8241004 Philosophy and History of Science
| Numbering Code | U-LET32 28241 SJ34 | Year/Term | 2022 ・ Second semester | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Credits | 2 | Course Type | Seminar | |
| Target Year | Target Student | |||
| Language | Japanese | Day/Period | Fri.3 | |
| Instructor name | ISEDA TETSUJI (Graduate School of Letters Professor) | |||
| Outline and Purpose of the Course |
Emergent properties, i.e. properties of a whole that are not reducible to its parts, is a notion entertained in many different scientific fields, and philosophers of science also have paid attention to it. In this class we aim at getting understanding as to what philosophers has been thinking about this notion and what they propose, by knowing historical background of the notion and by reading some classical papers. |
|||
| Course Goals | To understand what are the issues discussed in philosophical arguments on emergence, and to be able to examine positions of philosophers critically. | |||
| Schedule and Contents |
We read articles from the following anthology by turns, and discuss the content. Bedau, M. and Humphreys, P eds. (2008) Emergence: Contemporary Readings in Philosophy and Science. The MIT Press. Current plan is to read the following papers (including excerpts): B.P. McLaughlin "The rise and fall of British emergentism" C. Hempel and P. Oppenheim "On the idea of emergence" W. C. Wimsatt "Aggregativity: reductive heuristics for finding emergence" P. Humphreys "How properties emerge" J. Kim "Making sense of emergence" D. C. Denett "Real patterns" P.W. Anderson "More is different: broken symmetry and the nature of the hierarchical structure of science" A. Assuad and N. H. Packard "Emergence" J. Forder "Special sciences (Or: the disunity of science as a working hypothesis)" The basic format of the class is as follows: we read approximately 10 pages of the reading in one meeting, and have some discussion. A student (or a team of students) is responsible for a presentation that introduces the reading to the meeting (the assignment is done beforehand). The class structure is: Introduction (1 meeting) Student presentations (13 meetings) wrap-up (1 meeting) |
|||
| Evaluation Methods and Policy | The evaluation will be based on the class presentation(s) and the final paper (50% each). The points of view of the evaluation are: correct understanding of the assigned part and its appropriate introduction for class presentation(s), and correct understanding of the chosen part and its appropriate critical examination for the final paper. | |||
| Course Requirements | No background is required, but if you are not familiar with philosophy of science in general, please read some introductory book by yourself. Okasha's introductory book (Philosophy of Science: A Very Short Introduction) is recommended. | |||
| Study outside of Class (preparation and review) | All the participants are expected to read the assigned reading before each class. The presenter prepares a several A4 pages of handout that summarizes the assigned part before the class. | |||
| Textbooks | Textbooks/References | Relevant parts of the above-mentioned book will be distributed in the class. | ||
