PHIL 2301A
Introduction to the Philosophy of Science
Winter 2023
Course Outline
I. Admin
Instructor: Gabriele Contessa
Office Hours: Wednesday, 2:05pm–2:55pm or by appointment
Zoom Link to Virtual Office: See Admin section in Brightspace
Zoom Link to Virtual Classroom: See Admin section in Brightspace
E-mail: gabriele_contessa@carleton.ca
II. Description
Philosophical issues arising out of the attempt to understand the world scientifically. Topics may include: scientific methodology, revolution, observation, explanation, causation, induction, reduction, the difference between natural and social scientific understanding, realism, instrumentalism, constructivism.
III. Prerequisites/Preclusions
A course in philosophy or second-year standing.
IV. Texts
The textbook for this course is: Kent W. Staley: Introduction to the Philosophy of Science, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2014.
It can be purchased through the Carleton Bookstore.
All other readings will be accessible through Brightspace.
V. Evaluation
The evaluation criteria for this course depend on which stream you choose (see Streams below).
Participation-Intensive Stream
Two In-Class Exams (20% each)
Attendance & Participation (Lectures) (20%)
Attendance & Participation (Discussion Sessions) (30%)
Discussion Questions (10%)
Writing-Intensive Stream
Two In-Class Exams (20% each)
Attendance & Participation (Lectures) (20%)
Three Short Response Papers (best of which is worth 10%; the other two 5% each)
Attendance & Participation (Discussion Sessions) (10%)
Discussion Questions (10%)
Standing in a course is determined by the course instructor subject to the approval of the Faculty Dean. This means that grades submitted by the instructor may be subject to revision. No grades are final until they have been approved by the Dean.
VI. Course Organization and Course Policies
Streams. In this course, you can choose one of two streams–the participation-intensive stream and the writing-intensive stream. Students in both streams are expected to attend the general lectures (marked ‘[L]’ in the Course Calendar below) and the discussion sessions (marked ‘[DS]’ in the Course Calendar below). You are expected to declare your stream by the end of Week 0 by using the form in the Admin section on Brightspace. Please note that failing to self-enroll in a stream by that time might result in a loss of credits.
Attendance and Participation (Lectures). Lecture attendance is required for both streams and will count towards 60% of your grade for Attendance & Participation (Lectures). Lecture attendance will be tracked through the polling software, so please make sure you are signed into it and that you are able to use it to avoid losing attendance credits (see Polling Software below). The other 40% of your Attendance & Participation grade for Lectures needs to be earned through participation. The main way to earn participation points during the lectures is to respond to the in-class polls , which will also be used to keep track of attendance. Some of these questions will be Checkpoint Questions and their aim is to assess your understanding of the material covered by the textbook and in the lectures. Please contact me as soon as possible if circumstances beyond your control (e.g., illness, family emergency) prevent you from attending a lecture.
Exams. Students in both streams are expected to take two exams on Brightspace during class time. The exams will cover everything in the course up to that point, including material covered during lectures, in the textbook, in the readings for the discussion sessions, and in the background readings. Please note that failing to take an exam will result in a zero on that exam. Please contact me as soon as possible if you are unable to take your exam.
