Science and Human Understanding

Philosophy 5 UC Berkeley Autumn, 2003 213 Wheeler, 9:30 - 11:00am Professor: Paul Skokowski 244 Moses Hall Office Hours: Tue 3:30 - 5 Phone: (510) 643-6840 paulsko{AT}turing{D0T}stanford{D0T}edu Texts: Ariew (ed.), Leibniz and Clarke: Correspondence Hacking, Representing and Intervening Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions Kuhn, The Copernican Revolution Einstein, Relativity Y! Shopping--- Amazon Y! Shopping--- Amazon Y! Shopping--- Amazon Y! Shopping--- Amazon Y! Shopping--- Amazon Course Reader: Course Reader - Now Available at Copy Central on Bancroft. Introduction Week 1, Tue, Aug 26: Course Introduction, Schedule, and Grading Leibniz-Clarke Correspondence Week 1, Thu, Aug 28: Correspondence, Letters 1 & 2, p. 4-14. Week 2, Tue, Sept 2: Correspondence, Letters 3 & 4, p. 14-35. Week 2, Thu, Sept 4: Correspondence, Letter 5, p. 36-77. Logical Positivism and Confirmationism Week 3, Tue, Sept 9: Reader, M. Schlick, Positivism and Realism Week 3, Sept 11: Reader, C. Hempel, Philosophy of Natural Science, Ch. 1-3 Week 4, Tue, Sept 16: * * * First Three Page Paper Topic Available Today * * * Reader, C. Hempel, Philosophy of Natural Science, Ch. 4 Reader, R. Carnap, The Confirmation of Laws and Theories Week 4, Thu, Sept 18: Logical Positivism, and Review Falsificationism Week 5, Tue, Sep 23: Reader, K. Popper, Science: Conjectures and Refutations Week 5, Thu, Sept 25: * * * First Three Page Paper Due Today, 9:30 AM * * * Reader, Lakatos, Falsification and the Methodology of Scientific Research Scientific Revolutions Week 6, Tue, Sept 30: Structure of Scientific Revolutions, T. Kuhn, p. 1-51 Week 6, Thu, Oct 2: Structure of Scientific Revolutions, T. Kuhn, p. 52-91 Week 7, Tue, Oct 7: Structure of Scientific Revolutions, T. Kuhn, p. 92-135 Week 7, Thu, Oct 9: Structure of Scientific Revolutions, T. Kuhn, p. 136-173 So You Say You Want A Revolution? Well, You Know... Week 8, Tue, Oct 14: Reader, Popper, Normal Science and its Dangers Reader, Masterman, The Nature of a Paradigm, 59-66 Week 8, Thu, Oct 16: Reader, Masterman, The Nature of a Paradigm, 76-88 Reader, P. Feyerabend, Consolation for the Specialist Week 9, Tue, Oct 21: * * * * MID-TERM EXAM IN CLASS * * * * Realism, Anti-Realism, and Rationality Week 9, Thu, Oct 23: Reader, B. van Fraassen, Arguments Concerning Scientific Realism Week 10, Tue, Oct 28: Reader, A. Fine, And Not Anti-Realism Either Week 10, Thu, Oct 30: Representing and Intervening, I. Hacking, p. 1-31 Week 11, Tue, Nov 4: Representing and Intervening, I. Hacking, p. 31-64 Week 11, Thu, Nov 6: * * * Second Three Page Paper Topic Available Today * * * Representing and Intervening, I. Hacking, p. 65-91 Reader, T. Kuhn, Reflections on My Critics Week 12, Tue, Nov 11: * * * * Veterans Day - NO CLASS * * * * Reality Testing: The Copernican Revolution Week 12, Thu, Nov 13: The Copernican Revolution, T. Kuhn, p. 1-44 Week 13, Tue, Nov 18: * * * Second Three Page Paper Due Today, 9:30 AM * * * The Copernican Revolution, T. Kuhn, p. 45-98 Week 13, Thu, Nov 20: The Copernican Revolution, T. Kuhn, p. 99-132 Week 14, Tue, Nov 25: The Copernican Revolution, T. Kuhn, p. 133-184 Week 14, Thu, Nov 27: * * * * Thanksgiving Day - NO CLASS * * * * Special Relativity Week 15, Tue, Dec 2: Reader, B. Hoffman, Relativity and its Roots, p. 43-80 Relativity, Einstein, p. 1-20 Week 15, Thu, Dec 4: Reader, Holton, Einstein, Michelson, and the 'Crucial' Experiment Relativity, Einstein, p. 20-27 Summary and Conclusion * * * FINAL EXAM Tuesday, Noon, Dec 9th * * * Philosophy Research | Talks | Teaching | Publications | Home paulsko{AT}turing{D0T}stanford{D0T}edu --- Tel: (650) 723-1275 --- Cordura Hall 127, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305-4101