Contemporary Philosophy of Science

This course is an introduction to philosophy of science, concentrating on the contemporary period (essentially the last two centuries). Part One will give a historical overview of the most widespread modern theories of philosophy of science in the western tradition. After a general introduction, we will begin with logical positivism and end with constructive empiricism and other very recent theories. Part Two will initiate a more original and systematic approach: an attempt to construct a systematic philosophy of science starting from essential concepts.

Philosophy of science is the branch of philosophy that investigates what distinguishes ‘science’ from other cognitive fields and activities. We will therefore study questions as: What is science? What is pseudoscience? What is the goal of science? What are the main ingredients of scientific discovery? How are scientific statements justified? Are there general methods of science, used across all disciplines? What degrees of “certainty” (or “truth”) do we have in the different sciences? What are the sociological aspects of science?

Throughout the course we consider case studies from specific disciplines, such as physics, biology, psychology. One of our aims is to show that philosophy and science go hand-in-hand, and can mutually inform each other for the better of both.