Philosophy 355 Homepage

SYLLABUS

READINGS -- Need the password? Just email me with your student number.

• Scientific Explanations
  • Rudolf Carnap, "The Value of Laws: Explanation and Prediction"
  • Carl Hempel, "Two Basic Types of Scientific Explanation"
  • Carl Hempel, "The Thesis of Structural Identity"
  • Carl Hempel, "Inductive-Statistical Explanation"
  • David-Hillel Ruben, "Arguments, Laws, and Explanation"
  • Bas van Fraassen, "The Pragmatics of Explanation"
    • Notes/Reading Guide
• Laws of Nature
  • A. J. Ayer, "What Is a Law of Nature?"
  • Fred Dretske, "Laws of Nature"
  • D. H. Mellor, "Necessities and Universals in Natural Laws"
  • Nancy Cartwright, "Do the Laws of Physics State the Facts?"
• Scientific Reduction
  • Ernest Nagel, "Issues in the Logic of Reductive Explanation"
  • Thomas Nickles, "Two Concepts of Intertheoretic Reduction"
  • Phillip Kitcher, "1953 and All That: A Tale of Two Sciences"

ASSIGNMENTS

• First Assignment -- Due Jan. 23
  • Sample Answer
• Second Assignment -- Due Feb. 6
• Third Assignment -- Due Feb. 27
  • Sample Answer
• Fourth Assignment -- Due March 19
• Fifth Assignment -- Due March 31
• Sixth Assignment -- Due April 9

FINAL EXAM INFO

• Study Questions -- last updated April 6th
• Exam Timetable