In this study unit we shall principally be looking at:
- Key figures in and examples from the history of science:
Antiquity (e.g. Aristotle and natural vs. violent motion, Epicurus, and others); the clash between rationalism and empiricism (Descartes, Leibniz, Locke, Hume, Kant); examples drawn from the history of astronomy (e.g. Galileo’s observations, Kepler’s geometric description of planetary motion, Newton’s formulation of gravity) - Logical Positivism (e.g. the analytic-synthetic distinction and verifiability of meaning); Logical Empircism; discuss the work of Quine, Carnap, and others
- The problem of Induction (e.g. Hempel’s paradox, logical equivalence)
- Conjectures & Refutations and Falsification (Karl Popper); The Hypothetico-Deductive Method
- The Demarcation Problem
- Thomas Kuhn: Scientific Paradigms & Revolutions, Incommensurability
- Research Programmes and Research Traditions; Auxiliary Hypotheses (Imre Lakatos, Larry Laudan)
- Naturalism (foundationalism, normative naturalism)
- Scientific Realism (e.g. direct realism)
- Underdetermination in Science and Empirically Equivalent Theories
The following list includes the main reading material we shall be making use of for this course:
– Popper, K., Conjectures and Refutations, Routledge, 1963.
– Kuhn, T., The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, University of Chicago Press, 1970.
– Popper, K., The Logic of Scientific Discovery, Routledge, 2004.
– Godfrey-Smith, P., Theory and Reality, University of Chicago Press, 2003.
– Curd M., Cover, J.A., Pincock, C., Philosophy of Science – The Central Issues (2nd edition), W. W. Norton & Company, 2013.
The main text used for topics pertaining to the philosophy of physics, specifically spatiotemporal locality and fields is The Philosophy of Physics by Marc Lange (Blackwell Publishing).
For further reading on more specialised topics, I recommend:
– Batterman, R. (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of the Philosophy of Physics, Oxford University Press, 2013.
– Chamcham, K., Silk, J., Barrow, J.D., Saunders, S. (eds.), The Philosophy of Cosmology, Cambridge University Press, 2017.