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Course Code: 
PHIL 242
Course Type: 
Area Elective
P: 
3
Lab: 
0
Laboratuvar Saati: 
0
Credits: 
3
ECTS: 
6
Course Language: 
English
Course Objectives: 
The aim of this course is to discuss and assess the properties of scientific knowledge and activity, the problems and value of science, the historical processes of science and conceptions of science as well as its current conditions from the viewpoints of different doctrines in the philosophy of science.
Course Content: 

The historical development of science. The conception of nature and science; epistemological questions concerning scientific, theoretical and empirical knowledge. The importance of method in scientific inquiry. This course covers the following subject-matters: i. Early conceptions of nature in Greeks. The concepts of the infinite and of matter; ii. Aristotelian physics and the Aristotelian philosophy of science; iii. Scientific development; iv. The new idea of science (Galileo, Descartes, Newton) and the attack on Aristotelian philosophy; v. The nature of scientific knowledge in Hume, Kant and in the 19th Century philosophers; vi. The 20th Century philosophy of science, the Logical Positivists, Wittgenstein and the Vienna Circle; vii. Karl Popper, falsification and the demarcation between science and pseudo-science; viii. The new image of science: T.S. Kuhn and scientific revolutions; ix. Feyerabend and the anarchist

Course Methodology: 
1: Lecture, 2: Question-Answer, 3: Discussion, 4: Exercises
Course Evaluation Methods: 
A: Testing, B: Experience, C: Homework

Vertical Tabs

Course Learning Outcomes

Learning Outcomes

Upon the completion of this course a student:

Program Learning Outcomes

Teaching Methods

Assessment Methods

1) grasps the distinguishing properties of scientific knowledge.

1, 2, 6

1, 2, 3

A, C

2) gains profound insight into the history of science.

1, 2, 6, 7, 9

1, 2, 3

A, C

3) links the historical processes with current problems of science.

1, 2, 6, 7, 9

1, 2, 3

A, C

4) assesses the arguments of progressivist, holistic, falsificationist, structuralist and anarchist theories of science.

1, 2, 6, 7, 9

1, 2, 3

A, C

5) discusses the demarcation lines between science and non-science.

1, 2, 6

1, 2, 3

A, C
 
 

Course Flow

Week

Topics

Study Materials

1

Introduction: The field and main questions of the philosophy of science.

-

2

What is science? The question of the criterion of scientific knowledge from Aristotle to Popper.

-

3

The relation between metaphysics and physics in modern science: the Leibniz-Newton debate.

Leibniz-Clarke correspondence

4

The relation between metaphysics and physics in modern science: the Leibniz-Newton debate against the background of Aristotle’s conception of science.

Leibniz-Clarke correspondence

5

Science as process versus holistic science: Peirce and Duhem.

Excerpts

6

Science and philosophy of science at the turn of the twentieth century: Planck, Einstein, Mach, Poincaré.

Excerpts

7

Midterm Exam

  

8

Radical scientism: The Vienna Circle

Excerpts

9

Verificationism versus falsificationism: Popper’s conception of science.

Excerpts

10

Thomas Kuhn: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.

Kuhn

11

Paul Feyerabend and the anarchist conception of science.

Feyerabend

12

Lines of synthesis: Lakatos’ scientific research programs.

Lakatos

13

Other sciences, other philosophies: Foucault and Lyotard.

Excerpts

14

Back to basics: Explanation and understanding; Dilthey and hermeneutics.

Dilthey

15

Final Exam

-
 
 

Recommended Sources

Textbook

  

Additional Resources

P. K. Feyerabend, Against Method, NLB, London, 1975.

T. S. Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, University of Chicago Press, 1962, 2nd edition, enlarged, 1970.

I. Lakatos, "Falsification and the Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes", in Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge, eds. Lakatos and Musgrave, Cambridge University Press, 1970.

K. R. Popper, The Logic of Scientific Discovery, Hutchinson, London, 1959.
 
 

Material Sharing

Documents

Excerpts from the Leibniz-Clarke correspondence; excerpts from the writings of Peirce, Duhem, Mach, Poincaré, Dilthey and the Vienna Circle.

Assignments

  

Exams

  
 
 

Assessment

IN-TERM STUDIES

NUMBER

PERCENTAGE

Midterm

1

30

Assignments

3

30

Final

1

40

Total

 

100

CONTRIBUTION OF FINAL EXAMINATION TO OVERALL GRADE

 

40

CONTRIBUTION OF IN-TERM STUDIES TO OVERALL GRADE

 

60

Total

 

100
 

 

COURSE CATEGORY

Area-Specific Courses
 
 

Course’s Contribution to Program

No

Program Learning Outcomes

Contribution

1

2

3

4

5

1

Grasps the fundamental concepts and analytical methods necessary to succeed in academic studies in the field of philosophy.

      

X

  

2

Acquires a versatile critical and analytical approach, and problem-solving, interpretative and  argumentative skills necessary for a successful career in philosophy.

      

X

  

3

Communicates effectively, is specifically successful in written and oral presentation, has proper capacities for teamwork and interdisciplinary studies, takes the initiative, has developed a sense of responsibility, contributes original ideas to the field of philosophy, and is loyal to ethical principles.

      

X

  

4

Reaches the perfection of pursuing professional and personal development by using all means of knowledge with a view to lifelong learning.

    

X

    

5

Develops a consciousness of professional and social ethics.

  

X

      

6

Gains the skills of choosing and developing contemporary means required in philosophical applications as well as using computing technologies effectively.

    

X

    

7

Acquires substantial knowledge of the history of philosophy.

        

X

8

Learns a classical and at least one modern foreign language so as to read the historical texts of philosophy in the original.

    

X

    

9

Pinpoints, recognizes, grasps and discusses the problems of philosophy within their context in the history of philosophy.

        

X

10

Develops  perfection in reading, understanding and analyzing philosophical texts in different languages.

      

X

  
 
 

ECTS

Activities

Quantity

Duration
(Hour)

Total
Workload
(Hour)

Course Duration (Including the exam week: 15x Total course hours)

15

4

60

Hours for off-the-classroom study (Pre-study, practice)

10

5

50

Mid-terms

1

10

10

Assignments

3

5

15

Final examination

1

15

15

Total Work Load

 

 

150

Total Work Load / 25 (h)

 

 

6

ECTS Credit of the Course

 

 

6
 
 

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