Week Lecture Title Required Readings
1 Jan 11 Introduction N/A
2 Jan 18 Science as Based on the Facts Chalmers, chs. 1-4; Feyerabend, “Science without Experience”.
3 Jan 25 Falsificationism Chalmers, chs. 5-7; Popper, K., "Sci.: Conjectures and Refutations”.
4 Feb 1 Normal Science and Paradigms Kuhn, Structure, pp. 1-65; Hacking, Intro to Structure, vii-xxvi.
5 Feb 8 Scientific Revolutions Kuhn, Structure, pp. 65-134; Hacking xxvii-xxxiii; Chalmers, ch. 8.
————— Feb 15-22 Midterm Recess—————
6 Feb 22 Theory Change and Progress Kuhn, Structure, pp. 135-208; Hacking xxvii-xxxiii; Chalmers, ch. 9;
Lakatos, “Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes”, pp. 1-7, 47-59.
7 Feb 29 Scientific Method Chalmers, chs. 10, 11; Feyerabend, Against Method, pp. 54-77 (i.e. chapters 6 and 7).
8 Mar 7 The New Experimentalism Chalmers, ch. 13; Hacking, “Experimentation and Scientific Realism”. Second half of class: MIDTERM EXAM
9 Mar 14 Laws; Realism vs. Antirealism Laudan, “A Confutation of Convergent Realism” (at least sections 1-5 + 8); Chalmers, ch. 14, 15.
10 Mar 21 Classical Space and Time Maudlin, chs 1, 2.
11 Mar 28 Special Relativity Maudlin, chs 3, 4.
12 Apr 4 Black Holes, Big Bang and Time Maudlin, chs 6, 7.