Science and Human Understanding

Philosophy 5 UC Berkeley Fall, 2005 Wheeler 100, 11-12:30 Professor: Paul Skokowski 244 Moses Hall Office Hours: Tue 3:15 - 4:45 Phone: (510) 643-6840 paulsko{AT}turing{D0T}stanford{D0T}edu GSIs: Noa Shein: nshein{AT}uci{D0T}edu, Peter Gerdes: logicnazi{AT}gmail{D0T}com Sections: Schein, Noa: Thursday - 8am - 39 Evans Schein, Noa: Thursday - 9am - 35 Evans Schein, Noa: Thursday - 10am - 39 Evans Gerdes, Peter: Friday - 1pm - 223 Wheeler Gerdes, Peter: Friday - 2pm - 79 Dwinelle Gerdes, Peter: Friday - 3pm - 79 Dwinelle Texts: Ariew (ed.), Leibniz and Clarke: Correspondence Hacking, Representing and Intervening Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions Kuhn, The Copernican Revolution Y! Shopping--- Amazon Y! Shopping--- Amazon Y! Shopping--- Amazon Y! Shopping--- Amazon Course Reader: Course Reader Available at Copy Central on Bancroft. Schedule: This is a preliminary schedule and will change Introduction Week 1, Tue, Aug 30: Course Introduction, Schedule, and Grading Introduction to Space and Time: The Leibniz-Clarke Correspondence Week 1, Thu, Sept 1: Correspondence, Letters 1 & 2, p. 4-14. * * * Click here for first reading * * * Week 2, Tue, Sept 6: Correspondence, Letters 3 & 4, p. 14-35. * * * Click here for second reading * * * Week 2, Thu, Sept 8: Correspondence, Letter 5, p. 36-77. Logical Positivism and Confirmationism Week 3, Tue, Sept 13: Reader, M. Schlick, Positivism and Realism Week 3, Thu, Sept 15: Reader, C. Hempel, Philosophy of Natural Science, Ch. 1-3 Week 4, Tue, Sept 20: * * * First Three Page Paper Topic Available Today * * * Reader, C. Hempel, Philosophy of Natural Science, Ch. 4 Reader, R. Carnap, The Confirmation of Laws and Theories Week 4, Thu, Sept 22: Logical Positivism, and Review Falsificationism Week 5, Tue, Sep 27: Reader, K. Popper, Science: Conjectures and Refutations Week 5, Thu, Sept 29: * * * First Three Page Paper Due Today, 11:00 AM * * * Reader, Lakatos, Falsification and the Methodology of Scientific Research Scientific Revolutions Week 6, Tue, Oct 4: Structure of Scientific Revolutions, T. Kuhn, p. 1-51 Week 6, Thu, Oct 6: Structure of Scientific Revolutions, T. Kuhn, p. 52-91 Week 7, Tue, Oct 11: Structure of Scientific Revolutions, T. Kuhn, p. 92-135 Week 7, Thu, Oct 13: Structure of Scientific Revolutions, T. Kuhn, p. 136-173 So You Say You Want A Revolution? Well, You Know... Week 8, Tue, Oct 18: Reader, Popper, Normal Science and its Dangers Reader, Masterman, The Nature of a Paradigm, 59-66 Week 8, Thu, Oct 20: Reader, Masterman, The Nature of a Paradigm, 76-88 Reader, P. Feyerabend, Consolation for the Specialist Week 9, Tue, Oct 25: * * * * MID-TERM EXAM IN CLASS * * * * Realism, Anti-Realism, and Rationality Week 9, Thu, Oct 27: Reader, B. van Fraassen, Arguments Concerning Scientific Realism Week 10, Tue, Nov 1: Reader, A. Fine, And Not Anti-Realism Either Week 10, Thu, Nov 3: Representing and Intervening, I. Hacking, p. 1-31 Week 11, Tue, Nov 8: Representing and Intervening, I. Hacking, p. 31-64 Week 11, Thu, Nov 10: * * * * NO CLASS * * * * Week 12, Tue, Nov 15: * * * Second Three Page Paper Topic Available Today * * * Representing and Intervening, I. Hacking, p. 65-91 Reader, T. Kuhn, Reflections on My Critics Reality Testing: The Copernican Revolution Week 12, Thu, Nov 17: The Copernican Revolution, T. Kuhn, p. 1-44 Week 13, Tue, Nov 22: * * * Second Three Page Paper Due Today, 11:00 AM * * * The Copernican Revolution, T. Kuhn, p. 45-98 Week 13, Thu, Nov 24: * * * * Thanksgiving Day - NO CLASS * * * * Week 14, Tue, Nov 29: The Copernican Revolution, T. Kuhn, p. 99-132 Week 14, Thu, Dec 1: The Copernican Revolution, T. Kuhn, p. 133-184 Special Relativity Week 15, Tue, Dec 6: Reader, B. Hoffman, Relativity and its Roots, p. 43-80 Week 15, Thu, Dec 8: Reader, Holton, Einstein, Michelson, and the 'Crucial' Experiment Summary and Conclusion Philosophy Research | Talks | Teaching | Publications | Home paulsko{AT}turing{D0T}stanford{D0T}edu --- Tel: (650) 723-1275 --- Cordura Hall 127, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305-4101