Contemporary Philosophy of Science

Outline of the course:

PLAN OF LECTURES

Logical Positivism as a form of empiricism : Philosophical background - The British empiricists from Locke to Mill. The Empiricist Criterion of Meaning,, Basics of propositional and predicate logic, notion of a formal language. (2 lectures - KS)

The downfall of Logical Positivism, Realism and (Kuhnian) world-view philosophy of science as alternative, Suppe's assessment of 1977. (2lectures - KS)

Realism : Positions and issues - Putnam, McMullin, Shapere, Boyd - (3lectures - KS)

A new version of empiricism - Van Fraasen. (2 lectures - GN)

Reduction and Reductionism in science. Case studies from biology (2lectures - GN)

The role of experiments in science - A realist view - Ian Hacking. (1lecture - KS)

Sociological studies of science - Merton, Kuhn, the `strong program',Latour, Steve Fuller. (4 lectures - KS)

Total : 16 lectures

The lectures will be held on thursdays from 11-30 am to 1-30 pm. Venue:HBCSE, Room 222. The lectures will start from 7th September, 1995 and end on 4th Jan 1996. Exceptions, i.e., lectures not falling on Thursdays are listed below :

26th Oct. (Thursday): No lecture. Break for Diwali.

7th Dec. (Thursday): No lecture. Lecture will be held instead on 5th Dec. Tuesday

14th Dec (Thursday): No lecture. Break for Cognitive Science conference.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

L 1 - 7/9/95 - (Positivism)

Hacking, I. (1983) Representing and Intervening :Introductory Topics in the Philosophy of science,

Hesse, Mary, (1987) `Ayer and the Philosophy of Science' in Gower, Barry (ed.) Logical Positivism in Perspective, London, Croom Helm.

Popper, K.R. `Mach as a precursor of Einstein' in Conjectures and Refutations,

L 2 - 14/9/95 - (Empiricism and Rationalism)

L 3 - 21/9/95 - (Verification Principle)

Suppe, F. (1977) op cit.

L 4 - 28/9/95 - (Difficulties of the traslatability criteria)

Suppe, F. (1977) op cit.

L 5 - 5/10/95 - (Alternatives to the Received View)

Suppe, F. (1977) op cit.

L 6 - 12/10/95 - (Realism)

McMullin, E. (1984) `A case for scientific realism' in J.Leplin (ed.) Scientific Realism

Laudan, L. (1984) `A confutation of convergent realism' inJ. Leplin (ed.) op cit.

Hacking, I. (1983) Representing and Intervening

L 7 - 19/10/95 - (Realism - contd.) Shapere

McMullin, E.

L 8 - 2/11/95 - ()
L 9 - 9/11/95 - ()
L 10 - 16/11/95 - ()
L 11 - 23/11/95 - ()

L 12 - 30/11/95 - (Hacking's Experimental realism)

Hacking, I. Representing and Intervening, op cit.

Hacking, I. (1988) `On the stability of the laboratory sciences' in Journal of Philosophy

L 13 - 5/12/95 - (Sociology of science : Introduction)

Merton, R. K.

Bloor, D. `Science, Sociology of', Entry in Kuper and Kuper(ed.) The Social Science Encyclopaedia,

Brown, J.R. (ed.)

L 14 - 28/12/95 - (Constructivist Sociology of Science)

1. Collins, H. and Pinch, T. (1993) The Golem : What everyone should know about science,

L 15 - 4/1/96 - (Closure in Scientific Practice, Analogy and Innovation in Science)

Pickering, A. (1990) `Openness and Closure : On the Goals of Scientific Practice' in H. E. Le Grand (ed.)Experimental Inquiries

Knorr, Karin D. (1980) `The Scientist as Analogical Reasoner : A Critique of the metaphor theory of Innovation' in Knorr, K.D. et al. (eds.) The Social Process of Scientific Inquiry

L 16 - 11/1/96 - (Latour)

Latour, Bruno, (1990) `The Force and Reason of Experiment' in H. E. Le Grand (ed.) Experimental Inquiries