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PHIL 240 -- HPS -- ASSIGNMENTS


FOR 8/25 -- Syllabus and Introduction


FOR 8/27, 29 -- Worldviews

  • Readings: DW 1-2, Kuhn (Bb)
  • Study questions:
    1. What is the old view of science that Kuhn think is misguided? What is the old way to do the history of science that corresponds to the old view of science?
    2. What are the main problems that the old style historian of science faces?
    3. What is the new method in history of science that Kuhn advocates?
    4. What is the new view of science that Kuhn advocates?
    5. Explain what a worldview is, according to DeWitt. Explain how a worldview differs from a mere collection of independent beliefs.
    6. Give two examples of core beliefs in the Aristotelian worldview which conflict with core beliefs in the Newtonian worldview.
    7. Explain what the correspondence theory of truth is. Explain what problems it faces.
    8. Explain what the coherence theory of truth is. Explain what problems it faces.
  • Course Notes in pdf format: Chapter 3


FOR 9/3, 5 -- Aristotle's Worldview

  • Readings: DW 2,10, Lindberg 3 (Bb)
  • Study questions:
    1. What are the fundamental constituents of the world according to Aristotle?
    2. What are the four causes? Explain with an example
    3. What are the main aspects of Aristotle's scientific method? Should science rely on observation according to him? Does science consist in generalizing universal, mathematical laws from controlled experiment? Why / Why not?
    4. In what sense is Aristotle's view on living beings hierarchical? Explain how it fits with his views on physics.
    5. What is a teleological explanation? a mechanistic explanation?
  • Course Notes in pdf format: Chapter 4


FOR 9/8 -- Aristotle, cont'ed


FOR 9/10 -- The Pythagoreans' orientation

  • Readings: Lindberg chapter 2 (Bb)
  • Study questions:
    1. Explain the fundamental shift between the mythologies of Homer and Hesiod, and the theories of the philosophers of the 6th and 5th centuries BCE, in the way they inquire and explain the nature and origin of the world.
    2. Why does Plato think that the true reality lies in ideas and not in sensible, material objects?
    3. How does Plato explain the stability and order of the cosmos? How does he differ from the Presocratics on this matter?
    4. Explain why Plato can be considered as the philosopher who introduced the idea that the world is a book written in the language of mathematics?
  • Course Notes in pdf format: Chapter 5


FOR 9/12 -- Science and Truth

  • Readings: DW 3,4,8
  • Study questions:
    1. Explain the distinction between empirical and conceptual facts. Give an example of a conceptual fact within a. the Aristotelian worldview, b. the Platonic worldview, c. your worldview. Explain: what is the empirical component of these conceptual facts? what is the conceptual component?
    2. Give the most simplified form of a confirmation reasoning. Give an example.
    3. Give the most simplified form of a disconfirmation reasoning. Give an example.
    4. What is the most important difference between inductive and deductive reasoning? Which one of confirmation and disconfirmation reasoning is inductive? which one is deductive?
    5. What are ``auxiliary hypotheses". How is the impact of their necessary usage within scientific reasoning on the reliability of confirmation and disconfirmation reasoning?
    6. What does it mean to have an instrumentalist attitude towards science? What does it mean to have a realist attitude towards science? Give examples. Which is your attitude towards science?
  • Course Notes in pdf format: Chapter 6
  • THE FIRST WRITING ASSIGNMENT IS DUE ON SEPT. 12. You can consult my notes on philosophy and argument: Chapter 2 or Jim Pryor's notes on writing a philosophy paper.


