General
Teacher: Valia Allori
Course code: 180009-EN1
Topic outline
Science and pseudoscience
Reading list
o Popper, “Science: Conjectures and Refutations,” 3
o Kuhn, “Logic of Discovery or Psychology of Research?” 11
o Lakatos, “Science and Pseudoscience,” 20
Page numbers are from "Philosophy of Science, the Central Issues" 2nd ed.
Rationality and objectivity in science
o Kuhn, “The Nature and Necessity of Scientific Revolutions,” 79
o Kuhn, “Objectivity, Value Judgment, and Theory Choice,” 94
o McMullin, “Rationality and Paradigm Change in Science,” 111
o Laudan, “Kuhn’s Critique of Methodology,” 131
Underdetermination
o Duhem, “Physical Theory and Experiment,” 227
o Quine, “Two Dogmas of Empiricism,” 250
o Gillies, “The Duhem Thesis and the Quine Thesis,” 271
o Laudan, “Demystifying Underdetermination,” 288
Induction, Prediction, Confirmation
o Lipton, “Induction,” 390
o Popper, “The Problem of Induction,” 406
o Salmon, “Rational Prediction,” 412
o Hempel, “Criteria of Confirmation and Acceptability,” 424
o Goodman, “The New Riddle of Induction,” 451
o Salmon, “Rationality and Objectivity in Science or Tom Kuhn Meets Tom Bayes,” 518
Models of Explanation
o Carnap, “The Value of Laws: Explanation and Prediction,”651
o Hempel, “Two Basic Types of Scientific Explanation,” 657
o Hempel, “The Thesis of Structural Identity,” 667
o Van Fraassen, “The Scientific Image” ch. 5, sec. 4 (Moodle)
o Kitcher, “Explanatory Unification” 711
Realism and anti-realism
o Maxwell, “The Ontological Status of Theoretical Entities” 1049
o Van Fraassen, “Arguments Concerning Scientific Realism,” 1060
o Musgrave, “Realism versus Constructive Empiricism,” 1088