Philosophy of Science
Fall 2008
What is science? How does it work? When it works, what kind of knowledge does it provide? Is there a scientific method? How do experiments provide evidence for theories? What is the nature of scientific explanation? How does the social organization of science contribute, if at all, to its success?
See the info sheet for the class (PDF).
See the reading schedule for the class (PDF).
Topics for the first paper (PDF).
Topics for the second paper (PDF).
Screening off handout (PDF).
Take-Home Exam
The take-home exam will be distributed in the last class (December 10th). It will be due a week later, on December 17th at 10.45 am (right around the time the in-class exam would end, if there were one). You are required to answer three questions with answers of not more than 1000 words each. (There will be a reasonably wide choice of questions.) You are free to use books, lecture notes, etc. But you shouldn’t talk to anyone else about the exam – the same rules apply as in an in-class open-book exam.