| 01 | -T----- | 1:00P-4:00P | Wilson / 104 | Plutynski | No Final | 19 | 14 | 0 |
| Desc: | This course will focus on a few selected topics in philosophy of science, focusing on recent work on models and modeling, scientific classification, and science in social context. The course will be engaging questions in general philosophy of science about the epistemic role of models and modeling, normative questions about the proper relationship between science and society, or the metaphysical status of scientific or medical classification. Rather than starting with these questions in the abstract, we will focus on concrete examples of controversies arising in scientific practice. Biology and medicine are fertile ground for such controversies. For instance, there is a great deal of controversy over how or whether we can simultaneously achieve the goals of accuracy, precision, comprehensiveness, and realism, in modeling ecological and evolutionary patterns and processes. Moreover, various ideals of scientific classification face recalcitrant cases in much of medicine and biology. Likewise also, ideals for value-free science face similar challenges. We'll explore how philosophers and scientists have wrestled with such ideals, and either abandoned or revised them in light of either empirical facts about the world, their goals, or both. |
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| Actions: | | Books | | Syllabus | | Syllabi are provided to students to support their course planning; refer to the syllabus for constraints on use. |
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