| HPS 2101/Phil 2600 | Philosophy of Science | Fall 2022 |
Back to course documents.
| Week | Date | Topic/Reading Event | Presented by |
| 1 | Aug. 30 |
Introduction to the seminar | Norton |
| Machine Learning | |||
| Is machine learning bringing the next revolution in science? | Norton | ||
| Sep. 6 | Warm up exercise due before seminar. | ||
| 2 |
Sept. 6 |
Discussion: Has machine learning brought the next revolution in
science? Philosophers of science writing about machine learning: Suzanne Kawamleh, "Can Machines Learn How Clouds Work? The Epistemic Implications of Machine Learning Methods in Climate Science," Philosophy of Science, 88 (December 2021) pp. 1008–1020. Emily Sullivan, "Understanding from Machine Learning Models," The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 73, number 1, March 2022. David S. Watson, "Conceptual challenges for interpretable machine learning," Synthese (2022) 200:65 |
Mel Andrews "The Debate" (15 min) "ALL |
| Verificationism | |||
| Hans Hahn, Otto Neurath, Rudolf Carnap," The Scientific Conception of the World [by?] the Vienna Circle. (1929) Trans. in M. Neurath & R. Cohen (Eds.), Empiricism and Sociology. Dordrecht: Reidel,1973.(pp. 298–318). | Norton doc |
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| Rudolf Carnap, "Testability and Meaning," Philosophy of Science , 3 (1936) pp. 419-471. | Norton doc formalism confirmation gems |
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| Falsificationism and the Demarcation of Science. | |||
| 3 | Sep. 13 | Karl Popper, "Science: Conjectures and Refutations" Sections I-III only, pp. 33-41 in Conjectures and Refutations. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1963. For interesting background see: "Einstein-Besso Manuscript on the Motion of the Perihelion of Mercury," Headnote in The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein. Vol. 4. pp. 345+. Or here. Albert Einstein, "Induction and Deduction in Physics," Berliner Tageblatt, 25 December, 1919. The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein. Vol. 7. Doc. 28. German. English. Or here: German English. |
Norton Handouts: Popper Einstein-Besso Einstein-induction |
| Wesley Salmon, "Rational Prediction," British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 32 (1981), pp. 115-25. |
Kamyar Asasi slides |
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| Larry Laudan, "The Demise of the Demarcation Problem," in Physics, philosophy, and psychoanalysis: essays in honor of Adolf Grünbaum. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science. 76, Dordrecht: D. Reidel, 1983, pp. 111–127. |
Hong Hui Choi handout |
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| Empiricism | |||
| 4 | Sep. 20 |
Carl G. Hempel, "Empirical Criteria of Cognitive Significance:
Problems and Changes," Ch. 4 in Aspects of Scientific Explanation and Other Essays in the Philosophy of Science. New York: Macmillan, 1965 |
Zhonghao Lu handout |
| Bas C. Van Fraassen, "To Save the Phenomena," Ch. 3 in The Scientific Image. Oxford: Clarendon, 1980. |
Konstantinos Konstantinou handout |
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| Boyd, Nora “Evidence Enriched,” Philosophy of Science
85(3)(2018), pp. 403-421. |
Kabir Bakshi handout |
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| Realism and Antirealism | |||
| 5 |
Sep. 27 |
Larry Laudan, "A Confutation of Convergent
Realism," Philosophy of Science, 48, (1981), pp. 19-49. |
Zhonghao Lu handout |
| Section 3.4: "The Metaphysics of Relations and Section" 3.5:
"Objections to Ontic Structural Realism." In Chapter 3, "Ontic Structural Realism and the Philosophy of Physics," James Ladyman and Don Ross, Everything Must Go: Metaphysics Naturalized. Oxford University Press, 2007. |
Konstantinos Konstantinou handout |
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| Michela Massimi, "Four Kinds of Perspectival Truth," Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 2016/2018 | Kamyar Asasi slides |
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| Representation | |||
| 6 |
Oct. 4 |
