Philosophy 252 Homepage

Philosophy 252 Homepage

IMPORTANT DATES

First Paper Due: Oct. 19
Midterm: Nov. 9
Second Paper Due: Dec. 7

TESTS

Study Questions (updated 18/11/06)
Sample Answers to Midterm

PAPER ASSIGNMENTS

How Not to Plagiarize
First Paper Assignment - Due Oct. 19, in class
Second Paper Assignment - Due Dec. 7, in class (question 3 updated on 1/12/06)

READINGS

Science and Pseudoscience
- Week 1: Positivism
  - A.J. Ayer, excerpts from Language, Truth, and Logic
- Week 2: Falsificationism
  - Karl Popper, excerpt from The Logic of Scientific Discovery
  - David Hume, excerpt from An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
- Week 3: Science, Revolution, and Method
Science, Religion, and God
- Week 4: Is Creationism a science?
  - Michael Ruse, "Creation Science Is Not Science"
  - Larry Laudan, "Commentary: Science at the Bar -- Causes for Concern"
- Week 5: The Teleological Argument
  - Elliott Sober, "The Design Argument"
    You may need to install these fonts to view all the symbols correctly:
    - WPMathA
    - WPGreek
Realism and Anti-Realism
- Weeks 6 & 7: Constructive Empiricism
  - van Fraassen, "Arguments Concerning Scientific Realism"
- Week 8 & 9: Convergent Realism
  - Laudan, "A Confutation of Convergent Realism"
Philosophy of Biology
- Week 10: Evolution, Fitness, and The Tautology Problem
  - Sober, First Half of Chapter 3 of Philosophy of Biology
  - Sober, Second Half of Chapter 3 of Philosophy of Biology
Feminist Philosophy of Science
- Week 11: Feminist Epistemology
  - Janet Radcliffe Richards, "Why Feminist Epistemology Isn't"
- Week 12: Feminism and Scientific Method
  - Kathleen Okruhlik, "Gender and the Biological Sciences"