Course Description

I. We will begin this course with an examination of the conceptual and historical structure of scientific knowledge, concentrating on the history of physics and astronomy. Text: Richard DeWitt, Worldviews: An Introduction to the History and Philosophy of Science (Blackwell, 2005).

FIRST TAKEHOME EXAM

II. Next, we will examine some unsolved problems at the periphery of contemporary science --- the nature of life (the foundational problem of biology) and the nature of mind (the foundational problem of psychology). These are often called metaphysical questions, but metaphysics and science are inseparable. We will concentrate on the idea that biological and psychological properties are emergent phenomena of complex systems. Texts: Paul Davies, The Fifth Miracle: The Search for the Origin and Meaning of Life (Simon and Schuster, 2000); Philip Clayton, Mind and Emergence: From Quantum to Consciousness (Oxford, 2004).

SECOND TAKEHOME EXAM