课程大纲 · 科学哲学 · 剑桥大学

作者许漠，首发于“五四大街的青年”（LaNouvelleJeunesse）微信公众号

18-19年度剑桥大学本科课程，《科学哲学》课程大纲。

PART I SYLLABUS
Realism, for and against: underdetermination of theory by data, the pessimistic，induction, constructive empiricism, structural realism, incommensurability.
Confirmation: the hypothetico-deductive model; the paradoxes of confirmation;Bayesianism; falsificationism.
Scientific explanation and laws: what, if anything, distinguishes scientific explanation; the deductive-nomological model of explanation and its rivals; 'best system' vs anti-reductionist views of laws.
Concepts of probability: subjective probability; logical probability; frequency interpretation; propensity interpretation.
Introduction to philosophy of physics: spacetime and relativity; time and thermodynamics; puzzles of quantum theory.

PART II COURSE OUTLINE

The Part IB course introduces five philosophical issues in scientific theory and practice.
(i) Realism, for and against: Are the entities postulated by scientific theories real? Or are theories no more than useful instruments for inferring from one set of observable circumstances to another?
(ii) Confirmation: What is it for a piece of evidence to support a hypothesis? And when should a scientific theory count as having been tested?
(iii) Scientific explanation and laws: What distinguishes scientific explanations? And what is a law of nature (as opposed to an accidental regularity)?
(iv) Concepts of probability: What does it mean to say that an event has a probability of 75%? Are there objective chances or is it just subjective confidence?
(v) Introduction to philosophy of physics: How is physics relevant to philosophy, and vice versa? What does modern physics tell us about time, and the nature of the quantum world – and why are such simple questions so hard to answer?

Prerequisites

It is not necessary to have background knowledge of any particular scientific theory. Some theories and historical episodes will be briefly touched on in lectures. Students should have a modest knowledge of formal logic.

Objectives

Students taking this paper will be expected to:1. Acquire an introductory overview of debates on method, the status of theories, the nature of explanation and laws, and concepts of probability.
2. Critically engage with texts by some key authors in analytical philosophy of science in the last half century.
3. Acquire a more detailed understanding of some particular debates within the listed areas.
4. Develop their ability to think independently about philosophical problems by critically assessing arguments in these areas.

Preliminary Reading

BIRD, Alexander, The Philosophy of Science (London: Routledge, 1998). Also available online at: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203133972
CHALMERS, Alan F., What is This Thing Called Science? 2nd ed. (Milton Keynes: The Open University, 1982).

PART III READING LIST