Attendance and Participation (Discussion Sessions). Discussion session attendance is required for both streams. The polling software will also be used to ask one (or more) Reading Question(s) per session. Each of these questions focuses on the reading for that discussion session and it aims to ensure that you have read and understood the reading for that day. They count towards your participation grade for that session. While the most important way for you to contribute to the discussion is to participate in the oral discussion (i.e., it is to talk in class), contributions to the discussion forums on Brightspace and correct answers to Poll Everywhere polls, and (to a much lesser extent) contributions to the Zoom chat will also count towards your participation grade. (But please keep in mind that, due to the nature of chat discussions, contributions to the chat are typically worth significantly less in terms of your overall participation grade than (the typically more substantial) contributions to the oral discussion or to the forum.) For students in the Writing-Intensive Stream, attendance is worth 50% of their grade and Reading Questions are worth 50% for Attendance and Participation (Discussion Sessions). While students in the Writing-Intensive Stream are encouraged to also participate in the discussion (and can earn participation points by doing that), they are not expected to. For students in the Participation-Intensive Stream, on the other hand, 30% of the grade comes from attendance, 30% from Reading Questions, and the rest from their actual participation to the discussion session. While the most important way for you to contribute to the discussion is to participate in the oral discussion (i.e., it is to talk in class), contributions to the discussion forums on Brightspace and correct answers to Poll Everywhere polls, and (to a much lesser extent) contributions to the Zoom chat will also count towards your participation grade. (But please keep in mind that, due to the nature of chat discussions, contributions to the chat are typically worth significantly less in terms of your overall participation grade than (the typically more substantial) contributions to the oral discussion or to the forum.) Attendance will also be tracked through polling software (see Polling Software below). Please contact me as soon as possible if circumstances beyond your control (e.g., illness, family emergency) prevent you from attending a discussion session.
Discussion Questions. All students (irrespectively of their chosen stream) are expected to submit one discussion question per discussion session. Discussion questions must be posted on Brightspace before the start of the session. The questions can be interpretive (e.g. ‘What does the author mean in this passage?’) or evaluative (e.g. ‘Do you think that the argument that the author gives in this passage works?’) and, regardless of whether your discussion question is specific (i.e. a question that refers to a specific passage) or general questions (i.e. a question about the reading in general), they need to make clear and explicit reference to the relevant reading. If your question refers to a specific passage, please give a clear reference and please provide a full quotation of the passage in your post. Discussion questions are graded on a ‘Complete’/’Incomplete’ basis. Generic questions (i.e. questions that do not clearly and explicitly relate to the reading but only to the general topic of the reading) are not acceptable and will receive an ‘Incomplete.’ During the discussion session, students will take turns asking their discussion questions and giving tentative answers to their own questions (e.g. ‘I don’t think that the argument works because… ’) and then we’ll open the discussion. Your tentative answer to your question does not have to be submitted with your discussion questions but will count as part of your participation mark (see below). Discussion questions should be no longer than 100 words (excluding any quotations from the reading). Longer questions will be penalized. If, for whatever reason, you are unable to attend a session, you should still submit your discussion questions if possible.
Please note that failing to submit a discussion question before the start of the relevant session will result in an ‘Incomplete.’ Please contact me as soon as possible if circumstances beyond your control (e.g., illness, family emergency) prevent you from submitting a discussion question on time.
Response Papers. Students in the Writing-Intensive Stream are expected to submit three very short response papers. Response papers are supposed to engage critically with one of the readings for the discussion sessions. You can choose any of the readings that have been covered so far in the course (insofar as you haven’t discussed it already in a previous response paper). Response papers are expected to have a clearly stated thesis and a clearly stated argument to support that thesis. A standard kind of response paper argues that one of the main theses in one of the readings is false or that one of the main arguments offered in one of the readings is unsound (i.e. the argument does not support its conclusion either because one of its premises is false or because the argument is invalid). In either case, you are expected to describe clearly and accurately the thesis/argument you are arguing against and to state clearly your thesis and your argument in support of it. Response papers should be submitted through Brightspace, they should be no longer than 250 words (excluding reference), and they should not contain any identifying information (as they will be graded anonymously).
Please note that, barring extenuating circumstances (e.g., illness, family emergency), failing to submit a response paper will result in 0% on that paper. If extenuating circumstances (e.g., illness or family emergency) prevent you from submitting a response paper on time, please notify me by email as soon as possible. Please also note that late response papers are subject to a 5-point penalty for every day they are late and longer response papers will be subject to a 1-point penalty for every 25 words over the word limit.
