At least since Newton's time, philosophers have taken science to be the epitome of human knowledge, and have used it to focus their epistemological inquiries. Some of those inquiries concern problems of the special sciences, including the nature of space, time and causality (physics), the relation of organic to inorganic nature (biology), the evidential basis for claims about other people's minds (psychology), and the objectivity of historical accounts (social sciences). Others address more general problems about science as such: What distinguishes science from nonscience? What counts as a scientific explanation? How do scientists justify their claims? How do scientists choose between rival theories, and how are these choices related to the historical context? In this course, which presupposes no scientific training, we will evaluate historical and contemporary contributions to a range of problems both special and general.
Requirements: class participation, three 2-page responses to readings, midterm, 10- to 12-page final paper.
Prerequisite: Philosophy 102 or 103 or permission of the instructor.

Hour: BULLWINKLE