Cultural Philosophy of Science

Physicist Richard Feynman once remarked that ‘the philosophy of science is about as useful to scientists as ornithology is to birds’. This course aims to ensure that science students do not find themselves in the predicament of becoming bird brains. The lectures have been thoughtfully crafted for students of natural sciences and engineering who wish to deepen their understanding of their fields through self-reflection and critical analysis. Accordingly, the spirit of science will be explored from a range of perspectives, including culture, religion, existence, and society.

Examples of topics to be discussed include: Is scientific evolution a product of necessity or creativity? What influence does culture have on scientific discovery and comprehension? Are approaches such as mechanistic problem-solving, means-ends reasoning, and verifiability always reliable forms of thought? Might scientific progress depend on the notion that science ultimately errs in its attempt to reflect nature? To what extent does accepted belief or a certain intellectual naivety exist in scientists who simply adhere to mainstream ideas?

Topics

1.  Philosophy and science

2.  On the origin and nature of science

3.  Scientific models and nature (Aristotle) 

4. Evolution as necessity or creative process (Charles Darwin)

5. Science and culture (Thomas H. Huxley)

6.  Scientific discovery and certainty (Karl Popper)

7.  Scientific knowledge and subjectivity (Michael Polanyi)

8.  Scientific truth and innovation (Thomas Kuhn)

Text

Physics by Aristotle (4th c. BCE)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              The Origins of Species by Charles Darwin (1859)

Science and Culture, by Thomas H. Huxley (1880)

The Logic of Scientific Discovery by Karl Popper (1959)

Personal Knowledge by Michael Polanyi (1958)

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn (1962)