Polling Software. In this course, Poll Everywhere will be used to track attendance, poll students, and ask Checkpoint Questions. You can respond to in-class polls using a laptop, a tablet, a smartphone, or any other device with an internet connection. Alternatively, you can submit your answers through SMS (charges from your provider may apply). You should be registered automatically for the course. Please make sure to always use your Cmail e-mail address (yourfirstnameyourlastname@cmail.carleton.ca) when signing into Poll Everywhere. Active polls for the course can be found at PollEv.com/contessa.
Academic Integrity. You are responsible for ensuring that you understand the nature of academic offenses (such as plagiarism and unauthorized collaboration), as defined in the Undergraduate Calendar, and to avoid both committing them and aiding or abetting academic offenses perpetrated by other students. Please be aware that I am bound to report any suspected academic offense directly to the Office of the Dean.
The University Senate defines plagiarism as “presenting, whether intentionally or not, the ideas, expression of ideas or work of others as one’s own.” This can include: reproducing or paraphrasing portions of someone else’s published or unpublished material, regardless of the source, and presenting these as one’s own without proper citation or reference to the original source; submitting a take-home examination, essay, laboratory report or other assignment written, in whole or in part, by someone else; using ideas or direct, verbatim quotations, or paraphrased material, concepts, or ideas without appropriate acknowledgment in any academic assignment; using another’s data or research findings; failing to acknowledge sources through the use of proper citations when using another’s works and/or failing to use quotation marks; handing in "substantially the same piece of work for academic credit more than once without prior written permission of the course instructor in which the submission occurs." Plagiarism is a serious offence that cannot be resolved directly by the course’s instructor. The Associate Dean of the Faculty conducts a rigorous investigation, including an interview with the student, when an instructor suspects a piece of work has been plagiarized. Penalties are not trivial. They can include a final grade of "F" for the course.
Copyright. Carleton University is committed to compliance in all copyright matters. Noncompliance is a violation of the Canadian Copyright Act. In addition to any actions that might be taken by any copyright owner or its licensing agent, the University will take steps against any breach of this policy. In Canada, copyright for a work is given automatically to the creator of the work. The work does not need to be marked or declared as copyrighted in order to be copyrighted. The majority of works in Canada are copyrighted. It is important for students to understand and respect copyright. Copyright determines your usage rights for a particular work, which includes textbooks, web pages, videos and images, both electronic and hard copy. Students may not photocopy entire or major portions of books or other works, even if it is only for their personal use. Fair dealing makes some allowances for copying small portions of works. See Carleton's Fair Dealing Policy for more information. If journal articles or portions of works are available through the library, either as hard copies or electronically, students may make a single copy for their personal use. Students may not distribute copies of works that are under copyright. For more information, please see the Carleton's Fair Dealing Policy and the library's copyright website: www.library.carleton.ca/copyright.
