ARTS1302: Science: Good, Bad & Bogus: Philosophy of Science

Subject Area: Philosophy
This course can also be studied in the following specialisations: History & Philosophy of Science

What is knowledge? What is truth? What is science? How does science differ from other belief systems and other forms of inquiry? Is ESP real? Why are astrology and 'creationism' widely considered to be pseudo-sciences? Are there other, equally valid forms of knowledge besides the scientific one?Is there a conflict between science and religion? Was the Church of the 17th Century wrong in condemning Galileo? Questions such as these will be raised in this course because they provide an interesting vehicle for raising some of the central problems concerning the nature of science. These problems include the nature of observation and evidence, theories and laws, explanation and prediction, among others.

In this course we will look at a number of major philosophical views concerning the nature of knowledge and justified belief, and the demarcation between scence and non-science - pseudoscience or 'metaphysics'.

A central consideration will be the nature of rational thought and the place of critical inquiry in life including broader implications of a scientific outlook in our lives, especially in the moral, political and educational spheres.