Philosophy of Science



Philosophy 128
UC Berkeley
Spring, 2005
Room TBD, 11:00am - 12:30pm

Professor: Paul Skokowski
244 Moses Hall
Office Hours: Tue 3:30 - 5
Phone: (510) 643-6840
paulsko{AT}turing{D0T}stanford{D0T}edu

Texts:
Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
Albert, Quantum Mechanics and Experience
Tye, Ten Problems of Consciousness
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Course Reader:
Course Reader Available at Copy Central on Bancroft.

Realism, Anti-Realism, and Revolutions

Week 1, Tue, Jan 18:
Introduction and Course Overview
Week 1, Thu, Jan 20:
Structure of Scientific Revolutions, T. Kuhn, Ch I-V, p. 1-51
Week 2, Tue, Jan 25:
Structure of Scientific Revolutions, T. Kuhn, Ch VI-IX, p. 51-110
Week 2, Thu, Jan 27:
Structure of Scientific Revolutions, T. Kuhn, Ch X-XIII, p. 111-173
Week 3: Tue, Feb 1:
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
Week 3: Thu, Feb 3:
Reader, B. van Fraassen, Arguments Concerning Scientific Realism
Week 4: Tue, Feb 8:
Reader, A. Fine, And Not Anti-Realism Either
Week 4: Thu, Feb 10:
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 5: Tue, Feb 15:
Reader, Cartwright, Do the Laws of Physics State the Facts?

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 5: Thu, Feb 17:
Realism and Review
Week 6: Tue, Feb 22:
* * * * MID-TERM EXAM IN CLASS * * * *

Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics

Week 6: Thu, Feb 24:
Albert, Quantum Mechanics and Experience, Ch. 1, Superposition, p. 1-16

Further Suggested Reading:
Feynman, Lectures on Physics, Vol. III, Ch. 1.
Week 7: Tue, March 1:
Albert, Ch. 2, Formalism, p. 17-39

Further Suggested Reading:
Your favorite text on Quantum Mechanics
Week 7: Thu, March 3:
Albert, Ch. 2, Formalism, p. 39-60

Further Suggested Reading:
Your favorite text on Quantum Mechanics
Week 8: Tue, March 8:
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.)
Week 8: Thu, March 10:
Albert, Ch. 4, Measurement, p. 73-79
Week 9: Tue, March 15:
Albert, Ch. 5, Collapse of the Wave Function, p. 80-111
Week 9: Thu, March 17:
Albert, Ch. 6, The Dynamics by Itself, p. 112-133

Further Suggested Reading:
Everett III, H., Relative State Formulation of Quantum Mechanics, in Wheeler and Zurek, Quantum Theory and Measurement, Princeton, 1983.
Week 10: March 21 – March 25:
* * * * SPRING RECESS – NO CLASS THIS WEEK * * * *
Week 11: Tue, March 29:
Albert, Ch. 7, Bohm’s Theory, p. 134-179

Further Suggested Reading:
Bohm, D., A suggested interpretation of quantum theory in terms of "hidden variables," parts I and II, Physical Review, in Wheeler and Zurek, Quantum Theory and Measurement, Princeton, 1983.
Week 11: Thu, March 31:
Albert, Ch. 8, Self-Measurement, p. 180-189

Quantum Mechanics, Neuroscience, and Mind

Week 12: Tue, April 5:
Chalmers, The Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics
QM Review
Week 12: Thu, April 7:
Lockwood, Mind, Brain, and the Quantum, Selections

Philosophy of Neuroscience & Connectionism

Week 13: Tue, April 12:
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.)
QM Review

Week 13: Thu, April 14
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: Tue, April 19:
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 14: Thu, April 21:
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 26:
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 15: Tue, April 28:
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: Tue, May 3:
Student Presentations
Week 16: Thu, May 5:
Student Presentations
Week 17: Tue, May 10:
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