- Docente: Daniele Sgaravatti
- Credits: 12
- SSD: M-FIL/02
- Language: Italian
- Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
- Campus: Bologna
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Corso:
First cycle degree programme (L) in
Philosophy (cod. 9216)
Also valid for First cycle degree programme (L) in History (cod. 0962)
First cycle degree programme (L) in Anthropology, Religions, Oriental Civilizations (cod. 8493)
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from Jan 30, 2023 to May 05, 2023
Learning outcomes
Philosophy of science is a discipline located at the crossroads of mathematics, logic, and natural sciences. Primarily concerned with the foundations of scientific knowledge, it explores the mathematical form of scientific theories, the adequacy of scientific models and methods, the character of natural laws, the structure of explanations. Students will be guided to acquire the basic instruments and language for addressing these issues.
Course contents
The course aims to provide an introduction to Philosophy of Science, outlining epistemological and metaphysical problem related to natural science, and to show the relevance of philosophy of science to contemporary culture and society. The first part of the course will focus on a tension existing between the undeniable success of natural sciences, which provides them with a sort of privileged status from the epistemic point of view, and the essentially empirical and fallible nature of their methods. This will also be done in connection to urgent problems such as climatic change and the current pandemic. We will then look at metaphysical issues related to the interpretation of scientific results, with a particular focus issues related to the realism/antirealism debate. In the final part of the course, we will focus on some questions related to the interpretation of specific results and practices related to some sciences, in particular physics, biology and medicine.
Readings/Bibliography
Peter Godfrey-Smith, Theory and Reality. An Introduction to the philosophy of science, University of Chicago Press 2003
Recommended readings (the firsttext is particularly recommended to students not attending the lectures regularly)
Samir Okasha, Philosophy of science: a very short introduction, Oxford University Press 2016
Philip Kitcher, “Darwin’s achievement” reprinted in Philip Kitcher, The Advancement of Science. Science without legend, Objectivity without Illusion, Oxford University Press 1995
Naomi Oreskes, Why Trust Science?, Princeton University Press 2019
Teaching methods
Power point slides will be used during lectures.
Further materials (papers, slides) will be uploaded in the course website.
Assessment methods
Written and oral examination.
Marks:
30 cum laude - excellent as to knowledge, philosophical lexicon and critical expression.
30 – Excellent: knowledge is complete, well-argued and correctly expressed, with some slight faults.
27-29 – Good: thorough and satisfactory knowledge; essentially correct expression.
24-26 - Fairly good: knowledge broadly acquired, and not always correctly expressed.
21-23 – Sufficient: superficial and partial knowledge; exposure and articulation are incomplete and often not sufficiently appropriate
18-21 - Almost insufficient: superficial and decontextualized knowledge. The exposure of the contents shows important gaps.
Exam failed - Basic skills and knowledge are not sufficiently acquired. Students are requested to show up at a subsequent exam session.
Office hours
See the website of Daniele Sgaravatti