The John J. Reilly Center

Program in History and Philosophy of Science

Courses Spring 2001

HPS 500

HPS Colloquium 4:15-5:30 T (Howard)

1 Cr. Hr.

Graduate Students Only

Group Discussion by the HPS faculty and students of a prominent recent work in the field of HPS and research presentations by visiting scholars. Required course for HPS students in first and second years of the HPS Program.

Science, Medicine, and Social Reform 1:30-4:00 M (Hamlin)

3 Cr. Hrs. Crosslist: HIST 572

A comparative history of medicine, welfare, and the state in the United States and Europe from the late-eighteenth to the mid-twentieth century. Topics include medical police, the rise of social statistics, public health and social control, eugenics, alternative medicine, and the role of religion.

Philosophy of Biology 12:30-1:45 TH (Moss)

3 Cr. Hrs. Cross-list: PHIL 583

This course will provide a systematic examination of contemporary issues in the philosophy of biology with a thematic emphasis on new developments in, and new challenges to, the neo-Darwinian standpoint. Topics to be covered will include the following: the meaning of "the gene," teleology and function, symbiosis, the origin of life, the philosophy of ecology, the philosophy of development, the meaning of cancer, the Modern Synthesis, and the prospects for a new "evolutionary-developmental synthesis." Evaluation will be based upon an in-class presentation and a 15-20 page research paper.

History of the Philosophy of Science up to 1700 11:00-12:15 TH (McMullin)

3 Cr. Hrs. Cross-list: PHIL 587

We shall first trace the appearance in the ancient Greek world of the notion of a privileged form of knowledge, episteme, paying special attention to Plato and Aristotle. After a brief glance at some late medieval developments, we shall focus on the profound shift that occurred in the notion of a science of nature in the course of the seventeenth century. Authors to be studied: Bacon and Descartes, Boyle and Locke, Galileo and Newton.

Primary texts and a collection of recent article-length studies. Research paper and final examination.

Religion and Science 1:30-2:45 MW (Plantinga)

3 Cr. Hrs. Cross-list: PHIL 589

One of the most interesting and important topics of the last 500 years is the relation of the newly emerging modern science to religious belief-in particular Christianity. This course deals with that topic. We'll begin by considering views according to which there really can't be intellective interaction between science and religion (some of Van Fraassen's work suggests this), move to views according to which there can be such interaction, but only if one or the other is over stepping its bounds (Gould), and then consider views according to which such interaction is perfectly proper. Clearly there can be many different sorts of contact: for example, one way support, mutual support, conflict (Daniel Dennett and Richard Dawkins), and the like. We'll be interested in particular in cases where there appears to have been conflict, as is widely alleged to be the case with the Copernican revolution and the advent of Darwinian evolution. In such cases, what is the rational response on the part of someone who is committed both to the central claims of Christianity and is also enthusiastic about science? How shall we think about the epistemology of such conflict? As a particular contemporary case in point we'll take a closer look at the contrast between Christian ways of understanding ourselves and some of the claims of sociobiology or evolutionary psychology.

Thesis Direction (Howard)

Thesis direction for terminating Master's students.

Non-resident Thesis Research (Howard)

Thesis direction for terminating Master's students.

Directed Readings

Directed Readings carried out under individual HPS faculty supervision.

Research and Dissertation (Howard)

Dissertation research for Ph.D. students.

Nonresident Dissertation Research (Howard)

Dissertation research for Ph.D. students.