Philosophy of Science Education

Science is often considered to have some special authority with regard to knowledge of the truth. But what exactly is science and why does it have such authority? These questions are basic to this field. This course explores what science is, what it does and how it works.

 

It also attempts to examine the features of the methodology of science, philosophical issues regarding scientific theories, evidence, and confirmation, explanation and the role of science in the larger scope of society; how theoretical considerations and experiments interact to shape the scientific picture of the world; how scientific theories evolve and how theories from different scientific disciplines are related; and whether science does or should claim to give us a literally true picture of the world.

It also includes a consideration on what is peculiar to the culture of science and how scientific culture fits into the larger culture of the society. Part of this survey is the reliance of the works of Rudolf Carnap, Alfred Jules Ayer, Carl Hempel, Karl Popper, Thomas Kuhn, Paul Feyerabend, Martin Heidegger, Jurgen Habermas , Stephen Hawking, and other philosophers of science.