PPR462: Issues in Philosophy of Science

Weeks 1-3
How can philosophical investigation help elucidate the methods, aims and products of scientific activity? The topics used to explore these issues will vary from year to year but may include the following: the nature of science; realisms and antirealisms; notions of scientific progress; scientific methodology.

Weeks 4-5
How can scientific concepts be clarified by the use of philosophical methods, such as conceptual analysis and thought experimentation? The topics used to explore this topic will vary from year to year but will illustrate how conceptual analysis and thought experimentation can help clarify a range of concepts in the natural and human sciences.

Weeks 6-7
How have scientific discoveries shaped philosophy? How do philosophical systems respond to new discoveries about the natural world, human beings and societies? The topics used to explore this issue will vary from year to year but may include the following: the effect of evolutionary thinking; the rise of naturalised philosophy; quantum mechanics, causal complexity and changing notions of causation; contemporary conceptions of the mind.

Weeks 8-10
How do scientific discoveries change our everyday worldview? The topics used to explore this issue will vary from year to year but may include the following: philosophy of biology and the nature/nurture debate; philosophy of physics and changing conceptions of space, time and matter; philosophy of medicine and changing conceptions of disease and normality.

Select Bibliography

Feyerabend (1975) Against Method

Hacking, I. (1983) Representing and Intervening.

Hull, D. and M. Ruse (eds.) (1998) The Philosophy of Biology.

Kuhn, T (1962) The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.

Lakatos, I. amd A. Musgrave (1970) Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge.

Papineau, D. (ed., 1997), The Philosophy of Science

Powers, J. (1982) Philosophy and the New Physics

Sklar, L (1992) Philosophy of Physics

Sterelny, K. and P.Griffiths (1999) Sex and Death.

Van Fraasen, B. (1980) The Scientific Image

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