Philosophy of the Sciences: meeting 1

DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY THE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG (Main Building, 3rd floor) Philosophy of the Sciences lecturer: Professor Tim Moore Introductory lecture 18 September 1997

What is science ? Where does knowledge come from ?
Objectives of the course; arrangements for the course; what you should do.
Outline of the first part of the course: you will help to determine the topics of the second part.
What is the role of philosophy ?
Two examples:

Achilles and the Tortoise

The problem of "the grue emeralds"

If you think that problems like this are just play, you are right in one way, because it can be fun and exciting to find or think about them, but wrong in another, because they raise important questions about our knowledge of the world. We shall look at some of those questions in this course.

exercise: try to find a solution of your own, by thinking about it and/or discussing it, to the problem of the "grue emeralds".

GO BACK TO THE COURSE OUTLINE

FCTM
17 September 1997