This course explores fundamental topics within philosophy of science. It aims at providing a critical approach to the scientific method that will be accessible to undergraduate students from both the humanities and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) disciplines. Its goal is to familiarize students with problems and controversies within the practice of science, provide a clear understanding of its limits and allow future scientists to develop a balanced understanding of their disciplines.

Normally we take scientific knowledge to amount to indubitable knowledge, but can this popular view of science withstand philosophical reflection? Specifically, does scientific knowledge amount to proven knowledge and if not how is scientific knowledge justified? Does science follow the inductive method or does it rely on what Popper called ‘falsificationism’? How can we tell scientific and pseudo-scientific theories apart? For example, what are the reasons for preferring evolutionary biology over creationism? Moreover, is scientific progress cumulative and continuous (where each new theory adds to the existing body of scientific knowledge) or is it interrupted and revolutionary? Is scientific knowledge absolute or relativistic, and can we be realists about the claims science makes? Finally, what is the relation between scientific theories and scientific models?

No prior knowledge of science is required, but readings will sometimes engage with scientific work.

• Demonstrate critical understanding of the scientific method and knowledge of related topics such as: the problem of induction, falsificationism, science vs pseudo-science, the history and sociology of science, scientific relativism, scientific realism, the relation between scientific theories and models.
• Construct arguments, both verbally and in written work, drawing on relevant philosophical and empirical work
• Extract material relevant to a particular problem from a large body of literature
• Work independently

The module will be delivered through lectures and seminars. Seminars will take the form of discussion sessions led by a member of staff or discussion sessions where students work independently in small groups.

This module will be taught using printed books and also using journal articles which are available online (e.g. via Learning Central) or from the library. Timetabled sessions will be supplemented with written material in the form of a detailed summary of the session content and a list of further reading. This supplementary material will be provided on Learning Central and/or will be projected during the sessions using PowerPoint or OHP acetates. Any supplementary material in a permanent form (e.g. a paper handout or downloadable document) will be made available on Learning Central at least 24 hours before the session.

Still images or diagrams will be used in this module as an occasional supplement to illustrate points which are also presented verbally (e.g. in text or by means of a caption).

Discussions will be further motivated via the provision of related online audio-visual material, documentaries and opinion articles.

Transferable / Employability Skills:

It is worth bearing in mind that, even though the point of the module is to do philosophy, many of the skills you’ll be developing are also highly valued by graduate employers. These include:

• Critical Thinking: e.g. the ability to understand, structure and critically evaluate the key points and arguments made in written texts and discussions––achieved through e.g. reading, small group activities in lectures and seminars, plenary discussions in seminars, reflecting on lecture materials, essay and exam preparation and writing.
• Communication: the ability to formulate and articulate your critical thinking, both orally and on paper, in ways that others can grasp and engage with––achieved through e.g. small group work in seminars, seminar discussions, essay/exam writing.
• Organisation: the ability to organise and coordinate workloads––achieved through balancing e.g. reading, seminar preparation, essay/exam preparation.
• Working with others: e.g. co-constructing ideas, responding sensitively to others––achieved through e.g. small group work in seminars, group presentations.

The module will be assessed by a ninety-minute unseen written examination and one essay of 2,000 words.

This module is assessed according to the Marking Criteria set out in the Philosophy Course Guide. There are otherwise no academic or competence standards which limit the availability of adjustments or alternative assessments for students with disabilities.

Indicative schedule of topics, by semester week:

1. Introduction: What is knowledge? This introductory lecture will provide all the requisite terms from epistemology (theory of knowledge) that you’ll need for subsequent sessions.
2. The problem of induction: Next, a crucial problem in philosophy and the beginning of modern philosophy of science: Hume’s problem of the justification of inductive inferences.
3. Falsificationism: This week looks at Karl Popper’s classic theory of Falsificationism as a deductive method for science—did Popper show that science can operate without induction?
4. Scientific Paradigms and Revolutions: This week explores a prominent alternative to inductivism and falsificationism, namely Thomas Kuhn’s famous ‘paradigm’ conception of scientific theory change.
5. Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes: In this lecture we will first go through Imre Lakatos’ most serious objections to Kuhn’s conception of the scientific progress, and next, we will turn to Lakatos’ alternative proposal, namely his Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes.
6. Epistemological Anarchism: The attempt to capture rules that could always and in all situations govern the scientific process has been seriously undermined by Paul Feyerabend, in his book Against Method: Towards an Anarchistic Theory of Knowledge.
7. Scientific Realism and Anti-Realism: This lecture will focus on one of the central debates in contemporary philosophy of science, that between scientific realists and anti-realists.
8. The Success of Science: This lecture will consider some of the arguments put forward by scientific realists, including the influential 'success of science' argument according to which scientific realism provides the best explanation for the success of science, and some anti-realist comebacks. 
9. Scientific Models: In this lecture we will survey a central debate in contemporary philosophy of science about the role of scientific models in representing target systems. What is a scientific model? How does it represent the phenomena under study?
10.  Summary and Concluding remarks

A full module reading list will be made available to students at the beginning of the semester.

Indicative

• Pritchard, D. What Is This Thing Called Knowledge?, Ch. 1-3.
• Popper, K. R. The Logic of Scientific Discovery, Ch. 1, or see Popper extract in Curd and Cover (edd.), pp. 426-432.
• Thomas Kuhn “The nature and necessity of scientific revolutions.” From Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (2nd edition), pp. 92-110. Reprinted also in Curd and Cover (eds.) Philosophy of Science. The Central Issues (first edition), pp. 86-101.
• Imre Lakatos. (1970). "Falsification and the Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes", in Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge, (1970), Imre Lakatos and Alan Musgrave (eds), Cambridge University Press. 
• Paul Feyerabend. (1975). Against Method: Towards an Anarchistic Theory of Knowledge. New Left Books. 
• Bird, A. (1998) Philosophy of Science (McGill-Queen’s University Press), Chapter 4
• van Fraassen, B. (1980) ‘Arguments concerning scientific realism’ in Curd, M. and Cover, J. eds. Philosophy of Science (New York: Norton and Co., 1998), sections 1 and 2.
• Brown, J. (1985) ‘Explaining the success of science’ in Curd, M. and Cover, J. eds. Philosophy of Science (New York: Norton and Co., 1998)
• van Fraassen, B. (1980) ‘Arguments concerning scientific realism’ in Curd, M. and Cover, J. eds. Philosophy of Science (New York: Norton and Co., 1998), sections 3-7.
• Morgan, M. S., & Morrison, M. (Eds.). (1999). Models as mediators: Perspectives on natural and social science (Vol. 52). Cambridge University Press. Ch. 2 & 7.

• Ladyman, J. Understanding Philosophy of Science, (2002), Routledge.
• Chalmers, A. F. What is this thing called science? (1976) University of Queensland Press

Indicative

IEP: Internet Encyclopaedia of Philosophy

SEP: Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy

·SEP article on feminist philosophy of science: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminism-epistemology/

·IEP article on Thomas Kuhn: http://www.iep.utm.edu/kuhn-ts/

·IEP article on Karl Popper: http://www.iep.utm.edu/pop-sci/

·IEP article on Scientific Realism and Anti-Realism: http://www.iep.utm.edu/sci-real/

·IEP article on Models: http://www.iep.utm.edu/models/

·SEP article on Paul Feyerabend: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feyerabend/

·SEP article on Imre Lakatos: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/lakatos/

Aeon article on whether science must be testable: https://aeon.co/essays/the-string-theory-wars-show-us-how-science-needs-philosophy