Professor: Abe Stone
abestone@ucsc.edu
Office: Cowell Annex A-106
Phone (office): 459-5723
AIM: abestone3
Office hours: Mon. 2:00-3:00pm; Thurs. 11:00am-12:00pm (or by appointment).
We will read some of the classic texts which created and set the stage for later developments within the subdiscipline now known as philosophy of science. The course will be divided into two halves, corresponding to two fundamentally different views about what makes science distinctively rational (due to Rudolf Carnap and Karl Popper); in each case we will also read important works which were taken to undermine the view in question. We will finish with a reading from the influential philosopher of science Ian Hacking, in which he assesses all of these developments and points the way toward things that were to happen later.
Two 6-10 page papers or exams (in both cases there will be a choice between a more open-ended paper assignment and a more structured take-home exam), due Tues., Oct. 31 and Wed., Dec. 6.
Carnap, The Logical Structure of the World (known, following its German title, as ``the Aufbau'').
Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.
Popper, The Logic of Scientific Discovery.
The above texts should be available at the Literary Guillotine. Readings not on the above list will be available on e-reserve.