FOR 9/15 -- Ptolemy vs. Copernicus: when facts don't dictate our theories

  • Readings: DW 10-14
  • Study questions:
    1. What are Ptolemy's arguments for the idea that the Earth is stationary and at the center of the universe?
    2. Explain in more details the problem of stellar paralax
    3. Make a list of the empirical facts (observed with a naked eye) which any theory of astronomy has to account for.
    4. Explain the line of reasoning that would lead the scientists up until the Scientific Revolution to think that heavenly bodies move in a perfect circular motion.
    5. Did the people before 1600 have any strong reason to choose Copernicus' system over Ptolemy's?
  • Course Notes in pdf format: Chapter 7


FOR 9/17 -- Tycho, Kepler and Galileo: what it takes to change a worldview

  • Readings: DW 14-18
  • Study questions:
    1. What are the main motivations that lead Kepler to find out about the elliptic orbits?
    2. Which new evidence did the telescope give to scientists?
    3. Explain how this new evidence conflicts with the Aristotelian worldview.
  • Course Notes in pdf format: Chapter 8


FOR 9/19 -- Towards the new science: catch up day -- no new readings


FOR 9/22 -- The New Science: Newton

  • Readings: DW 19-21
  • Study questions:
    1. Explain how the revival of the atomist theory helps making sense of the principle of inertia.
    2. Is a mechanistic view of the world incompatible with the idea that God is the creator? Explain
    3. Explain why the notion of gravity does not fit quite well in a mechanistic view of the world? What was Newton's attitude toward gravity?
    4. Explain how Newton's view of the universe spread outside of its original domain.


FOR 9/24 -- The New Science: Newton

  • Readings: Newton Selections (Bb)
  • Study questions:
    1. Gather the various passages in which Newton explains what methodology he favors for natural philosophy (= physics). Do you think that these passages are consistent with one another? If yes, what is the methodology that Newton advocates? If no, what are the conflicts?
    2. Newton distinguishes between absolute and relative space. Can we observe absolute space?
    3. Newton attempts to show that we can observe absolute motion (p. 143-144). Explain the experiment he describes. Do you think the experiment is a convincing proof that absolute motion exists? Why?
    4. Newton's explanation of the motion of bodies in terms of gravity was criticized by many. What do you think were these criticisms? How does Newton argue that gravity that appealing to gravity is an important step in scientific knowledge even if we don't know the cause of gravity itself?
    5. how do you understand the idea that God is always everywhere in Newton's text?
  • Course Notes in pdf format: Chapter 9


FOR 9/26 -- Newton, catch up day -- no new readings


FOR 9/29, 10/1 and 10/3 -- Scientific Method

REWRITE OF FIRST PAPER DUE ON FRIDAY 10/3: Put both first and second versions in my mailbox by 5 pm

  • Readings: DW 5, 6, 7 + Optional: Duhem, Russel and Popper on Bb
  • Study questions:
    1. What are the three main claims constituting the Duhem-Quine thesis? Explain how these claims can be interpreted either in a rather weak and uncontroversial way, or in a stronger and more controversial way.
    2. What is the axiomatic method? Explain why it is hard to see such a method work in natural sciences. Is there another domain in which it works well?
    3. What is the hypothetico-deductive model? How does it fit your views on science?
    4. Explain what the problem of induction is (as formulated by Hume). Explain why appealing to the fact that induction has always worked in the past is a circular argument.
    5. Explain Hempel's raven paradox. What is the proper conclusion that we should take from it.
    6. Explain Goodman's new riddle of induction.
    7. Explain what it is to treat a scientific theory as unfalsifiable. Explain why falsifiability is better understood as an attitude than as a property of a theory.
    8. Dewitt states p. 64: "[...] the issues discussed above are clearly philosophical issues, rather than issues that affect working scientists". Do you agree? Why? Why not?
  • Course Notes in pdf format: Chapter 10


FOR 10/6, 8 and 10 -- Relativity

  • Readings: DW 22,23 -- Read at least twice and take your time!

