|
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||
|
|
|
Philosophy 203: Scientific Reasoning Table of Contents
The general purpose of this course is to introduce some of the main problems of
inductive logic, including |
|||||||||||||
| 2. What kinds of things are studied? |
Inductive reasoning (scientific reasoning) is the kind of thinking used by Sherlock Holmes in the works by A. Conan Doyle. This kind of reasoning involves the claim, not that reasons give conclusive evidence for the truth of a conclusion, but that they provide some support for it.
A unique feature of the course is the study of some examples of pseudo science such as astrology, Bermuda Triangle, and unexplained phenomena. Other examples studies are taken from Scientific American, American Scientist, Science, Nature, and Science News.
The heart of the course, however, emphasizes the inquiry into the basic methods of inductive or probabilistic inquiry, and the investigation of techniques for solving problems under uncertainty. You will learn some of the most effective methods of inquiry, analysis, and criticism in the fields of the physical, social, and political sciences.
This study of scientific reasoning involves a survey of the methods of induction and experimental inquiry. Classical and contemporary inductive logics are considered with a special emphasis on justification, conditional arguments, testing theoretical hypotheses, causal hypotheses, decision analysis, Mill’s Methods, and the "logic" of scientific discovery.
Providing a rational reconstruction of the methods of science is one of the most difficult areas of research in philosophy and science. Many of the fundamental problems have not yet been satisfactorily solved, and many of these problems appear at an elementary level of the subject. No scientist claims absolute knowledge; the foundations of science change and are reformed as an on-going process as paradigms change. Even though science is only probabilistic knowledge, it is knowledge in a genuine sense. Deductive knowledge, on the other hand, is, in a significant sense, trivial because it relies on the meaning of symbols, words, syntax, and convention.
Although the different sciences you study in college utilize different methodologies of inductive logic (scientific reasoning), the underlying schemata are presupposed by instructors and usually not explicitly formulated for the student. This course provides the skills necessary for understanding the nature, scope, and limits of the methods used in those courses. In sum, Philosophy 203: Scientific Reasoning provides an introduction to the various methodologies of the social and natural sciences.
The class periods are composed, for the most part, of lecture, case studies, simulations, and problem solving.
| 3. Is Introduction to Logic a prerequisite? Does this course fulfill any University requirements? |
This course complements Philosophy 103: Introduction to Logic, but you need not have taken that course to do well in the Scientific Reasoning course. They are entirely independent courses.
Scientific Reasoning fulfills the General Education Core Curriculum requirement for logical and analytical thought for many major fields of study..
| 4. My advisor says this course does not fulfill the Humanities General Elective Requirement. Why not? It's a philosophy course? |
Philosophy 203: Scientific Reasoning and Philosophy 103: Introduction to Logic do not meet the Humanities General elective requirement. The methods used in these courses are appropriately described as logical and analytical rather than humanistic.
Due to the nature of the content of the course, Scientific Reasoning meets the General
Education Core Curriculum requirement for logical and analytical thought.
Send corrections or suggestions to webmaster@philosophy.lander.edu
Read the disclaimer concerning this page.
01.06.05 ã 2001-3 OPL
Arguments | Language | Fallacies | Analogy | Mill | Methods | Discovery | Home
