Fall 2023

A reconstruction of the Early Cretaceous paravian dinosaur, Microraptor. Analysis of melanosomes from fossil samples reveals that its feathers were an iridescent black. From Li, Quanguo et al, “Reconstruction of Microraptor and the Evolution of Iridescent Plumage”, in Science, Vol 335, Issue 6073, pp. 1215-1219, 9 October 2012.

Details

Instructor

Overview

This class is an advanced introduction to the philosophy of science.

Assessment

The final grade will be determined approximately as follows:

Assessment dates:

Policies

Lateness and Attendance

Students are required to attend all classes on time. Lateness will count against your attendance and participation grade. Students missing 4 classes will receive an attendance and participation grade of F. Students missing 6 classes will receive a final grade of F.

Integrity

It is a condition on passing this course that students read and adhere to the NYU Shanghai policy on academic integrity as described in the current NYU Shanghai Academic Bulletin.

Course Materials

All notes, readings and assignments can be found on the course Brightspace site here.

Selected books are available on reserve in the library.

Schedule

Meeting 1: Introductory Discussion (Tuesday 29 August)

Section I: Laws

Meeting 2: Against Fundamentalism (Thursday 31 August)

• Cartwright, Nancy. 1994. “Fundamentalism vs. the Patchwork of Laws”, in Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Vol. 94, No. 1, June, pp. 279–292. URI: https://doi.org/10.1093/aristotelian/94.1.279.

Meeting 3: For Fundamentalism (Tuesday 5 September)

• Sklar, Lawrence. 2003. “Dappled Theories in a Uniform World”, in Philosophy of Science, Vol. 70, No. 2, April, pp. 424–441. URI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/375476.

Meeting 4: Regularities (Thursday 7 September)

• Bird, Alexander. 1998. “Laws of Nature”, in Philosophy of Science, McGill-Queen’s University Press, Montreal, pp. 17–40. For today, read pp. 17–32.

Meeting 5: Necessities (Tuesday 12 September)

• Bird, Alexander. 1998. “Laws of Nature”, in Philosophy of Science, McGill-Queen’s University Press, Montreal, pp. 17–40. For today, read pp. 33–40.

Meeting 6: Governing (Thursday 14 September)

• Beebee, Helen. 2000. “The Non-Governing Conception of Laws of Nature”, in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Vol. 61, No. 3, November, pp. 571–594. URI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2653613.

Meeting 7: Review (Tuesday 19 September)

Section II: Explanation

Meeting 8: Nomological Theories (Thursday 21 September)

• Hempel, Carl Gustav. 1965. “Aspects of Scientific Explanation”, in Aspects of Scientific Explanation and Other Essays in the Philosophy of Science, Free Press, New York, pp. 331–496. Read §§1–2.2.

Meeting 9: Singular Causal Explanations (Tuesday 26 September)

• Woodward, James. 2003. “Causal Explanation: Background and Criticism”, in Making Things Happen: A Theory of Causal Explanation, Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 152–186. URI: https://doi.org/10.1093/0195155270.003.0004.

Meeting 10: Causal Theories I (Thursday 28 September)

• Lewis, David. 1986. “Causal Explanation”, in Philosophical Papers, Oxford University Press, Oxford, Vol. II, pp. 214–240. URI: http://doi.org/10.1093/0195036468.003.0007.

Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day Holiday: Fall Break

Meeting 11: Causal Theories II (Tuesday 10 October)

• Sober, Elliott. 1983. “Equilibrium Explanation”, in Philosophical Studies, Vol. 43, No. 2, March, pp. 201–210. URI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00372383.

Meeting 12: Counterfactual Theories (Thursday 12 October)

• Woodward, James and Hitchcock, Christopher. 2003. “Explanatory Generalizations, Part I: A Counterfactual Account”, in Noûs, Vol. 37, No. 1, March, pp. 1–24. URI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1468-0068.00426.

Meeting 13: Explanatory Depth (Tuesday 17 October)

• Woodward, James and Hitchcock, Christopher. 2003. “Explanatory Generalizations, Part II: Plumbing Explanatory Depth”, in Noûs, Vol. 37, No. 2, June, pp. 181–199. URI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1468-0068.00435.
• Weslake, Brad. 2010. “Explanatory Depth”, in Philosophy of Science, Vol. 77, No. 2, April, pp. 273–294. URI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/651316.

