Back to course documents.
Week | Date | Topic/Reading Event | Presented by |
1 | Aug. 29 | Introduction to the seminar | Norton |
Prediction in Science | |||
1 | Aug. 29 | Video: Richard Feynman on the Scientific Method https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KmimDq4cSU (see first 1 min 5 sec) Prediction in inflationary cosmology Anna Ijjas et al, “Pop Goes the Universe,” Scientific American, February 2017, pp. 32-39; especially concluding section p. 39 “Nonempirical Science?”. Alan Guth et al, et al, et al, ….. “A Cosmic Controversy,” Letters to the Editor. Scientific American July 2017, pp. 5-7. Prediction in evolutionary biology Phillip E. Johnson, Darwin on Trial, Ch. 12. http://talebooks.com/ebooks/291.pdf S. J. Gould “Impeaching a Self-Appointed Judge,” Scientific American, 267, July 1992, pp. 118-121. |
Norton |
2 | Sep. 5 | Warm up exercise due before class. | |
2 | Sep. 5 | Optional reading: Eric C. Barnes, "The Paradox of Predictivism," Ch. 1 in The Paradox of Predictivism, Cambridge University Press, 2008. John Worrall, "Prediction and Accommodation Revisited," Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 45 (2014), pp. 54-61. |
Norton |
2 | Sep. 5 | Discussion: What is the role of prediction in science? | All |
Empiricism Guest professor this week: Nora Boyd |
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3 | Sep. 12 | Carl G. Hempel, "Empirical Criteria of Cognitive Significance:
Problems and Changes," Ch. 4 in Aspects of Scientific Explanation and Other Essays in the Philosophy of Science. New York: Macmillan, 1965 |
J P Gamboa notes |
3 | Sep. 12 | Bas C. Van Fraassen, "To Save the Phenomena," Ch. 3 in The Scientific Image. Oxford: Clarendon, 1980. |
Yao Fan |
Models and Idealizations | |||
4 | Sep. 19 | Mary Hesse, "The Function of Models: A Dialogue" Ch. 1 in Models and Analogies in Science. University of Notre Dame Press, 1970. |
Aaron Abma |
4 | Sep. 19 | Ernan McMullin, "Galilean Idealization," Studies in History and Philosophy of Science,16 (1985),pp. 247-273. |
Gal Ben Porath |
4 | Sep. 19 | Michael Weisberg, “Three Kinds of Idealization,” The Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 104, No. 12 (Dec.), 639-659. |
Aaron Segal |
Representation | |||
5 | Sep. 26 | Partial isomorphism. Steven French (2003), "A Model-Theoretic Account of Representation (Or, I Don't Know Much About Art ... But I Know It Involves Isomorphism)," Philosophy of Science, 70 (5), pp. 1472 - 1483. |
Sabrina Hao |
5 | Sep. 26 | Inferential account. Suárez, Mauricio (2004). "An Inferential Conception of Scientific Representation," Philosophy of Science, 71, pp. 767–779. |
Alnica Visser |
Inductive Inference | |||
5 | Sep. 26 | John D. Norton, "A
Little Survey of Induction," in P. Achinstein, ed., Scientific Evidence: Philosophical Theories and Applications. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005. pp. 9-34. |
Norton notes |
6 | Oct. 3 | John D. Norton, "Hempel's Satisfaction Criterion of Confirmation" pp.66-82 in A Survey of Inductive Generalization Manuscript. |
Norton notes |
6 | Oct. 3 | Paul Thagard, "The Best Explanation: Criteria for Theory Choice," Journal of Philosophy, 75 (1978): 76-92. |
Aaron Salomon |
Bayesian Confirmation Theory | |||
6 | Oct. 3 | Joyce, James, "Bayes' Theorem", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy | Josh Wells Norton |
Oct. 10 | No class. The university is on a Monday schedule. | ||
7 | Oct. 17 | Colin Howson and Peter Urbach, "Bayesian
vs Non-Bayesian Approaches to Confirmation," Reprinted from Scientific Reasoning: The Bayesian Approach. |
Josh Wells |
Underdetermination | |||
7 | Oct. 17 | Larry Laudan and Jarrett Leplin, "Empirical Equivalence and
Underdetermination," Journal of Philosophy, 87 (1991), pp. 449-472. |
Alnica Visser |
7 | Oct. 17 | Kyle Stanford, "The Problem of Unconceived Alternatives," Ch.2 in Exceeding Our Grasp Science, History and the Problem of Unconceived Alternatives. Oxford University Press. 2006. |
Dan Webber |
Falsificationism and the Demarcation of Science. | |||
8 | Oct. 24 | Karl Popper, "Science: Conjectures and Refutations" Sections I-III only, pp. 33-41 in Conjectures and Refutations. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1963. For interesting background see: "Einstein-Besso Manuscript on the Motion of the Perihelion of Mercury," Headnote in The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein. Vol. 4. pp. 345+. Or here. Albert Einstein, "Induction and Deduction in Physics," Berliner Tageblatt, 25 December, 1919. The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein. Vol. 7. Doc. 28. German. English. Or here: German English. |
