Professor Jagdish Hattiangadi

jagdish@yorku.ca

Office Location:  S437 Ross Building

Phone Number:  (416) 736-2100 Ext. 77524

Office Hours: Wednesdays  1:30- 2:20 p.m., by appointment

This is an introductory course of lectures, with tutorials, in the Philosophy of Science. The tutorial discussions will be conducted as part of each lecture hour, following an electronically discussion on Moodle. The texts chosen will cover the subject as it is understood in two ways: The first component is a discussion of the logical and historical aspects of science by two famous contributor to the study of it, Karl Popper, and Thomas Kuhn, whose thought we will examine first, in that order, contrasting their claims.  The second component of the course may be described as a broad survey of the main topics in current Philosophy of Science. It is presented in Samir Okasha’s text, which will be discussed last.

1. Karl Popper, Conjectures and Refutations.
2. Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
3. Samir Okasha, A Very Short Introduction

All paperbacks.

30% Moodle discussion, twice each week. In this component, a comment on any topic counts for a grade only when posted 24 hours prior to the class in which the topic is to be discussed. Comments in class and on Moodle, twice weekly, will be graded for their relevance, clarity, brevity and their ability to generate critical discussion (long essays are not encouraged in Moodle discussions.)

20% Midterm exam.

20% Midterm paper, being about 8 pages long, double spaced.

30% Final paper, about 12 pages long, due on or before the last day of this course.

Topics Covered session by session are found in your Moodle website. For this course.

Lectures and discussion twice a week, preceded each time by a continuing Moodle discussion of topics.

After completing the course, you should be able to improve at the following tasks:

• Critically analyze conceptual issues.
• Actively read a text for its meaning.
• Accurately summarize a text.
• Critically evaluate a text.
• Critically evaluate arguments.
• Form well considered judgments on difficult questions.
• Construct well-thought-out and persuasive arguments.