Science Visions

Caucus member Anya Plutynski put together an experimental all-female-authors syllabus for a philosophy of science seminar. It is reproduced here, with her note: “Now I am ashamed of all the women I failed to include! Please apologize that I could not include more amazing women!!!” 

Nice work, Anya, and thanks for sharing!

Syllabus for Philosophy of Science

Anya Plutynski

Associate Professor, Philosophy

aplutyns@wustl.edu

Class Meeting time and place: …

Office hours…

Overview and Introduction

Philosophy of science is an investigation into the methods and aims of science.  This class will explore eight key issues that are central topics in philosophy of science, each lasting approximately 1.5 weeks.

-       Models:  How are models used to understand the natural world?

-       Laws:  Are there laws of nature?  If so, what role(s) do they play in science?

-       Causation:  What kinds of causal knowledge do scientists seek?  How do they discover causes?

-       Experiment:  What makes a good experiment?  What roles do experiments play in theory building, discovery and confirmation?

-       Evidential reasoning:  When do we have good evidence?  When is evidence good “enough”?  Good enough for what?  

-       Values in Science:  Do values play a role in science?  If so, do they necessarily compromise objectivity?  Why or why not?

-       Explanation:  What is it to explain in science?  How do different kinds of explanations in the sciences inter-relate?

-       Theory Change:  How do theories change over time?

-       Topics in the Special Sciences: What are some of the special methodological and conceptual challenges in the special sciences?  E.g., What are model organisms, and how are comparisons and contrasts between species and sexes to be used in biological research?  Are races real?  What function can or should race distinctions play in medicine?  Is there such a thing as ‘genetic disease’? Can we have a science of “well being”?  What is it for something to be “Evolvable”?

All readings will be available online through the Library’s Course Reserves.

Requirements & Breakdown of Grade

Late papers will not be accepted.  Assignments will be posted and graded online at….  Revisions of all assignments are permitted, provided you meet with me to go over comments on the initial draft.

20% Three short (2 page) argument reconstructions.

60%: Two longer papers 4 pp., and 7-8 pp. (revision required on final paper)  

20%: Attendance and participation (Assessed via in class discussion and online participation, one in class presentation: a general overview of the central argument(s) in the readings, details on Web.)

Unit 1: Modeling in Science:

Week 1 (Monday):  Hesse, “Models and Analogies in Science” (Introductory Chapter)

Week 1 (Wed.):  Morgan and Morrison, “Models as Mediators”;

Week 2 (Monday):  Alexandrova, “Making Models Count”

Recommended: Nersessian, “Model-based reasoning…”



Unit 2:  Laws

Week 3 (Wed.):  Mitchell, “Dimensions of Scientific Laws”

Week 4 (Monday):  Cartwright, “The Truth Doesn’t Explain Much” and “Do the Laws of Physics State the Facts?”

Week 4 (Wed.):  Woody, “Chemistry’s Periodic Law”



Unit 3:  Causation

Week 5 (Monday):  Anscombe, “Causality and Determination”

Week 5 (Wed.): Ismael, “Causation, Free Will, and Naturalism”

Week 6 (Monday): Millstein, “Natural Selection as a Population-Level Causal Process”



Unit 4: Experiment

Week 6: (Wed.) Parke, “Experiments, Simulations and Epistemic Privelege,” Feest, “Phenomenal experiences, first person methods…”

Week 7: (Monday):  Franklin, “Exploratory Experiments”; Patton, “Experiment and Theory Building



Unit 5:  Evidential Reasoning

Week 7 (Wed.):  Mayo, “Towards a more objective understanding of the evidence of carcinogenic risk”

Week 8 (Monday):  Lloyd, “Model Robustness as a Confirmatory Virtue: the Case of Climate Science”

Recommended: Solomon:  “Just a Paradigm:  Evidence Based medicine…” and Mayo and Spanos, “Philosophical Scrutiny of Evidence of Risks…”



Unit 5:  Values in Science

Week 8 (Wed.):  Longino, Introduction, from Science as Social Knowledge

Week 9 (Monday): Douglas, “Inductive Risk and Values in Science”

Recommended: Wylie and Nelson, “Coming to terms with values in science…”



Unit 6:  Explanation

Week 9 (Wed.): Ben-Menahem, “Inference to the Best Explanation”

Week 10 (Monday):  Lloyd and Anderson, “Empiricism, Objectivity and Explanation”

Week 10 (Wed.):  Bokulich, “Distinguishing Explanatory from Non-Explanatory Fictions”

Recommended:  Thalos, “Explanation is a Genus…” Angela Potochnik “Levels of Explanation Reconceived,” and Wilkenfeld, D., Plunkett, D. & Lombrozo, T. “Depth and deference: when and why we attribute understanding”



Unit 7:  Theory Change in Science

Week 11 (Mon.):  Darden and Maull, “Interfield Theories”; Darden, ‘Reasoning in scientific change…”

Week 11 (Wed.):  Solomon,  “Multivariate Models of Scientific Change”
and Bokulich and Devlin, “Kuhn’s Social Epistemology of Science”



Unit 8:  Special Sciences: Case Studies

Week 12 (Monday): Ankeny and Leonelli, “What’s so Special about Model Organisms?”

Week 12 (Wed.): Richardson, “Sexes, Species and Genomes:  Why Males and Females are not like Humans and Chimpanzees”

Week 13 (Monday):  R. Andreasen, “The Concept of Race in Medicine”

Week 13 (Wed.):  Gannett, “What’s in a cause?…”

Week 14 (Monday):  Alexandrova, “Well being and Philosophy of Science”

Week 14 (Wed.):  Brown, “What Evolvability really is”