Syllabus and Course Information

Welcome! Here is the course description and syllabus, followed by course information. All bullet-pointed items that are not labelled "optional" are required for the respective day. There will be a synchronous Zoom lecture held at the regularly scheduled meeting times, and it will be recorded. All items on this page without a link are available on Canvas (or are required texts, see below). This entire webpage is the syllabus: read it carefully.

Course Description

Science is central to modern society. But what makes scientific reasoning so special? Is science really objective? How do scientific explanations work? Are there natural laws? Are randomized control trials really the "gold standard" of medicine? In this course, we will explore these and other questions pertaining to how scientists argue for their claims. We will consider many real cases in the history of physics, chemistry, biology, and psychology to illustrate these philosophical points. By the end of the course, students will have a better understanding of what makes science a distinctive human activity, warts and all. Students will also learn the basics of argumentative writing and analysis.

Syllabus

The readings for this course will not change without an announcement. However, I will populate the "key concepts" section the weekend before the lectures on the readings to help guide your reading/review.

Week 1: The Basics of Argument

Reading:

• ST chapter 1

• ForallX, chapter 1 (text here)

Key concepts:

• empiricism
• rationalism
• argument
• premises
• conclusion
• necessary v. sufficient conditions

Week 2: Deduction and Induction

Reading:

• ST chapter 2
• PS chapter 2

Key concepts:

• necessary v. sufficient conditions
• modus ponens (affirming the antecedent)
• modus tollens (denying the consequent)
• disjunctive syllogism
• common fallacies
  • straw man
  • false dichotomies
  • ad hominem
  • improper appeal to authority
• deduction v. induction
• valid v. invalid arguments
• sound v. unsound arguments
• good inductive arguments
• strong inductive arguments

Week 3: Samples and Statistics

Reading:

• ST chapters 3-6

• Jonathan Weisberg, "Statistical Signifiance" (webpage here)

• Optional: Thomas Metcalf, "Interpretations of Probability" (webpage here)

Key concepts:

• sample
• representative sample
• sample matching
• random sample ("randomly selected sample")
• sampling with/without replacement
• sample size
• observed frequency
• margin of error
• confidence level
• standard deviation

Week 4: Correlation and Causation

Reading:

• ST chapters 7, 17, 18, and 19

• Mill's methods handout (focus on pp. 450-455)

• Optional: Julia Galef, "A visual guide to Bayesian thinking" (YouTube)

• Optional: 3Blue1Brown, "Bayes Theorem" (YouTube), a very helpful explanation of how our diagrams map onto the math.

Key concepts:

• correlation (v. proportion)
• positive v. negative v. no correlation
• stochastic v. deterministic causes
• causal explanation
• the cause v. causal factors
• negative v. positive causal factors
• mutual causation (aka positive feedback loops)
• joint cause
• screening off (see section 10.7)
• Mill's methods

Week 5: Explanation in Science

Reading:

• PS, chapter 3: Explanation in Science

• ST chapters 9-11

Key concepts:

• confirmation theory

Week 6: Explanation in Psychology

Reading:

• PS, chapter 4: Realism and Anti-realism

Week 7: Explanation in Psychology, continued

Reading:

• PS, chapter 4: Realism and Anti-realism

• Weiskopf and Adams, "Autonomy and reduction in psychology"

• Interview with Patricia Churchland, "Your brain invents morality" (read online at Vox)

Week 8: Explanation in Biology ... and Psychology

Reading:

• Sterelny and Griffiths, Sex and Death (chapters 10 and 13)

Week 9: Pseudoscience and Intelligent Design

Note: problem set 3 due on Monday of this week! (November 30, 12p)

Readings:

• Karl Popper (1963), "Science as Falsification," from Science: Conjectures and Refutations (pp. 33-39)

• Godfrey-Smith, Theory and Reality, chapter 4: "Popper: Conjecture and Refutation"

• Michael Ruse (1982), "Creation-Science Is Not Science"

• Larry Laudan (1982), "Commentary on Ruse: Science at the Bar---Causes for Concern"

Week 10: The Objectivity of Science

Readings:

• Helen Longino (1990) "Values and Objectivity"

• Optional: Godfrey-Smith, Theory and Reality, chapter 9: "Feminism and Science Studies"

• Optional: Thomas Kuhn (1977) "Objectivity, Value Judgment, and Theory Choice"

Course Assignments, Evaluation, and Policies

Academic Integrity and Honesty

All suspicions of academic misconduct will be reported to the Academic Integrity Office according to university policy. Academic misconduct is not just blatant cheating (e.g., copying off another student during an exam), but includes copying other students' essays; copying or using old essays; forgetting to cite material you took from an outside resource; turning in work completed in total or in part by another. This is an incomplete list; if you have questions concerning academic misconduct it is your responsibility to ask me for advice. I will follow the official university policies outlined here. Ignorance is usually not a defense in cases of academic dishonesty, so it is your responsibility to become acquainted with these policies.

