Philosophy 310
Bryn Mawr College
Spring, 2003
Mondays, 2-4, Guild 210
24 March
Re-Thinking Philosophy of Science?
I. Darwin
Issues
- Science as ongoing change
- Philosophy of science draws from science, and therefore should differ depending on the particular science/period it draws from?
- Popper/Kuhn/etc largely draw from physics from Copernicus to present
Yield issues such as
- essentialism vs relativism
- realism vs constructivism
- non-intentionality vs intentionality
- objectivity vs subjectivity
- Would philosophy of science be different, yield different issues if it reflected different science/period?
An alternative science/period: Darwin (1860) and following (see also Adam Smith)
(Daniel Dennett, Darwin's Dangerous Idea, Chapters 1-3
- transition from essentialist to non-essentialist characterization of kinds of living things
- fundamental historical character to "explanation"
- continuity of inanimate/animate, matter/spirit, non--intentionality/intentionality
- absence of architect/designer
- randomness plus differential survival
- in biological world at least, no Truth?, no Reality?
| Course Home Page
| Course Forum Area
| Science in Culture
| Serendip Home |
Send us your comments at Serendip
© by Serendip 1994-
- Last Modified:
Wednesday, 02-May-2018 10:51:45 CDT