The Open University of Israel
Topics in Bioethics: Animal Experimentation (Fall 2021; Fall 2023)
Course Description: The course deals with questions about the moral justification of conducting animal experiments in biology. Among the topics covered are the moral considerations for and against using animals in scientific experiments, historical aspects such as the extent to which biology and medicine advanced through animal experimentation, intra-biological questions relevant to the moral questions (which animals feel pain?), and methodological issues of biological alternatives proposed for animal experiments. Students will read texts from both philosophical and scientific perspectives.
Reduction, Teleology and their Place in Biology (2023-2024)
Course Description: The course examines the concepts of reduction and teleology and their role in contemporary biology and in the philosophy of biology. It addresses questions about the relation between different levels of explanation in the life sciences and the extent to which biological phenomena can be explained in terms of more fundamental sciences. Among the topics covered are different notions of reduction and their significance for scientific explanation, the distinction between types of reduction, the idea of emergence, and the status of teleological features in living systems.Â
Sociobiology and Evolutionary Psychology: A Critical Perspective (Fall 2022)
Course Description: The course introduces sociobiology and evolutionary psychology as approaches that seek to explain social and cultural phenomena in terms of evolutionary theory, and examines them from a critical philosophical perspective. It explores the evolutionary models that underlie sociobiological analyses of social behavior in animals and humans, as well as the broader vision of unifying the life sciences with the social sciences and humanities.
Epistemology: Theories of Knowledge and Belief (Fall 2025)
Course Description: Can we really know anything about the world? What is knowledge, and how does it differ from mere opinion or lucky guess? How can we justify everyday beliefs, such as the assumption that the sun will rise tomorrow? This course is an introduction to contemporary epistemology, the branch of philosophy that investigates the nature, sources, and limits of knowledge and rational belief. We will examine classic and recent attempts to answer questions about skepticism, justification, evidence, and the distinction between rational and irrational belief.