Sabrina Hao |
8 | Oct. 24 | Wesley Salmon, "Rational Prediction," British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 32 (1981), pp. 115-25. |
Seth Goldwasser |
8 | Oct. 24 | Larry Laudan, "The Demise of the Demarcation Problem," in Physics, philosophy, and psychoanalysis: essays in honor of Adolf Grünbaum. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science. 76, Dordrecht: D. Reidel, 1983, pp. 111–127. |
Vivian Feldblyum |
Explanation | |||
9 | Oct. 31 | DN, DS, IS and SR models of explanation. Wesley C. Salmon,"Scientific Explanation," pp. 7-41 of Ch. 1 in in Introduction to the Philosophy of Science. M. Salmon (Ed.), Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. |
Ashley Purdy |
9 | Oct. 31 | Paul W. Humphreys, "Scientific Explanation: The Causes, Some of the Causes, and Nothing But the Causes" in P. Kitcher and W. C. Salmlon, eds., Scientific Explanation: Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Vol. XIII. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1989., | Anwar Ul Haq |
9 | Oct. 31 | Philip Kitcher, "Explanation as Unificiation," Section 4 (pp. 430-48) of "Explanatory Unification and the Causal Structure of the World," in P. Kitcher and W. C. Salmlon, eds., Scientific Explanation: Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Vol. XIII. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1989. | Marina Dimarco |
Realism and Antirealism | |||
10 | Nov. 7 | Bas C. Van Frassen, "Arguments Concerning Scientific Realism," Ch. 2, pp. 7-40 in The Scientific Image. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980. |
Seth Goldwasser |
10 | Nov. 7 | Larry Laudan, "A Confutation of Convergent Realism," Philosophy of Science, 48, (1981), pp. 19-49. |
Yao Fan |
10 | Nov. 7 | Steven French, “Structure as a Weapon of the Realist.” Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 106 (2006), pp.1–19. |
Aaron Abma |
Causation | |||
11 | Nov. 14 | Richard Scheines, "An Introduction to Causal Inference," pp. 185-199 in V. R. Kim and S. P. Turner, eds., Causality in Crisis? University of Notre Dame Press, 1997. |
Dan Webber |
11 | Nov. 14 | James Woodward, “Causation with a Human Face” in Price, H. and Corry, R. (eds.) Causation, Physics, and the Constitution of Reality: Russell's Republic Revisited. Oxford: Oxford University Press,2007, pp. 66–105. |
Nedah Nemati |
Reduction and Emergence | |||
11 | Nov. 14 | Ernest Nagel, "Reduction of Theories," (Reduction: pp.336-366
only) Ch. 11 in The Structure of Science: Problems in the Logic of Scientific Explanation. New York: Harcour, Brace and World, 1962. |
Marina Dimarco |
12 | Nov. 21 | J. A. Fodor, "Special Sciences (Or: The Disunity of Science as a
Working Hypothesis)," Synthese, 28 (1974), pp. 97-115. |
Ashley Purdy |
12 | Nov. 21 | Robert Batterman, 2000, "Multiple Realization and Universality" British Journal for the Philosophy of Science. 51, pp. 115-145. |
J P Gamboa |
Experiment and Simulation | |||
12 | Nov. 21 | Allan Franklin, "Experiment
in Physics", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy This is a long article. Concentrate on Section 1. Experimental Results, which includes a positive epistemology of experiment. |
Gal Ben Porath |
Thanksgiving Recess | |||
13 | Nov. 28 | Wendy Parker, "Does Matter Really Matter? Computer Simulations,
Experiments, and Materiality" Synthese, 169 (2009) pp. 483-496. |
Dasha Pruss |
13 | Nov. 28 | Margaret Morrison, “Models, measurement and computer simulation:
The changing face of experimentation,” Philosophical Studies, 143(2012), pp. 33–57. |
Dasha Pruss |
Revolutions and Meaning Change | |||
13 | Nov. 28 | Paul K. Feyerabend, "Problems of Empiricism," pp. 145-261 in R. G. Colodny, ed., Beyond the Edge of Certainty: Essays in Contemporary Science and Philosophy. Lanham, NY: University Press of American, 1965, 1983. This is a long article. Focus on how Feyerabend arrives at the failure of "meaning invariance." |
Nedah Nemati |
14 | Dec. 5 | Imre Lakatos, “History of Science and Its Rational
Reconstructions,” in PSA 1970. Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association, Vol. 1970 (1970), pp. 91-136. (Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science VIII.) |
Josh Wells |
14 | Dec. 5 | Thomas S. Kuhn "Objectivity, Value Judgment, and Theory Choice," Ch. 13, pp. 320-339 in The Essential Tension. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1977. |
Aaron Salomon |
14 | Dec. 5 | Closing Discussion |
All |
Dec. 12 | Comprehensive Exam (HPS PhD Program only) |