HH9U

I said I would get this started earlier for the last test. I'm starting with Ladyman Ch. 5-8 (and Chalmers Ch. 15) and will add terms from the C&C texts shortly. Here it is, but it's not done until it says done: study guide 3.
 * 1/10/2011**


 * 1/5/2011**
 * We don't have a formal "reading period" but while presentations are underway you have a chance to read and reread Chs. 5-8 of Ladyman, and the Maxwell, van Fraassen, Laudan and Fine readings in C&C. All of this material is on the third and final test on 1/20 which counts for 30% of your course grade. **


 * If you are short on response pieces (you only need 6 plus the presentation counts as 2), I will allow you to post at most two more if you restrict them to Ch. 8 or the Laudan and Fine readings. **

We are hearing from Daniel H., Kamaal and possibly Camron tomorrow 1/6 (also Julianna will take questions) Everyone else should be ready to go next week according to the following plan:

Next week on Monday: Camron (if necessary), Daniel R. and Mena and Melissa (on deck) Next Week on Thursday: Mena (if necessary), Melissa and Jillian and Ben (on deck) Following week on Monday: Ben Lo (if necessary)

We are reading Ladyman Ch. 7 this week. You will finish Ladyman's book over break as well as work on your presentation. You should list your presentation topic and papers here: Phil220 Presentations
 * 12/20/2010**

In case it wasn't obvious, read Chalmers Ch. 15, Laudan and Fine in C&C, but also Ladyman Ch 6. [The Musgrave handout (linked below) is optional and has a lot of overlap with his essay in C&C.] These readings will take us through to the winter break.
 * 12/11/2010**


 * 12/9/2010**


 * January Presentations!**
 * You will each prepare a 15-20 minute presentation anchored by a primary article on Philosophy of Science of your choosing.
 * It can come from Curd & Cover (one we haven't read) or from any reputable PRIMARY source (i.e. do not choose the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). You can see some PoS journals here: http://hps.elte.hu/journals/Journals.html -- through JSTOR and our librarian, we may be able to get free access to some of these.
 * The topic can be anything related to the philosophy of science.
 * Your presentation can be a summary of the main points of the article or it can be more creative/ambitious than that.
 * You can choose a paper by its author or title, by the topic, typeface or length(!), but //please read at least 20%// of it before committing yourself to using it in your presentation.
 * The presentation will count as 2 weekly responses (which you won't be doing during those two weeks)
 * Deadline for choosing a paper for your presentation is Monday Dec. 20th. Presentations will begin Jan 3rd.
 * The order of presentations will be determined by blind lottery in the last week before break.

Interesting online article by Alan Musgrave, using fairly simple language and detailed discussion of inference to the best explanation http://www.rutherfordjournal.org/article020108.html

**12/3/2010 **

For next week, read Maxwell and van Fraassen in C&C (pp.1052-1087) and Ladyman Ch. 5 As usual, the C&C commentaries at the end of the chapter are recommended. Reading responses are due Wednesday night. It's a good idea to write something before then and actually edit it before the posting deadline.

After next week, we will continue on scientific realism with readings from Chalmers' book and the Laudan and Fine readings from C&C.

**11/19/2010 ** **Read Ch. 4 in Ladyman and reread the Kuhn readings and Chalmers Ch 7 **and 8**. This material** **will take us through to the next exam on Dec. 2. ** I am starting a study guide for test 2 here.

Be prepared to discuss how Ladyman's Ch. 2 and 3 compare and contrast to Chalmers' Ch. 4 and 5.
 * 11/9/2010 **
 * //Change of plans//**: you can read Goodman's "New Riddle of Induction" if you like, but let's not dwell on it. Press on and read Ladyman Ch. 3 for Monday instead.

I may post some questions here later, so check back.


 * 11/8/2010 **

This is way late, but we agreed to read through Ch. 2 in Ladyman for this week. Here are questions I want you to think about:

1. Deconstruct the Aristotelian argument on p. 21. In what way is it a deductively valid argument? Is it sound? 2. What are Bacon's Idols of the Mind? Try to come up with an example of your own for each. 3. Explain the philosophical point of Voltaire's joke on p. 26. 4. Try to paraphrase Hume's critique of causation. 5. Ladyman enumerates 10 or so solutions to the Problem of Induction. Which one is more persuasive to you personally? Explain what the problems are with that solution and discuss why you find it persuasive in spite of its problems.


