Syllabus • Philosophy of Science

Instructor Information

Office: 379 Bartlett Hall

Office Hours: Wednesdays 2:30pm-3:30pm or by Appt.

Office Phone: 413.545.2330

E-Mail: lascano@philos.umass.edu

 

Course Description

We will attempt to gain insight into the nature of science by looking at what science is not. That is, we will concentrate on the demarcation problem. In doing so, we will investigate various forms of "pseudoscience" and attempt to say what it is that discounts them as "real" science. Some subjects we will look at are astrology, parapsychology, alternative medicine, creationism, and UFO phenomena. In studying these subjects we will also look at other traditional problems in the philosophy of science such as induction, explanation, causation, backwards causation, and time.

Course Requirements

There is quite a bit of reading for this course - approximately 20 pages per class, so it is imperative that any student taking this course be able to keep up with the readings. We will have four short papers (2-3 pages) and one longer final paper (5-7 pages). Each short paper is worth 15% of the course grade. The final paper is worth 30% of the course grade. 10% of the course grade is based on class participation and attendance.

Academic Honesty

Violations of the University regulations concerning academic honesty will not be tolerated in this course. I will do my best to see to it that students caught cheating in this course are subjected to the most severe penalties consistent with University policies, this includes receiving a "F" for the course and expulsion from the University.

Students with Special Needs

Please do not hesitate to contact me for any necessary accommodations.

Textbooks

There are 4 texts for this course. The books are available at the Amherst Bookstore (formerly Atticus) located at 8 Main Street in downtown Amherst. The texts are as follows:

Philosophy of Science and the Occult (PS&O) - Patrick Grim, Editor

How to Think About Weird Things (HTWT) - T. Schick & L. Vaughn

Philosophy of Science (PS) - Samir Okasha

Pseudoscience and the Paranormal (P&P) - Terence Hines

 

Schedule of Readings and Topics

9/3 Introduction, syllabus, etc.

9/5 What is science? PS, 1-17

9/8 The Nature of Pseudoscience, P&P, 13-41

9/10 The Demarcation Problem, PS&O, 87-110

9/12 Demarcation, PS&O, 111-139

9/15 Demarcation, PS&O, 140-168

9/17 Demarcation, PS&O, 170-182

9/19 Problem of Induction, PS, 18-39

9/22 "Induction, Causation, and Scientific Explanation" - Salmon (handout)

9/24 "

9/26 Weird Things Intro., Possibility & Impossibility, HTWT, 1-27

9/29 Truth and Person Experience, HTWT, 31-65 (1st Short Paper Due)

10/1 Truth Relativism, HTWT, 70-90

10/3 Knowledge, Belief, and Evidence, HTWT, 94-129

10/6 "

10/8 Astrology, PS&O, 15-36

10/10 Astrology, PS&O, 37-50

10/13 HOLIDAY - No Class

10/15 Astrology, PS&O, 51-77

10/17 Astrology, P&P, 205-235

10/20 Science and its Pretenders, HTWT, 159-205 (2nd Short Paper Due)

10/22 "

10/24 Explanation, PS, 40-57

10/27 Creationism, P&P, 407-412

10/29 Parapsychology, PS&O, 183-202

10/31 Parapsychology, PS&O, 205-228

11/3 Parapsychology, PS&O, 232-251

11/5 "Bringing about the Past" - Dummett (handout)

11/7 Parapsychology, PS&O, 253-262

11/10 Lab Parapsychology, P&P, 113-151

11/12 Psychics & Psychic Phenomena, P&P, 43-91

11/14 "

11/17 Miracle Cures, HTWT, 211-245 (3rd Short Paper Due)

11/19 Faith Healing, P&P, 331-351

11/21 Alternative Medicine, P&P, 351-383

11/24 "

11/26 Class Cancelled Due to Inevitable Low Attendance

11/28 Holiday

12/1 Case Studies in the Extraordinary, HTWT, 250-293

12/3 "

12/5 "The Paradoxes of Time Travel" - Lewis (handout)

12/8 UFOs, P&P, 235-303

12/10 "

12/12 Life and Death, P&P, 91-113 (4th Short Paper Due)

*Final Paper Due by December 19th, 5:00pm