Philosophy of Science



Philosophy 128
UC Berkeley
Spring, 2006
Wheeler 200, 11:00am - 12:30pm

Professor: Paul Skokowski
244 Moses Hall
Office Hours: Tue 3:15 - 4:45
Phone: (510) 643-6840
paulsko{AT}turing{D0T}stanford{D0T}edu

GSI: Peter Gerdes
logicnazi{AT}gmail{D0T}com{D0T}


Texts:
Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
Albert, Quantum Mechanics and Experience
Tye, Ten Problems of Consciousness
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Barrett, The Quantum Mechanics of Minds and Worlds - On Reserve in Howison Library
Bell, Speakable and Unspeakable in Quantum Mechanics - On Reserve in Howison Library
Lockwood, Mind, Brain and the Quantum - On Reserve in Howison Library
Townsend, A Modern Approach to Quantum Mechanics - On Reserve in Howison Library

Course Reader:
Course Reader Available at Copy Central on Bancroft.

Logical Positivism, Empiricism, and Falsification

Week 1, Tue, Jan 17:
Introduction and Course Overview
Week 1, Thu, Jan 19:
Reader, M. Schlick, Positivism and Realism
Week 2, Tue, Jan 24:
Reader, C. Hempel, Philosophy of Natural Science, Ch. 1-3
Week 2, Thu, Jan 26:
Reader, C. Hempel, Philosophy of Natural Science, Ch. 4
Reader, R. Carnap, The Confirmation of Laws and Theories
Week 3: Tue, Jan 31:
Reader, K. Popper, Science: Conjectures and Refutations

Scientific Revolutions

Week 3: Thu, Feb 2:
Structure of Scientific Revolutions, T. Kuhn, Ch I-VI, p. 1-65
Week 4: Tue, Feb 7:
Structure of Scientific Revolutions, T. Kuhn, Ch. VII-IX, p. 66-110
Week 4: Thu, Feb 9:
Structure of Scientific Revolutions, T. Kuhn, Ch. X-XIII, p. 111-173
Week 5: Tue, Feb 14:
Reader, Popper, Normal Science and its Dangers
Reader, P. Feyerabend, Consolation for the Specialist

Further Suggested Reading:
Reader, Masterman, The Nature of a Paradigm, 59-88

Realism and Anti-Realism

Week 5: Thu, Feb 16:
Reader, B. van Fraassen, Arguments Concerning Scientific Realism
Week 6: Tue, Feb 21:
Reader, A. Fine, And Not Anti-Realism Either
Week 6: Thu, Feb 23:
Experimentation and Scientific Realism, I. Hacking, Philosophical Topics, 13(1).
When Explanation Leads to Inference, N. Cartwright, Philosophical Topics, 13(1).

Further Suggested Reading:
Hacking, Representing and Intervening, Cambridge University Press, 1983, Ch. 1-5.
Cartwright, How the Laws of Physics Lie, Oxford University Press, 1983.
Week 7: Tue, February 28:
Realism and Review
Week 7: Thu, March 2:
* * * * MID-TERM EXAM IN CLASS * * * *

Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics

Week 8: Tue, March 7:
Albert, Quantum Mechanics and Experience, Ch. 1, Superposition, p. 1-16

Further Suggested Reading:
Feynman, Lectures on Physics, Vol. III, Ch. 1.
Week 8: Thu, March 9:
Albert, Ch. 2, Formalism, p. 17-60

Further Suggested Reading:
Townsend, Ch. 1 and 2, or your favorite text on QM
Week 9: Tue, March 14:
Albert, Ch. 3, Nonlocality, p. 61-72

Further Suggested Reading:
Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen, Can Quantum-Mechanical Description of Physical Reality be Considered Complete?, Physical Review, 47, 777-80 (1935).
Bell, J., On the Einstein Podolsky Rosen Paradox, Physics 1(3), (1965). (Reprinted in: Bell, J. S., Speakable and unspeakable in quantum mechanics, Cambridge University Press, 1993, and in Wheeler and Zurek, Quantum Theory and Measurement, Princeton, 1983.)
Barrett, Ch. 1 and 2
Week 9: Thu, March 16:
Albert, Ch. 4, Measurement, p. 73-79
Week 11: Tue, March 21:
Albert, Ch. 5, Collapse of the Wave Function, p. 80-111

