Vakcode FI180WET
articulate knowledge about central problems in philosophy of science. 
familiarity with contextual and social aspects of scientific research.
ability to extract philosophical arguments from texts and assess them critically.
skills to engage in constructive and respectful philosophical discussions.
Omschrijving Philosophy of science is a branch of philosophy concerned with foundational questions about the nature of science: what is science? how does science work? how does science relate to other forms of knowledge and human practices? In this course, we will study classic and some contemporary assessments of these questions, with special attention to social and contextual aspects. The course is structured into five sections:
1. Demarcation. We will discuss problems that arise when we try to spell out clearly the difference between science, non-science, and pseudo-science.
2. Explanation. We will study the concept of scientific explanation, and the senses in which science can be explanatory. We will also look at the difficulties of a unified account of explanation, and study how the special sciences (i.e., sciences other than physics) explain.
3. Scientific Inference. We will discuss classic issues about forms of scientific inference (induction, deduction, and abduction) and their problems.
4. Progress. We will discuss how scientific knowledge grows, and the social context in which science occurs. We will talk about scientific changes and revolutions, and sociological and economic aspects around the scientific practice. 5. Social Dimensions. We will discuss the role of scientists' values in (different notions of) scientific objectivity.
(Written assignments, paper)
Docent(en) dr. J. Schreuder ,dr. M. Semeijn
All required readings will be available in Student Portal
Philosophy of Science: A very short introduction. Samir Okasha. 2016 (2nd Edition)Oxford University Press.
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