    An excellent presentation of Einstein's theories with the least technical stuff possible: John Norton's Einstein for Everyone

  • Study questions:
    1. What are the three Newtonian core conceptual beliefs that the special theory of relativity (STR) shows to be mistaken?
    2. What are the two postulates of the STR?
    3. How are our notion of space, time and simultaneity modified in the STR?
    4. What is an invariant? What were the invariants in Newton's theory? What is the invariant in the STR?
    5. What are the two basic principles of the General Theory of Relativity (GTR)?
    6. Explain how the principle of general covariance can be seen as a generalization of the principle of relativity?
    7. What does the thought experiment about the elevator show? Compare with Galileo's thought experiment about the boat.
    8. What evidence do we have to favor the GTR over Newton's theory of gravity?
    9. DeWitt writes: "[...] Mars is simply moving in a straight line, but due to the curvature of spacetime, that "straight line" appears to be an ellipse about the sun". Explain
  • Course Notes in pdf format: Chapter 11


FOR 10/13, 15 and 17 -- Scientific Progress

  • Readings: Kuhn (two texts on Bb)

  • Study questions:
    • On ``The Nature and Necessity of Scientific Revolutions''
      1. Explain the analogy between political and scientific revolutions
      2. What is Kuhn's main claim in this paper (try to formulate the main point of the paper in one single sentence)?
      3. What is Kuhn main argument for his claim (try to formulate it as concisely as possible)?
      4. Explain in witch circumstance scientific development is cumulative
      5. Explain Kuhn's argument in the bottom of p. 90 and top of p. 91
      6. Why is it that the shift from Newton to Einstein cannot be seen as a cumulative progress? Why is Newton's theory *not* a "special case" of Einstein's theory?
      7. Explain what Kuhn means when he writes: ``But paradigms differ in more than substance, for they are directed not only to nature, but also back upon the science that produced them.
      8. What does Kuhn want to show in relating the relationships between the ideal of mechanistic explanations and the notion of gravity?
    • On ``Objectivity, Value Judgment, Theory Choice"
      1. What are the five typical criteria for a good scientific theory?
      2. Does Kuhn claim that there are *no* objective criteria for theory choice? If no, what does he claim instead?
      3. Beginning p. 110, Kuhn develops a more positive view of theory choice: to what does he compare the criteria above? What are the advantages of this view?
      4. p. 117, Kuhn writes : ``I simply assert the existence of significant limits to what the proponents of different theories can communicate to one another" -- Explain the analogy between theory learning and language learning. What are the limits of this analogy?
  • Course Notes in pdf format: Chapter 12


FOR 10/20, 22 and 24 -- End of Scientific Progress -- Start on Quantum Theory

  • Readings: DW 24, 25, 26

  • Study questions:
    1. Explain the distinction between empirical facts, theory, and interpretation
    2. What is characteristic of a particle-behavior? What is characteristic of a wave-behavior?
    3. Explain how a two slits experiment and a beam splitter experiment help us determine whether a phenomenon is a wave or a particle. Can we determine whether quantum objects are waves or particles in this way?
    4. Explain DeWitt's following statement:``Any particular wave can be produced by adding together appropriate members of any family of waves"
    5. How do we get predictions from the wave function of a quantum system? (you can explain with the DeWitt's analogy in terms of family members)
    6. What is a vector? a vector space?
    7. What is an operator? an eigenvector? an eigenvalue?
  • Course Notes in pdf format: Chapter 13 (partial)


FOR 10/27, 29 and 31 -- Quantum theory: Interpretations and EPR-Bell-Aspect

  • Readings: DW 27, 28 + 29

    PAPER DUE ON 10/29 (hard copies in class or in my mail box by 5pm)