 * 10/28/2010 **

For next week, read Kuhn in C&C pp 86-101 and Chalmers Ch. 5 and Ch.7


 * 10/21/2010 **

For next week, readings are Lipton & Popper in C&C Ch. 4 (pp. 412-432) and Chalmers Ch 4. I recommend reading the C&C chapter commentary as well (pp. 495-508)

some concepts to try to understand:

underdetermination //the// problem of induction discovery and justification hypothetico-deductive (HD) model instantial model

Consider trying to work one of these into your posting for this week. (I will count your highest 8 response grades in determining the 15% of your final grade that was to be weekly quizzes)


 * 10/15/2010**

Please finish the Logic handout (including fallacies; you may want to test yourself with the exercises) and also read Quine's essay in C&C for next week. No writing assignment is required for this week. Here is a study guide for the **Test on Thursday** (in progress, so check back)


 * 10/13/2010**

The in-class test on 10/21 will cover all the readings up to and including Quine. I.e. Hume (first day, in class), Popper, Kuhn, Lakatos, Thagard, Ruse, Laudan, Duhem, Quine, Chalmers (chs 1 and 2) and the Brief Intro to Logic by P. Gregory. A good idea for studying for the test would be to write your own outline of the main points of each article.

I will post a more thorough list of concepts and study questions soon.


 * 10/8/2010**

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXr2kF0zEgI

For next week Read up to Section 5 in the Logic handout for Tuesday and the Duhem piece in C&C pp. 257-279. Post your own response to either piece by 9AM Tuesday Post a response to a classmate, preferably on the other piece (i.e. the one you didn't write about in the first place), by 9AM Thursday.


 * 10/6/2010**

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/361087/october-05-2010/leon-botstein


 * 10/5/2010**

I will hand out photocopies of Paul Gregory's Brief Introduction to Logic on Thursday, and this will be our reading for next week in addition to Duhem in C&C. Consider reading ahead in the Brief Intro before Thursday's class, say the first 5 pages.


 * 9/30/2010**

Instead of a quiz next week, please

1) post a written response to this week's readings (Ruse and Laudan in C&C) before 9AM on Monday. //Post the response to the discussion tab on this page//. Your response can be any developed line of thought you had about the readings. For example, you can put one of this week's readings in the context of previous readings, or you can take up a critical position against the author, or you can try to clarify a point you think the author is trying to make (think Believing & Doubting). Your posting must engage substantively with the readings.

2) before 9AM Thursday: post one RESPONSE to a classmates posting in the discussion

You can get some ideas for sample questions about this week's readings from Paul Gregory's course here, but you are not obligated to use them: http://philosophy.wlu.edu/gregoryp/class/old/winter03/255/RQRuseLaudan.htm

I will be checking and grading your postings. No credit will be given for late postings.

Some useful online resources/links

Stanford Encyclopedia of philosophy http://plato.stanford.edu/contents.html PhilSci archive http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu Google Scholar http://scholar.google.com Project Gutenberg http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/search <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Edge Foundation http://www.edge.org

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">You also have access to a number of online databases through Bard Off-Campus Library access http://ezprox.bard.edu:2048/login <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">(get your student access number from me if you don't have one already)

**9/23/2010** Readings for next week. Don't forget, **Quiz on Monday.**

<span style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Lakatos, “Science and Pseudoscience,” CC 20–26 <span style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Thagard, “Why Astrology is a Pseudoscience,” CC 27-35 <span style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Chalmers. Ch. 1

For those interested in the [|Sokal Affair]
 * 9/21/2010**

Congratulations on finding the page for HH9U Intro to Philosophy of Science I'm told all copies of Chalmers' book are in, and half of the copies of Curd & Cover are in (the other half may come in tomorrow). So please try to get books during the day from Olga Russell or stay after class tomorrow to check out books.
 * 9/20/2010**

I'm attaching a scanned PDF from Curd & Cover for the first week's readings, pp. 1-19 and Commentary pp. 63-29 //Required reading// for tomorrow (Tuesday) is Popper, "Science: Conjectures and Refutations," pp. 3-10 Required reading for Thursday is Kuhn, "Logic of Discovery or Psychology of Research," pp. 11-19 and Chalmers, Introduction



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