Dr. G. A. Cook

                                                                                                Dr. M. E. Deutsch

                                                                                                Professor L. Goldstein

                                                                                               

DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY

THE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG

SEMESTER I 2003-04

PHIL 2130: PHILOSOPHY OF THE SCIENCES

 

Meeting time: TTh 11:40 am-12:30 pm

Place: MB 122

 

September 9: Thought Experiments in Science

AC, LG, ME

 

September 11: Thought Experiments in Science

LG

 

September 16 and 18: The Demarcation Problem

MD

 

September 23 through October 2: Early-modern philosophy of science

AC

 

October 7 and 9: The Problem of Induction

MD

 

October 14: Creationist challenge to evolutionary theory

LG

 

October 16

First Quiz

 

October 20 to 25

Reading Week

 

October 28 and 30: Creationist challenge to evolutionary theory

LG

 

November 4 and 6: Scientific Explanation

MD

 

November 11 and 13: Taxonomy, or why classification matters:

AC

November 18 and 20

Review Period – no lectures

 

November 25

Question and Answer Session

AC, LG, MD

 

November 27

Second Quiz

 

December 11

Essay due

 

Coursework: This is a “100% coursework” class.  Your grade in the class will be based entirely on the following:

 

(a)   Your written work--You will write one 5-6-page paper.  It will count for

30% of your course grade.

 

(b)   Your performance on examinations--There will be two quizzes; each will count for 25% of your course grade. 

 

(c) Your participation in tutorials and in lectures--You are required to attend tutorial meetings (to be scheduled later).  On occasion, there will be short assignments associated with your tutorial meetings.  We expect all of you to participate by asking questions concerning, raising objections against, and offering interpretations of, the arguments and ideas we will be discussing in this course.  We expect this participation both in your tutorial meetings and during lecture periods.  Your participation in tutorial and lecture will be assessed and will count for 20% of your course grade.  (Note: To participate properly you must make sure to do all of the assigned reading, and you must make sure to do it before the class period during which it will be discussed.  If you come to class unprepared, the quality of your participation will suffer.)

 

Plagiarism: Unacknowledged use of another's work constitutes plagiarism.  Plagiarism will not be tolerated in this course.  To avoid it, see Dr. Cook’s handout “Writing Document II” on referencing; and the document “Plagiarism and How to Avoid it” at: http://ec.hku.hk/plagiarism/.