Download problems in philosophy - Winona State University

Approved by Faculty Senate March 30, 2009
PROBLEMS IN PHILOSOPHY
PHIL 260
Curriculum, Outcomes, Policies, and Requirements
University Studies—Humanities
Sample Topic Syllabus
The Impact of Scientific Revolutions
Course Description
We will examine the impact on society of several key scientific revolutions, such
as those of Copernicus, Galileo, Newton, Darwin, and Freud. Our emphasis will be less
on seeing how these revolutions affected their own disciplines than on seeing how they
affected the way people think about themselves and their world. We will also devote
some time to discussing the extent to which science advances by revolutions (as opposed
to gradual extension of existing theories), and the extent to which this is a rational
process. No previous knowledge of science is necessary.
Grades
You will be graded on the basis of two written assignments, a class presentation,
and class participation and discussion.
Class presentations can be solo or group efforts. Each presentation should take
approximately one class period. Each will amount to presenting the essentials of a
chapter from our first text, dealing with a famous case history of a scientific revolution.
The presentation should cover both the “nuts and bolts” of the revolutionary theory, and
the social impact that it had beyond the bounds of science itself. The presentation will
count for 35% of your course grade.
Moreover, you will be asked to provide a written grading of your peers’
presentations, according to criteria you formulate. This will be an ungraded assignment,
meant to provide a basis for class discussion of what is needed in an effective
presentation.
The paper must be on a topic approved in advance by me. It will require some
outside reading, and must be six to eight pages long (typed or word-processed with a dark
ribbon, double-spaced, containing references, etc.). Failure to meet due dates for
required drafts will result in substantial grade reductions. Each student will then receive
(anonymously, and at random) another’s paper, and will provide a written critique of it,
according to criteria proposed by the critiquing student. I will then make my own
comments on the working versions of the papers, and return them to you. The final draft
is worth 35% of your course grade, and the written critique is worth 20%.
Finally, you are expected to do all of the readings as assigned, including those
being presented by your classmates, and to be prepared to discuss them. Indications that
this is not the case may provoke pop quizzes and other stern measures. In any case, class
participation is worth 10% of your course grade.
Attendance is mandatory. You are allowed one unexcused absence. After that,
each unexcused absence will drop your final course grade by one letter. For an absence
to be excused, you must produce hard documentation of the dire emergency that caused
it, and you’d better let me know in advance if at all possible.
Texts
I. Bernard Cohen, Revolution in Science (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University
Press, 1985).
Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 2nd. Ed. (Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1970).
Course Outline — Impact of Scientific Revolutions
A. Overview
B. Meanings of ‘revolution’
1. First scientific sense
2. Political (violent) sense
a. English Revolution
b. American Revolution
c. French Revolution
3. Second scientific sense
C. Scientific revolutions
1. Copernicus’ astronomy
2. Kepler’s astronomy
3. Galileo’s astronomy and mechanics
4. Newton’s mechanics and gravitation
5. Darwin’s evolution
6. Marx’s historical materialism
7. Freud’s psychology
8. Einstein’s relativity
9. Planck’s, Schrödinger’s, and Heisenberg’s quantum theory
D. Kuhn on scientific revolutions
1. Normal science
2. Paradigms
3. Anomalies
4. Gestalt switches and paradigm shifts
5. Revolutions as paradigm shifts
6. Incommensurability
7. Irrationality
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All course activities and assignments simultaneously address all University Studies
required course outcomes in Problems in Philosophy 260 in the following ways:
The purpose of Humanities...to provide a framework for understanding the nature
and scope of human experience. Humanities courses explore the search for meaning
and value in human life....
Problems in Philosophy is an in-depth exploration of various topics in philosophy. The
class provides the student with a comprehensive introduction to some of the basic
philosophical problems and issues that comprise a specific category within the larger
Western philosophical tradition. Examples of such select categories are: the Scientific
Revolution, the Enlightenment, the philosophy of Space and Time, the philosophy of a
specific science (biology, physics, etc.), Existentialism, to name only a few. Overall, one
of the main goals of the course, besides providing a comprehensive overview of the
various concepts within the specific field, is to teach the student the methods by which
philosophers investigate these problems and issues.
These courses must include requirements and learning activities that promote
students' abilities to...
a. Identify and understand specific elements and assumptions of a particular
Humanities discipline.
Some of the specific topics covered in Problems of Philosophy are listed above, but all of
the various problems explored in the class provide the student with a thorough grounding
in the fundamental conceptual elements and assumptions that comprise the relevant field.
Some of the questions addressed are: Is space and time a substance, or merely the
relations among substances? What concepts played a central role in the Scientific
Revolution? What are the central beliefs of the Existentialists? All topics covered are in
the Humanities discipline.
b. Understand how historical context, cultural values, and gender influences
perceptions and interpretations.
Problems of Philosophy explores concepts and theories from many different perspectives
and approaches, including, but not confined to, historical context, cultural values, and
gender and race. These aspects of the particular area of philosophy under examination are
thus investigated in great detail, and with respect to all topics. For example, with respect
to the philosophy of the scientific revolution: How have gender biases played a role in the
development of scientific theories? Have social classes been important in the acceptance,
or rejection, of alternative theories of science?
c. Understand the role of critical analysis in interpreting and evaluating expressions
of human experience.
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Problems of Philosophy is devoted to the critical analysis of concepts and issues
pertaining to various aspects of the human experience. Consequently, this course places
at its very core the interpretation and evaluation of specific human thought systems. For
example, with respect to the scientific revolution: Was the scientific revolution made
possible by the introduction of the Hypothtico-Deductive method, or by the method of
Scientific Induction? What are the important elements in Newton's approach to nature as
regards the overall method of conducting science? Critical analysis is thus applied to all
topics in the course.
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