Partial isomorphism. Steven French (2003), "A Model-Theoretic Account of Representation (Or, I Don't Know Much About Art ... But I Know It Involves Isomorphism)," Philosophy of Science, 70 (5), pp. 1472 - 1483. |
Madeleine Potoskie |
| Inferential account. Suárez, Mauricio (2004). "An Inferential Conception of Scientific Representation," Philosophy of Science, 71, pp. 767–779. |
Kabir Bakshi handout |
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| Models and Idealizations | |||
| Ernan McMullin, "Galilean Idealization," Studies in History and Philosophy of Science,16 (1985),pp. 247-273. |
Kabir Bakshi (4th choice) handout |
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| 7 | Oct. 11 |
Michael Weisberg, “Three Kinds of Idealization,” The Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 104, No. 12 (Dec.), 639-659. |
Mel Andrews |
| Mary S. Morgan and Tarja Knuuttila, "Models and Modelling in Economics," Preprint for U. Mäki (ed) Handbook of the Philosophy of Economics in Handbook of the Philosophy of Science | Maxwell Poitier | ||
| Inductive Inference | |||
| John D. Norton, "A
Little Survey of Induction," in P. Achinstein, ed., Scientific Evidence: Philosophical Theories and Applications. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005. pp. 9-34. |
Norton notes |
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| Optional background reading: John D. Norton, "Hempel's Satisfaction Criterion of Confirmation" pp.66-82 in A Survey of Inductive Generalization Manuscript. |
Norton notes Gems |
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| 8 |
Oct. 18 |
Paul Thagard, "The Best Explanation: Criteria for Theory Choice," Journal of Philosophy, 75 (1978): 76-92. |
Kamyar Asasi slides |
| Bayesian Confirmation Theory | |||
| Joyce, James, "Bayes' Theorem", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy | Mel Andrews |
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| John D. Norton, "The
Material Theory of Induction, Briefly," Chapter 1. in The
Large-Scale Structure of Inductive Inference. manuscript (Background: John D. Norton, The Material Theory of Induction.) |
Norton slides |
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| 9 |
Oct. 25 |
Jan Sprenger and Stephan Hartmann, "Variation 1: Confirmation and
Induction," in Sprenger and Hartmann, Bayesian Philosophy of
Science. |
Kabir Bakshi |
| For a dissenting view, see John D. Norton, "Why Not Bayes," Ch. 10 in The Material Theory of Induction | ------- |
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| Underdetermination | |||
| Larry Laudan and Jarrett Leplin, "Empirical Equivalence and Underdetermination," Journal of Philosophy, 87 (1991), pp. 449-472. | Sameera Singh slides |
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| Kyle Stanford, "The Problem of Unconceived Alternatives," Ch.2 in Exceeding Our Grasp Science, History and the Problem of Unconceived Alternatives. Oxford University Press. 2006. |
Konstantinos Konstantinou handout |
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| Values in Philosophy of Science | |||
| 10 | Nov. 1 |
Thomas S. Kuhn "Objectivity, Value Judgment, and Theory Choice," Ch. 13, pp. 320-339 in The Essential Tension. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1977. |
Madeleine Potoskie (4th choice) |
| Heather Douglas, "Origins of the Value-Free Ideal for Science," Ch. 3 in Science Policy and the Value-Free Ideal. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2009. | Maxwell Poitier | ||
| Feminist Philosophy of Science |
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| Helen Longino, "Cognitive and Non-Cognitive Values in Science:
Rethinking the Dichotomy," in L. H. Nelson and J. Nelson, Feminism,
Science, and Philosophy of Science. Kluwer Academic Publishers,
1996, pp. 39-58. Optional background reading Helen Longino, "Research on Sex Differences," Ch. 6 in Science as Social Knowledge: Values and Objectivity in Scientific Inquiry. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990. |
Konstantinos Konstantinou (4th
choice) (Alternative Kamyar Asasi, also 4th choice) |
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| 11 |
Nov. 8 |