Meeting 14: Visit from Michael Strevens (Thursday 19 October)

• Strevens, Michael. 2004. “The Causal and Unification Approaches to Explanation Unified—Causally”, in Noûs, Vol. 38, No. 1, March, pp. 154–176. URI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0068.2004.00466.x.

Meeting 15: Review I (Tuesday 24 October)

Meeting 16: Review II (Thursday 26 October)

Section III: Values

Meeting 17: Free Inquiry I (Tuesday 31 October)

• Kitcher, Philip. 1997. “An Argument About Free Inquiry”, in Noûs, Vol. 31, No. 3, September, pp. 279–306. URI: http://doi.org/10.1111/0029-4624.00047.

Meeting 18: Free Inquiry II (Thursday 2 November)

• Talisse, Robert B. and Aikin, Scott F. 2007. “Kitcher on the Ethics of Inquiry”, in Journal of Social Philosophy, Vol. 38, No. 4, pp. 654–665. URI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9833.2007.00405.x.
• Kitcher, Philip. 2007. “Reply to Talisse and Aikin”, in Journal of Social Philosophy, Vol. 38, No. 4, pp. 666–669. URI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9833.2007.00406.x.

Meeting 19: Free Inquiry III (Tuesday 7 November)

• Wray, K. Brad. 2001. “Science, Biases, and the Threat of Global Pessimism”, in Philosophy of Science, Vol. 68, No. 3, September, pp. S467-S478. URI: https://doi.org/10.1086/392929‘.

Meeting 20: Amplified Inductive Risk (Thursday 9 November)

• Havstad, Joyce C. 2022. “Sensational Science, Archaic Hominin Genetics, and Amplified Inductive Risk”, in Canadian Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 52, No. 3, April, pp. 295–320. URI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/can.2021.15.

Meeting 21: Workshop: Writing Philosophy (Sunday 12 November)

Section IV: Replication

Meeting 22: The Replication Crisis (Tuesday 14 November)

• Yong, Ed. 2012. “Replication Studies: Bad Copy”, in Nature, Vol. 485, No. 7398, May, pp. 298–300. URI: http://doi.org/10.1038/485298a.
• Romero, Felipe. 2019. “Philosophy of Science and The Replicability Crisis”, in Philosophy Compass, Vol. 14, No. 11, November, pp. e12633. URI: https://doi.org/10.1111/phc3.12633.

Meeting 23: What is Replication? I (Thursday 16 November)

• Machery, Edouard. 2020. “What Is a Replication?”, in Philosophy of Science, Vol. 87, No. 4, October, pp. 545–567. URI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/709701.

Meeting 24: What is Replication? II (Tuesday 21 November)

• Hudson, Robert. 2023. “Explicating Exact versus Conceptual Replication”, in Erkenntnis, Vol. 88, No. 6, August, pp. 2493–2514. URI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10670-021-00464-z.

Thanksgiving Holiday

Section IV: Models

Meeting 25: (Tuesday 28 November)

• Weisberg, Michael. 2007. “Three Kinds of Idealization”, in Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 104, No. 12, December, pp. 639–659. URI: https://doi.org/10.5840/jphil20071041240.

Meeting 26: (Thursday 30 November)

• Bokulich, Alisa. 2011. “How Scientific Models Can Explain”, in Synthese, Vol. 180, No. 1, May, pp. 33–45. URI: http://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-009-9565-1.

Meeting 27: (Tuesday 5 December)

• Frisch, Mathias. 2018. “Modeling Climate Policies: The Social Cost of Carbon and Uncertainties in Climate Predictions”, in Lloyd and Winsberg (Ed), Climate Modelling: Philosophical and Conceptual Issues, Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, pp. 413–448. URI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65058-6_14.

Meeting 28: (Thursday 7 December)

• Christopher Ketcham, “When Idiot Savants Do Climate Economics”, in The Intercept, 29 October 2023. https://archive.is/Pdsox

Updated: 20 November 2023