be able to:

  1. Define key concepts in philosophy of science, such as falsification, underdetermination, holism, and induction
  2. Explain the principal historical and contemporary theories of scientific method
  3. Use concepts and principles central to philosophy of science to distinguish scientific explanations from non-scientific explanations
  4. Explain and contrast the main views regarding the relationship of scientific theories to reality, such as realism, anti-realism, and structuralism
  5. Explain and contrast the main views regarding the role of social values in scientific research and theory
  6. Working collaboratively and individually, provide well-reasoned arguments for the acceptance or rejection of arguments and theories in the philosophy of science