  • Study questions:
    1. Explain what it means when we say that the state of a quantum system is represented by a superposition of states.
    2. What is the measurement problem?
    3. Explain the thought experiment: ``Sch\"odinger's cat". What does this thought experiment is supposed to get us think about?
    4. What is the idea behind the notion of ``hidden variable interpretations"?
    5. Which interpretation is adding a ``projection postulate" (or ``collapse postulate")to the formalism of quantum theory? What does the projection postulate say?
    6. According to the standard (or orthodox) interpretation, does the wave function describe the way things are outside of measurement? Is there a way for us to know what is really going on outside of measurement outcomes?
    7. Are there clear ways in which one can define what physical processes count as measurements in the orthodox interpretation?
    8. How does Bohm's theory (BT) solve the measurement problem? Which property is definite in BT?
    9. How does the Many World Interpretations (MWI) solve the measurement problem? What does the wave function represent in the MWI?
    10. For which reasons could one prefer adopting BT over MWI? For which reasons could one prefer adopting MWI over BT?
    11. What did EPR want to show? Explain their reasoning.
    12. Explain what Bell's theorem shows.
    13. What did Aspect's experiment show?
    14. Do the results of Aspect's experiment force us to admit that there is a form of causal non-locality in the world? Do they force us to admit that there is a form of informational non-locality in the world?
    15. Does the success of relativity theory appeal for a revision of core conceptual belief of the Newtonian worldview? Does the success of quantum theory appeal for a revision of core conceptual beliefs in the Newtonian worldview? Explain.
  • Course Notes in pdf format: Chapter 13


FOR 10/3, 5 and 7 -- Theory of Evolution: Introduction

  • Movie: Darwin's dangerous idea

  • Study questions:
    1. On which occasion could Darwin gather some about animal species in the Galapagos Islands?
    2. What was the prevailing view about the origin of species in Darwin's times?
    3. What is striking about the Finches that Darwin brought back from the Galapagos Islands?
    4. How would you characterize Darwin's attitude towards the scientific community of his times? Was he a loud revolutionary? (Compare his attitude to his brother's)
    5. How do modern scientist determine when species diverge? Explain with the example of the rainforest vs mountain Hummingbirds in the Rainforest.
    6. From whom did Darwin get the idea of the ``struggle for life", due to overpopulation and scarcity of resources?
    7. Explain how HIV is an example of evolution in action. Explain how, thanks to their understanding of evolutionary processes, physicians were recently able to develop a new strategy against the virus.
    8. What were Darwin's religious views? What important event affected Darwin's relationships with the Church.
    9. Was Darwin eager to publish? Why?
    10. Explain how Kenneth Miller can be an ``orthodox Catholic" and an ``orthodox darwinist" at the same time? What is his view of God?
    11. How is Darwin's theory a threat the religious views of his times?
    12. Do chimps have cognitive abilities? which ones are shown in the movie?
    13. Why is DNA a proof of the theory that all species stem from a common ancestor?
    14. What prompted Darwin to publish his manuscript?
    15. How was Darwin buried? What does this show about the reception of Darwin's ideas?
  • Course Notes in pdf format: Chapter 14


FOR 10/10, 12 -- Theory of Evolution: Evolution and Counter-Evolution before Darwin

  • Readings: Larson, Evolution Chapter 1 and 2

  • Study questions:
    1. What were Cuvier's views on the origin of species? Did he believe in the possible transmutation of species? Did he believe that some species got extinct? What was his evidence for these beliefs?
    2. What does the Genesis say about the creation of animals and humans? How did the early Christians view the Bible: did they advocate a literal reading? How does Aristotle's science fit with the Christian view?
    3. Explain the social and political context which explain Cuvier's will to maintain the traditional Aristotelian view of species.
    4. Explain Cuvier's arguments against evolution.
    5. How was Cuvier's theory received within the English Christian community?
    6. Explain how the discovery of the existence of dinosaures favors the idea of a form of progress through the history of species.
    7. How does Buckland reconcile his views on the history of species with his religious view?
    8. Explain Lamarck's theory of evolution.
    9. What are Owen's ``homologies"? How does the existence of homologies speak against the idea of intelligent design? Was Owen an advocate of the theory of evolution?
    10. Was Lyell an advocate of the theory of evolution? In which field was Lyell working? What is naturalism? What is uniformitarianism? How did his ideas help make the case for Darwinism?
  • Course Notes in pdf format: Chapter 15


FOR 10/17, 19, 21 -- Theory of Evolution -- From Darwin to the Modern Synthesis

  • Readings: Larson, Evolution Chapter 3 to 10 (I know, this is a lot, but it is not philosophy anymore!)