Elizabeth Anderson, “Uses of Value Judgments in Science: A
General Argument, with Lessons from a Case Study of Feminist
Research on Divorce”, Hypatia, 19(1) (2004): pp. 1–24. |
Hong Hui Choi handout |
| Revolutions and Meaning Change | |||
| Paul K. Feyerabend, "Problems of
Empiricism," pp. 145-261 in R. G. Colodny, ed., Beyond the Edge of Certainty: Essays in Contemporary Science and Philosophy. Lanham, NY: University Press of American, 1965, 1983. This is a long article. Focus on how Feyerabend arrives at the failure of "meaning invariance." Optional background Howard Sankey, "Kuhn's Changing Concept of Incommensurability," The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 44 (1993), pp. 759-774. |
Sameera Singh handout |
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| Imre Lakatos, “History of Science and Its Rational
Reconstructions,” in PSA 1970. Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association, Vol. 1970 (1970), pp. 91-136. (Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science VIII.) |
Maxwell Poitier | ||
| Experiment and Simulation | |||
| 12 |
Nov. 15 |
Allan Franklin and Sobodan Perovic, "Experiment
in Physics", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy This is a long article. Concentrate on Section 1. Experimental Results, which includes a positive epistemology of experiment. |
Zhonghao Lu slides |
| Wendy Parker, "Does Matter Really Matter? Computer Simulations, Experiments, and Materiality" Synthese, 169 (2009) pp. 483-496. | Madeleine Potoskie | ||
| Margaret Morrison, “Models, measurement and computer simulation: The changing face of experimentation,” Philosophical Studies, 143(2012), pp. 33–57. | Sameera Singh slides |
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| Nov. 22 | No class. Pitt fall break | ||
| Causation | |||
| 13 |
Nov. 29 |
James Woodward, Section 2.3 "Counterfactual Theories" and Section 2.4 "Interventionist Theories" in Ch. 2 "Theories of Causation" in Causation with a Human Face: Normative Theory and Descriptive Psychology Oxford University Press, 2021. | Zhonghao Lu Norton slides |
| Richard Scheines, "An
Introduction to Causal Inference," pp. 185-199 in V. R. Kim and S. P. Turner, eds., Causality in Crisis? University of Notre Dame Press, 1997. |
Hong Hui Choi (4th choice) handout |
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| Reduction and Emergence | |||
| Ernest Nagel, "Reduction of Theories," (Reduction: pp.336-366
only) Ch. 11 in The Structure of Science: Problems in the Logic of Scientific Explanation. New York: Harcour, Brace and World, 1962. |
Sameera Singh (4th choice) | ||
| 14 | Dec. 6 |
J. A. Fodor, "Special Sciences (Or: The Disunity of Science as a
Working Hypothesis)," Synthese, 28 (1974), pp. 97-115. |
Madeleine Potoskie |
| Explanation | |||
| DN, DS, IS and SR models of explanation. Wesley C. Salmon,"Scientific Explanation," pp. 7-41 of Ch. 1 in in Introduction to the Philosophy of Science. M. Salmon (Ed.), Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. |
Hong Hui Choi handout |
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| Paul W. Humphreys, "Scientific Explanation: The Causes, Some of the Causes, and Nothing But the Causes" in P. Kitcher and W. C. Salmlon, eds., Scientific Explanation: Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Vol. XIII. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1989., | Maxwell Poitier (4th choice) | ||
| Background reading Philip Kitcher, "Explanation as Unification," Section 4 (pp. 430-48) of "Explanatory Unification and the Causal Structure of the World," in P. Kitcher and W. C. Salmlon, eds., Scientific Explanation: Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Vol. XIII. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1989 |
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| Dec. 13 |
Comprehensive Exam (HPS PhD Program only) |
Number of presentations committed by student:
Mel Andrews 2 (+ ML presentation)
Kamyar Asasi 3 (+1 inadvertant duplication)
Kabir Bakshi 4
Hong Hui Choi 4
Konstantinos Konstantinou 4
Zhonghao Lu 4
Maxwell Poitier 4
Madeleine Potoskie 4
Sameera Singh 4
