This course is an introduction to the philosophy of science. We will start by considering some issues about the methodology of science. In particular, we will see that the process of science confirming theories and disconfirming others is much more complicated than we might have thought. Then, we will look at the nature of scientific explanation -- how does science allow us to understand why things happen, as opposed to just telling us what will happen? Finally, we will introduce questions about the metaphysics of science, in particular, questions about scientific laws and chance. Scientists often search for laws of nature, but what are these things, and why are they special? More detailed study of those questions occurs in PHIL453 Philosophy of Science II.
By the end of the class you should have a deeper understanding of the nature of scientific methodology -- in particular that the process of scientific discovery is more complex than it is often made out to be. But, perhaps more importantly, you should develop the skills of critically evaluating scientific methods, thinking about what those methods tell us about the world and what they do not. And you should be able to clearly express these thoughts both verbally and in writing.
Instructor Harjit Bhogal Class Room TYD 0101 Class Time Tue/Thu 9:30-10:45am
Office Skinner 1110B Office Hours Tuesday 3-5pm, in person, or by appointment Zoom ID 663 599 6109 (for appointments held over Zoom) Email bhogal@umd.edu
The textbook for this class is Theory and Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science by Peter Godfrey-Smith. You'll also need a copy of The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn. The other readings will be posted on ELMS.
The two required writing assignments will be on 10/15 and 11/17. The optional third assignment will be on 12/3. We will have one practice writing assignment (which does not count towards your grade) on 9/17 followed by a review session about that practice assignment on 9/22.
Each of the assignments, and the final exam, will be done via lockdown browser or will be handwritten.
The third writing assignment is optional. If you take it, your grade on it will replace your lower grade on the first two assignments — but only if that improves your overall grade. So taking it can only help you: if you do worse on the optional assignment than on both of the first two, the grade is simply discarded.
If you don't take the optional assignment, your grade is calculated from the first two assignments in the normal way. Either way, the two counted assignments are worth 20% each.
You do not need to tell me in advance whether you plan to take it.
Class participation is designed to measure evidence that you have done, and thought about, the reading and the topic more generally. Coming to class ready to engage with the material is most relevant for the participation grade. I will generally ask you to come into class with at least one question about the reading. Doing that will count towards your participation too.
To be clear, this grade is for participation, not merely attendance. I will be fairly lenient with attendance -- I won't take away points for missing a few classes. But, in order to score well on class participation you need to be engaged and prepared in the class and contribute to class discussion. (Other forms of contributions, like in office hours, can count towards the participation grade. But, because of AI, it's in-person engagement that matters, not emails and so on.)
The final exam is Tuesday, December 15 10:30am-12:30pm. It will be a short answer exam. There are 10 questions but you'll only have to answer 5. You should write around 2 medium paras for each question.
Here are the grade ranges: A+: 100-96.67, A: 96.66-93.34, A-: 93.33-90
B+: 90-86.67, B: 86.66-83.34, B-: 83.33-80
C+: 80-76.67, C: 76.66-73.34, C-: 73.33-70
D+: 70-66.67, D: 66.66-63.34, D-: 63.33-60
Written assignments/the final exam will be graded along 4 dimensions
Clarity This is clarity both in the small-scale -- It's clear what your sentences mean and how they fit together -- and on the large-scale, it's clear what the point of your paper is how you argue for that point.
Accuracy The paper should be accurate in its discussion of the relevant philosophical topics, the terminology, the relevant literature, etc.
Reasoning The paper should provide plausible reasons for its conclusion, avoiding logical errors and avoiding mere rhetoric.
Originality This doesn't mean that you have to develop a view that no one else has ever thought of -- in fact, it will probably be a bad idea to do that. Rather, it's to do with there being some evidence that you've developed ideas about the issues independently. Giving a new, improved version of an objection we considered counts as originality, as does setting up and presenting the issues in a new way. Of course, though, originality doesn't count for much if you don't also do well on the earlier dimensions -- an original, but inaccurate paper is not good. You can get an A with very little originality, as long as you do very well on the previous dimensions.
Policies relevant to Undergraduate Courses are found here. Topics that are addressed in these various policies include academic integrity, student and instructor conduct, accessibility and accommodations, attendance and excused absences, grades and appeals, copyright and intellectual property.
Late assignments will be penalized a third of a letter grade, that's 3.33 points, for each day late, starting as soon as the deadline passes. Weekend days count.
The use of AI writing tools like ChatGPT is not allowed.
The textbook is abbreviated as PGS.
9/1 Introduction – No Reading
9/3 The Problem of Induction – Hume, 'An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding', section IV Handout: The Problem of Induction
9/8 H-D and Instance Confirmation – PGS section 3.1-3.3 Handout: Instance Confirmation and Ravens
9/10 The New Riddle of Induction – Goodman, 'Fact, Fiction and Forecast' Chapter III (skip section 3) Handout: The New Riddle of Induction
9/15 The Underdetermination of Theory by Data – Gillies, 'The Duhem Thesis and the Quine Thesis' section 5.1 Handout: Holism and Underdetermination
9/17 Practice in-class written assignment
9/22 Writing assignment review session
9/24 NO CLASS
9/29 Popper – PGS Chapter 4.1-4.4
10/1 Popper, continued – PGS 4.5-4.6
10/6 The Theory Ladenness of Data – Hanson, 'Patterns of Discovery' Chapter 1 Optional: PGS section 10.3
10/8 Kuhn on Normal Science – Kuhn, 'The Structure of Scientific Revolutions' Chapters 1-5 (Skim Chapters 1-2, focus on 3-5) Optional: PGS Chapter 5
10/13 FALL BREAK
10/15 In-class written assignment 1
10/20 Kuhn on Normal Science, continued – Kuhn, 'The Structure of Scientific Revolutions' Chapters 6-8 Optional: PGS Chapter 5
10/22 Kuhn on Revolutions – Kuhn, 'The Structure of Scientific Revolutions' Chapters 9-10 Optional: PGS Chapter 6
10/27 Lakatos, Feyerabend, etc. – PGS Chapter 7
10/29 Bayesianism – PGS section 14.1-14.4
11/3 The Deductive-Nomological Account – Hempel and Oppenheim, 'Studies in the logic of explanation' Part I, pp. 135–146; PGS Section 13.1-2
11/5 The Causal Account – Lewis, 'Causal Explanation'
11/10 Unification – Friedman, 'Explanation and Scientific Understanding'
11/12 Inference to the Best Explanation – Lipton, 'Inference to the Best Explanation' Chapter 4
11/17 In-class written assignment 2
11/19 NO CLASS
11/24 What Laws do and the Regularity View – Lange, 'Laws of Nature' pp. 203-207; Bird, 'Laws of Nature' pp. 17-33
11/26 THANKSGIVING
12/1 Non-Reductive Views – Bird, 'Laws of Nature' pp. 33-40
12/3 Optional in-class written assignment 3
12/8 Review for Final Exam
12/10 Review for Final Exam
12/15 10:30am-12:30pm Final Exam