Accommodations for Disabilities

Accommodations will be made for students with verifiable disabilities. See the UCSD OSD/DCC website for more information.

Attendance Policy

Though students are required to view lecture, students are not required to attend live sessions. The live sessions occur at the regularly scheduled time on Zoom.

I highly recommend attending live session for two reasons. Firstly, though this is a philosophy course, it is more like a math or logic course than you might expect. Thus, it is important for you to understand specific examples provided in class much like you would need to understand a calculus problem. It is far easier to learn such material if you come to class and participate---ask questions, throw digital fruit at the instructor, or make snide remarks, but do what it takes to pay attention! Secondly, I want to work with you to make distance learning a success. Yet I will be less forgiving if a student, say, fails to do something that I mention two or three times in lecture. Having taught three terms on Zoom already, I can tell you that those who never attend synchronous sessions are far more prone to fall behind.

Grade Distribution

This course shall be evaluated as follows:

• 20% Weekly online quizzes
• 20% Problem set 1
• 20% Problem set 2
• 20% Problem set 3
• 20% Newspaper-style article

Grade scale

• A+ = 96-100%
• A = 93-96%
• A- = 90-92%
• B+ = 87-89%
• B = 83-86%
• B- = 80-82%
• C+ = 77-79%
• C = 73-76%
• C- = 70-72%
• D+ = 67-69%
• D = 60-66%
• F = 0-59%

Weekly Online Quizzes

Quizzes will be due at noon (12p PST) of the Friday of every week, including week 1. There are thus 10 quizzes in total. Late quizzes are not accepted. Each quiz will be available on the Tuesday before the due date. The quizzes cover the material retrospectively for the week (i.e., a quiz due on the Friday of Week 3 covers material from Week 3). The quiz is open-book and untimed. Collaboration is not allowed. I will drop exactly one (1) quiz from your final quiz grade.

How to Format All of Your Written Work

For your problem sets and your newspaper-style article, use standard formatting and citation procedures. I don't care which standards you use -- just be consistent (MLA, APA, Chicago, Turabian, and other style guides are all fine). These assignments must:

• Be double-spaced.

• Have 1-inch margins.

• Be in a readable font like Times New Roman.

• Have a header and a descriptive title (e.g., "Problem Set 1")

• Provide proper citations when needed.

• Provide a works cited page when needed.

Papers that violate these requirements are subject to a lower grade. Note that failing to properly cite material is a form of plagiarism, so be diligent!

Problem Sets

Note: due dates have changed!

There will be three assignments due during:

• Week 3 (Problem set 1)
• Week 5 (Problem set 2)
• Week 9 (Problem set 3)

As noted on Canvas, each problem set is due at noon on the Monday of these weeks. I will make the problem set questions available at least one week before each due date.

The content of these assignments will involve short answer questions that will require you to critically engage with the course material. Assignments are designed to apply techniques that we learn in class, so I highly recommend attending lecture. Submit your work in the required format outlined above. There is a late penalty of one letter grade per day late, unless you submit an excuse from the Dean or a doctor.

Students may request a regrade from the instructor after consulting the TA for her rationale regarding grading. Regrades are subject to lower the grade as well as increase it.

Newspaper-style Article

In this final essay, you will apply what you learned during the quarter to a 1000-word writing assignment. In this article, you will engage with a particular topic we examined in the course. Prompts and hints will be distributed on Canvas during Week 8. The assignment is due on Saturday, December 12, at 11:59p. There is a late penalty of one letter grade per day late, unless you submit an excuse from the Dean or a doctor. If you require an extension, please see me at least a week in advance.

Course Materials, Resources, and Acknowledgements

Required Materials

• Robert M. Martin (2002), Scientific Thinking ("ST" above) (order print or Ebook here)

• Samir Okasha, Philosophy of Science: A Very Short Introduction ("PS" above) (available here -- either first or second edition is fine)

Note that Martin (2002) is available in the bookstore. All other materials will be available on Canvas.

Resources

(under construction)

Acknowledgements

I benefited from and adapted several ideas from the version of this course taught by Kerry McKenzie.