Further Suggested Reading:
Barrett, Ch. 3
Week 11: Thu, March 23:
Albert, Ch. 6, The Dynamics by Itself, p. 112-133

Further Suggested Reading:
Barrett, Ch. 3-7
Week 10: March 27 – March 31:
* * * * SPRING RECESS – NO CLASS THIS WEEK * * * *
Week 12: Tue, April 4:
Albert, Ch. 7, Bohm’s Theory, p. 134-179. Guest Lecturer: Jeff Barrett, UC Irvine
Week 12: Thu, April 6:
Albert, Ch. 8, Self-Measurement, p. 180-189
Week 13: Tue, April 11:
Chalmers, The Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics
Lockwood, Ch. 11, 13
QM Review

Philosophy of Neuroscience & Connectionism

Week 13: Thu, April 13
Hobbes, Of Sense
Place, Is Consciousness a Brain Process?, British Journal of Psychology 47:44-50, 1956.
Smart, Sensations and Brain Processes, Philosophical Review 68:141-56, 1959.
Putnam, The Nature of Mental States (or: Psychological Predicates, Art, Mind, and Religion, 1965.) - here
Week 14: Tue, April 18:
Patricia Churchland, Can Neurobiology Teach us Anything about Consciousness?
Paul and Patricia Churchland, Intertheoretic Reduction: A Neuroscientist's Field Guide
Paul Churchland, Eliminative Materialism and the Propositional Attitudes, also here.
Gold and Stoljar, A neuron doctrine in the philosophy of neuroscience. Behavioral
and Brain Sciences 22(5), 1999.

Further Suggested Reading:
Jerry Fodor, Special Sciences, in Ned Block (ed.), Readings in the Philosophy of Psychology, Vol. 1
Week 14: Thu, April 20:
Block, Concepts of Consciousness [An abridged version (with changes by the author) from “On a Confusion about a Function of Consciousness” in The Behavioral and Brain Sciences 18:2, 1995.]
Nagel, What is it Like to be a Bat?, also another version here.
Chalmers, Facing up to the Hard Problem of Consciousness, Journal of Consciousness Studies, 2(3): 35-40, 1995.
Week 15: Tue, April 25:
Jackson, Epiphenomenal Qualia, Philosophical Quarterly 32:127-36, 1982.
M. Tye, Ten Problems of Consciousness, Ch. 1-3, p. 3-92

Further Suggested Reading:
F. Dretske, Naturalizing the Mind, Ch. 1, 2; p. 1-64
G.E. Moore,G.E. The Refutation of Idealism, Mind, 12, (1903).
Week 15: Tue, April 27:
M. Tye, Ten Problems of Consciousness, Ch. 4-6, p. 93-182

Further Suggested Reading:
F. Dretske, Naturalizing the Mind, Ch. 3, 4; p. 65-122
Skokowski, Review of 'Naturalizing the Mind', Mind and Language, 11(4), (1996).
Week 16: Tue, May 2:
Ramsey, Stich,and Garon, Connectionism, Eliminativism and the Future of Folk Psychology, in Philosophy and Connectionist Theory, (1991)
Skokowski, Structural Content: A Naturalistic Approach to Implicit Belief. Philosophy of Science, (2004).

Further Suggested Reading:
Van Gelder, What is the “D” in PDP?: A Survey of the Concept of Distribution, in Philosophy and Connectionist Theory, (1991)
Week 16: Thu, May 4:
Student Presentations
Week 17: Tue, May 9:
Student Presentations

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paulsko{AT}turing{D0T}stanford{D0T}edu --- Tel: (650) 723-1275 --- Cordura Hall 127, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305-4101