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.

The Computer as a Social Phenomenon 1:30-2:45 MW (Mirowski)

3 Cr. Hrs. Crosslist: ECON 513

Graduate Students Only

Approaches to understanding the computer have until recently tended toward one of two extremes: either as a natural-technical object, generally the province of electrical engineering and/or the computer science departments; or else on the most superficial level, with texts on the "information society" or postmodernist riffs on cyberspace. It is beginning to be the case that individual disciplines are being forced to confront how computational themes might transform their previous research agendas; and some have even begun to worry about how the internet might transform the traditional university education (cf.n David Noble, "Digital Diploma Mills" www.firstmonday.dk). Yet what seems to be missing on many fronts is some basic familiarity with the ways in which the computer has been both a social force and a social entity.

Leibniz, Newton, and Kant's First Critique 9:30-12:00 M (Franks)

3 Cr. Hrs. Crosslist: PHIL 532

Graduate Students Only

A close examination of central aspects of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason, considered as an attempt to resolve tensions between the model of intelligibility exemplified by Newton's physics and the model of intelligibility articulated in Leibniz's metaphysics.  We will investigate some conflicts between Leibniz and Newton with respect to space, time, causality, and freedom, and we will critically study both the methods adopted by Kant to resolve these conflicts (transcendental arguments) and the results supposedly achieved thereby (transcendental idealism).  The Critique as seen from this perspective will be contrasted with the Critique as it is understood by some contemporary philosophers.  Classes will be held in seminar format.  Short weekly writing and two papers will be required.  Books will include Leibniz and Clarke: Correspondence, ed. by Roger Ariew (Hackett, 2000) and Kant's Critique of Pure Reason, eds. Paul Guyer and Allen Wood (Cambridge, 1998).

Introduction to History of Science 4:15-5:30 H (T.B.A.)

1 Cr. Hr.

This course is intended as a required supplement for HPS graduate students taking either History 503 (Proseminar) or Philosophy 501 (Proseminar). It serves as a prerequisite for further graduate course work in history and philosophy of science. Concentration will be on the special methodological and historiographic issues in the history and philosophy of science including examination of the post-Kuhnian traditions in the history and philosophy of science, introduction to research techniques, and guest appearances by HPS faculty. Readings will be drawn from current periodical literature in the history and philosophy of science.

History of Modern Astronomy 9:30-10:45 TH (Crowe)

3 Cr. Hrs. Crosslist: HIST 566, STV 466

Graduate Students Only

This course will treat a number of topics in the history of astronomy in the period from 1700 to the present. Half the course will be devoted to the development of galactic and extra-galactic astronomy from the creation of the "island universe" theory in the eighteenth century to the expanding universe theory of the present century. Another topic that will definitely be treated, although on a more limited scale, is ideas of extraterrestrial life. Other areas that may be included are: the rise of astrophysics, planetary discoveries from Uranus to Pluto, astronomical instruments and observations, radio astronomy, American astronomy, and Southern Hemisphere astronomy. Special attention will be given to philosophically and religiously significant aspects of the history of astronomy. Persons interested in philosophy of science, history of science, astronomy, physics, or the relations of astronomy to religion and literature may find this course of value. No specific background in astronomy is assumed.

For further information, contact the instructor at 1-6212 or 345 Decio or at Crowe.1@nd.edu.

Requirements: A research paper and the final exam.

Philosophy of Science 12:30-1:45 TH (McKim)

3 Cr. Hrs. Crosslist: PHIL 581

Graduate Students Only

A wide-ranging but intensive introduction to the various ways in which the philosophy of science has been conceived and practiced during the last century. Readings and course lecture/discussions will be organized around the following four topics: (1) Logical Empiricism and its "received account of science" (nature of explanation, confirmation, theory and the "old" realism/instrumentalism debate); (2) Scientific change as the "Achilles Heel" of the received view: the challenge of historicist perspectives; (3) The "new" debates about scientific realism and rationality; (4) Recent challenges to the philosophy of science from social constructivist and feminist perspectives.

Requirements: Regular participation in class discussion including at least one presentation of an assigned reading; three short (6-7 pp) papers; a final examination.

Readings: Thomas S. Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (3rd edition), Cover and Curd, Philosophy of Science: The Central Issues, and a course packet of readings.

Thesis Direction (Howard)

Thesis direction for terminating Master’s students.

Non-resident Thesis Direction (Howard)

Thesis direction for terminating Master’s students.

The Question of Laws in Scientific and Ethical Thought 11:45-1:00 MW (Joy)

3 Cr. Hrs. Crosslist: PHIL 674

Graduate Students Only

The concept of laws of nature in modern science not only shapes our thinking about nature, but also structures important inquiries in ethics and metaphysics. But ever since Newton, the concept of laws of nature has been defined in radically different ways, and the very existence of such laws has been questioned. This seminar will begin by considering several influential accounts of laws of nature, including earlier treatments (those of Newton, Hume, Kant) and twentieth-century treatments (those of Lewis, Armstrong, and critics of laws, Cartwright and Van Fraassen). It will then investigate what issues are at stake in a commitment to the coherence and existence of laws of nature. These issues concern the scientific study of nature, ethical inquiry regarding moral responsibility, and metaphysical disagreements about the compatibility of human freedom and causal determinism (e.g., in the work of Fischer/Ravizza and Kane).

Seminar discussion will also address the concerns that divide philosophical naturalists from critics of naturalism (such as Korsgaard and McDowell) who either relativize or reject altogether the explanations of human action in naturalistic terms. It will be argued that neither reductive naturalists nor their critics can afford to ignore the contested status of laws of nature. Even naturalism's critics are committed to concepts of freedom and, in some cases, normativity whose intelligibility rests on unavoidable distinctions between these concepts and the concepts of contested laws.

Requirements: Weekly short discussion papers on the readings; and a longer seminar paper, which must be submitted first as a rough draft and later in revised form at the end of the course.

Philosophy of Space and Time 2:00-3:15 TH (Howard)

 3 Cr. Hrs. Crosslist: PHIL 686

This seminar will address several of the more important contemporary problems in the philosophy of space and time, both from the point of view of conceptual problems in the foundations of physics and from the point of view of systematic metaphysics and epistemology. The seminar will start with a non-technical, but rigorous introduction to current physical conceptions of space and time (both special and general relativity). We will then turn our attention to various specific topics, such as: conventionalism and the structure of spacetime; the "hole" argument in general relativity; causality and spacetime; spacetime substantivalism; space, time, and individuation; temporal becoming; black holes and spacetime singularities. Each member of the seminar will be expected to prepare a presentation to the seminar and to write a term paper on some topic arising from the readings or seminar discussions.

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.