Philosophy of Science

Philosophy 128 UC Berkeley Summer, 2011 155 Barrows Hall Professor: Paul Skokowski 144 Moses Hall Office Hours: TBA Phone: (510) 642-2722 paulsko ~at~ stanford ~dot~ edu GSI: Kirsten Pickering kpickering ~at~ berkeley ~dot~ edu Texts: Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions Kuhn, The Copernican Revolution Albert, Quantum Mechanics and Experience Hacking, Representing and Intervening Course Reader: Course Reader Available at Copy Central on Bancroft. Logical Positivism, Empiricism, and Falsification Week 1, Tue, July 5: Introduction and Course Overview Reader, M. Schlick, Positivism and Realism Week 1, Wed, July 6: Reader, C. Hempel, Philosophy of Natural Science, Ch. 1-4 Reader, R. Carnap, The Confirmation of Laws and Theories Reader, K. Popper, Science: Conjectures and Refutations Scientific Revolutions Week 1, Thursday, July 7: Reader, Lakatos, Falsification and the Methodology of Scientific Research Structure of Scientific Revolutions, T. Kuhn, Ch I-IV, Week 2, Tue, July 12: Structure of Scientific Revolutions, T. Kuhn, Ch V-IX Week 2: Wed, July 13: Structure of Scientific Revolutions, T. Kuhn, Ch X-XIII Week 2: Thursday, July 14: Reader, Popper, Normal Science and its Dangers Reader, P. Feyerabend, Consolation for the Specialist Reader, Masterman, The Nature of a Paradigm Review of Logical Positivism and Scientific Revolutions Week 3: Tuesday, July 19: * * * * MID-TERM EXAM IN CLASS * * * * Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics Week 3: Wednesday, July 20: Albert, Quantum Mechanics and Experience, Ch. 1, Superposition Albert, Ch. 2, Formalism Week 3: Thu, July 21: Albert, Ch. 2, Formalism Albert, Ch. 3, Nonlocality Week 4: Tue, July 26: Albert, Ch. 4, Measurement Albert, Ch. 5, Collapse of the Wave Function Week 4: Wednesday, July 27: Albert, Ch. 6, The Dynamics by Itself Albert, Ch. 7, Bohm's Theory Week 4: Thursday, July 28: Visiting Lecture on QM and Nonlocality by Professor Reed Guy Realism, Anti-Realism and Reality Testing Week 5: Tuesday, August 2: Reader, B. van Fraassen, Arguments Concerning Scientific Realism Reader, A. Fine, And Not Anti-Realism Either Week 5: Wed, August 3: The Copernican Revolution, T. Kuhn, Ch. 1-4 Week 5: Thu, August 4: The Copernican Revolution, T. Kuhn, Ch. 5-7 Hacking, Representing and Intervening, Cambridge University Press, 1983, p. 1-40 Week 6: Tue, August 9: Hacking, Representing and Intervening, Cambridge University Press, 1983, p. 41-91 When Explanation Leads to Inference, N. Cartwright, Philosophical Topics, 13(1). Week 6: Wednesday, August 10: Realism and Review Week 6: Thursday, August 11: * * * * FINAL EXAM IN CLASS * * * * Philosophy Research | Talks | Teaching | Publications | Home paulsko{AT}turing{D0T}stanford{D0T}edu --- Tel: (510) 642-2722 --- Cordura Hall 127, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305-4101