  • Study questions:
    • On Darwinism:
      1. What is the difference between the theory of evolution and Darwinism?
      2. How does evolution work according to strict Darwinism?
      3. Which evidence speaks in favor of Darwinism over Creationism?
      4. Which are the main objections against Darwinism?
      5. What were the alternative views on how evolution works?
    • On the theory of evolution applied to man
      1. Which evidence was found concerning the history of the human species?
      2. Which are the characteristics that are often thought to radically distinguish humans from non-human animals?
      3. How were these characteristics explained by the theory of evolution?
      4. Which kind of social theory did Haeckel think the theory of evolution supports? Which kind of social theory did Wallace think the theory of evolution supports? Whih kind of social theory did Spencer think the theory of evolution supports? What does it say about the application of the theory of evolution to human societies?
      5. What is Social Darwinism? Who were its main defendants? Can it be founded on the theory of evolution? Why, why not?
      6. What is ``eugenics"? distinguish between positive and negative. Who were the most important advocates of eugenics at the beginning of the 20th century?
    • On the modern theory of evolution
      1. Why did the work of Galton, Weismann and de Vries help biologist to accept Mendel's studies as important?
      2. What kind of study did Mendel conduct? Was his study intended to support hard heredity? Explain how his findings make sense when heredity is understood in terms of genes carried by chromosomes.
      3. Were ``genes" always considered as material? Who was the inceptor of classical genetics? On which animals did he work?
      4. How did Haldane and Fisher manage to revive Darwinism (i.e. the idea that evolution works through natural selection)?
      5. Explain how a new species appears according to Wright.
      6. Explain how Darwin's finches provide striking evidence for the theory of the modern synthesis.
  • Course Notes in pdf format: Chapter 16


FOR 10/24 -- PAPER DUE -- Theory of Evolution -- End

  • Readings: Larson, Evolution Chapter 11 and 12, and afterword -- we'll discuss 12 and the afterwords (all the chapters on Evolution and Religion will be discussed after the break)

  • Study questions:
    1. Who discovered the double helix structure of DNA? What does the fact that all animals share DNA show?
    2. How did Hamilton manage to explain cases of ``altruism" in the animal realm?
    3. What is Wilson's sociobiology? What is evolutionary psychology? Explain the controversy about these fields.
    4. What is the ``parasite Red Queen Hypothesis"? Why can we say that the best evolutionary strategy is to seek diversity?
    5. What is the theory of punctuated equilibria? How does it explain the gaps in the fossil record? Is it incompatible with neo-Darwinism?
    6. What is lateral gene transfer? Give examples. How does the discovery of lateral gene transfer transform our traditional view of the ``tree of life"?

FOR 12/1 -- American Anti-Evolution Crusade

  • Readings: Larson, Evolution Re-read chapters 9 and 11

  • Study questions:
    1. Write a timeline of the American anti-evolution crusade with the main figures of the anti-evolution movement, their arguments and their methods.
    2. What is the difference between Sunday or Bryan on the one hand, and Behe on the other (their views, their methods)?
  • Course Notes in pdf format: Chapter 17

FOR 12/3, 5 -- Science an Religion

  • Readings: van Fraassen, Lipton (Bb)

  • Study questions:
    1. Before you read: Write a paragraph about how you think science and religion relate to each other: do they conflict with one another? are they complementary? are they compatible?
    2. After you have read: Write a paragraph on the same topic. Make sure to explain whether or not the readings have helped you clarify your own view, whether or not you changed your mind, and how.
  • Course Notes in pdf format: Chapter 18

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