Philosophy of Science

Full course description

Typical issues in this course are: What is the role of observation in science? What is a scientific explanation? What roles do theories and experiments play in science? What is the nature of scientific progress? Can we rationally decide between scientific viewpoints? In what ways are the social sciences similar to or different from the natural sciences?

The course presents an introduction to major issues in the philosophy of science. It can be divided into four parts. In the first we will deal with traditional positions on the objectivity and methodology of science, like those of logical empiricism. The second focuses on objections to this received view as formulated by critical rationalism and by Thomas Kuhn’s paradigm theory. Kuhn’s theory revolutionized thinking about scientific knowledge and led to the so-called sociological and historical turn in the philosophy of science. The course then addresses two fundamental problems in the field: ‘Do our theories describe reality?’ (The problem of realism) and ‘Do we now have better knowledge than in the past’ (The problem of cognitive progress). In the final part of the course problems in the philosophy of the social sciences will take center stage: How do the social sciences explain and predict events? Does the method of understanding present an alternative methodology for social science? And finally: What is the role of social science in society.