VII. Course Calendar
Week | Dates | Readings | Exam Dates/Deadlines |
0 | Jan 11 | Introduction | |
Jan 13 | Introduction (Cont’d) | ||
1 | Jan 18 | [L1] Staley: Ch 1 ‘Some Problems of Induction’; Kuhn, Ch 1 ‘The Ancient Two-Sphere Universe’ (see Admin Section in Brightspace for a link to Kuhn’s book) | |
Jan 20 | [DS1] Hume, ‘Sceptical Doubts Concerning the Operations of the Understanding’ (Section IV of An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding) | ||
2 | Jan 25 | [L2] Staley: Ch 2 ‘Falsificationism: Science Without Induction?’ Kuhn, Ch 2 ‘The Problem of Planets’ | |
Jan 27 | [DS2] Karl R. Popper, ‘Science: Conjectures and Refutations’ | ||
3 | Feb 1 | [L3] Staley: Ch 3: ‘Underdetermination’ Kuhn, Ch 5 ‘Copernicus’ Innovation’ | |
Feb 3 | [DS3] W. V. Quine, ‘Two Dogmas of Empiricism’ (§6 only!) | ||
4 | Feb 8 | [L4] Staley: Ch 4 ‘Logical Empiricism and Scientific Theories’ Kuhn: Ch 6 ‘The Assimilation of Copernican Astronomy’ | |
Feb 10 | [DS4] Carl G. Hempel, ‘Criteria of Confirmation and Acceptability’ | ||
5 | Feb 15 | [L5] Staley: Ch 5 ‘Kuhn: Scientific Revolutions as Paradigm Changes’ Kuhn: Ch 7 ‘The New Universe’ | |
Feb 17 | [DS5] Thomas Kuhn, ‘The Nature and Necessity of Scientific Revolutions’ | Response Paper 1 Deadline | |
6 | Mar 1 | Exam 1 | Exam 1 |
Mar 3 | [L6] Staley: Ch 6: ‘Lakatos: Scientific Research Programs’ | ||
7 | Mar 8 | [DS6] Imre Lakatos ‘Falsificationism and the Methodology of Scientific Research Programs’ (§§1-3(b) only!) | |
Mar 10 | [L7] Staley: Ch 8: ‘Reasoning with Probability: Bayesianism’ Michael Strevens ‘Notes on Bayesian Confirmation Theory’ §§1–6 | ||
8 | Mar 15 | [L7] Michael Strevens ‘Notes on Bayesian Confirmation Theory’, §§7–11. | |
Mar 17 | [DS7] Salmon, ‘Rationality and objectivity in science, or, Tom Kuhn meets Tom Bayes’ | Response Paper 2 Deadline | |
9 | Mar 22 | No Class! | |
Mar 24 | Exam 2 | Exam 2 | |
10 | Mar 29 | [L8] Staley: Ch 10 ‘Realism and Anti-Realism’ | |
Mar 31 | [DS8] Bas van Fraassen, ‘Constructive Empiricism’ (Extracts from The Scientific Image) | ||
11 | Apr 5 | [L9] Staley: Ch 12: ‘Values in Science’ Stephen Jay Gould, ‘Measuring Heads’ (from The Mismeasure of Man) | |
Apr 7 | No Class! (Statutory Holiday) | ||
12 | Apr 12 | [DS10] Elizabeth Anderson ‘Use of Value Judgments in Science’ Naomi Oreskes & Erik Conway, ‘The Denial of Global Warming’ (from Merchants of Doubt) | Response Paper 3 Deadline |
Please note that the course calendar is provisional and subject to change.
Please check this Course Outline regularly for updates.
Department of Philosophy and Carleton University Policies (Fall/Winter 2022-23)
Assignments:
Please follow your professor’s instructions on how assignments will be handled electronically. There will be NO hard copies placed in the essay box this coming year.
Evaluation:
Standing in a course is determined by the course instructor subject to the approval of the Faculty Dean. This means that grades submitted by the instructor may be subject to revision. No grades are final until they have been approved by the Dean.
Deferrals for Term Work:
If students are unable to complete term work because of illness or other circumstances beyond their control, they should contact their course instructor no later than three working days of the due date. Normally, any deferred term work will be completed by the last day of the term. Term work cannot be deferred by the Registrar.
Deferrals for Final Exams:
Students are expected to be available for the duration of a course including the examination period. Occasionally, students encounter circumstances beyond their control where they may not be able to write a final examination or submit a take-home examination. Examples of this would be a serious illness or the death of a family member. If you miss a final examination and/or fail to submit a take-home examination by the due date, you may apply for a deferral no later than three working days after the original due date (as per the University Regulations in Section 4.3 of the Undergraduate Calendar). Visit the Registrar’s Office for further information.
Plagiarism:
It is the responsibility of each student to understand the meaning of ‘plagiarism’ as defined in the Undergraduate or Graduate Calendars, and to avoid both committing plagiarism and aiding or abetting plagiarism by other students. (Section 10.1 of the Undergraduate Calendar Academic Regulations)
Academic Accommodation:
You may need special arrangements to meet your academic obligations during the term:
§ Pregnancy or religious obligation: write to your professor with any requests for academic accommodation during the first two weeks of class, or as soon as possible after the need for accommodation is known to exist. For more details visit the EDC website.
§ Academic accommodations for students with disabilities: The Paul Menton Centre for Students with Disabilities (PMC) provides services to students with Learning Disabilities (LD), psychiatric/mental health disabilities, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), chronic medical conditions, and impairments in mobility, hearing, and vision. If you have a disability requiring academic accommodations in this course, please contact PMC at 613-520-6608 or pmc@carleton.ca for a formal evaluation. If you are already registered with the PMC, contact your PMC coordinator to send your Letter of Accommodation at the beginning of the term, and no later than two weeks before the first in-class test or exam requiring accommodation. After requesting accommodation from PMC, meet with your professor to ensure accommodation arrangements are made.
§ Survivors of Sexual Violence: As a community, Carleton University is committed to maintaining a positive learning, working and living environment where sexual violence will not be tolerated, and where survivors are supported through academic accommodations as per Carleton’s Sexual Violence Policy.
§ Accommodation for Student Activities: Carleton University recognizes the substantial benefits, both to the individual student and for the university, that result from a student participating in activities beyond the classroom experience. Reasonable accommodation must be provided to students who compete or perform at the national or international level. Please contact your instructor with any requests for academic accommodation during the first two weeks of class, or as soon as possible after the need for accommodation is known to exist.
Important Dates:
Sept. 7 Classes start.
Sept. 20 Last day for registration and course changes for fall term and fall/winter (two-term) courses.
Sept. 30 Last day for entire fee adjustment when withdrawing from fall term or two-term courses. Withdrawals after this date will result in a permanent notation of WDN on the official transcript.
Oct. 10 Statutory holiday. University closed.
Oct. 24-28 Fall Break – no classes.
Nov. 25 Last day for summative tests or examinations, or formative tests or examinations totaling more than 15% of the final grade, before the official examination period.
Dec. 9 Last day of fall term classes. Classes follow a Monday schedule. Last day for academic withdrawal from fall term courses. Last day for handing in term work and the last day that can be specified by a course instructor as a due date for term work for a fall term course.
Dec. 10-22 Final examinations for fall term courses and mid-term examinations in two-term courses. Examinations are normally held all seven days of the week.
Dec. 22 All take-home examinations are due.
Jan. 9 Classes begin.
Jan. 20 Last day for registration and course changes in the winter term.
Jan. 31 Last day for a full fee adjustment when withdrawing from winter term courses or from the winter portion of two-term courses. Withdrawals after this date will result in a permanent notation of WDN on the official transcript.
Feb. 20 Statutory holiday. University closed.
Feb. 20-24 Winter Break – no classes.
Mar. 15 Last day for academic withdrawal from fall/winter and winter courses.
Mar. 29 Last day for summative tests or examinations, or formative tests or examinations totaling more than 15% of the final grade, in winter term or fall/winter courses before the official examination period.
Apr. 7 Statutory holiday. University closed.
Apr. 12 Last day of two-term and winter term classes. Classes follow a Friday schedule. Last day for handing in term work and the last day that can be specified by a course instructor as a due date for two-term and for winter term courses.
Apr. 13-14 No classes or examinations take place.
Apr. 15-27 Final examinations for winter term and two-term courses. Examinations are normally held all seven days of the week.
Apr. 27 All take-home examinations are due.
Addresses:
Department of Philosophy:
520-2110
Registrar’s Office:
520-3500
Academic Advising Centre:
www.carleton.ca/academicadvising
520-7850
Writing Services:
http://www.carleton.ca/csas/writing-services/
520-3822
MacOdrum Library
http://www.library.carleton.ca/
520-2735