Sahotra Sarkar

LOGICAL EMPIRICISM

Prerequisites

Graduate Standing and Consent of Graduate Advisor or instructor required.

Course Description

This seminar will be an introduction to the philosophy of science--intended to prepare students for further coursework and research--through a close critical look at logical empiricism (in particular, Carnap) and its critics. After a short look at the philosophical and scientific background of the logical empiricist movement and at the history of the Vienna Circle, particular attention will be paid to that movement’s contributions to the philosophy of logic and mathematics, analyses of the structure of scientific theories and explanations, claims about ontology, attempts at constructing a formal epistemology of science, and account of the nature of scientific change. The logical empiricists read during the seminar will include Schlick, Neurath, Reichenbach, Hempel, and Nagel (besides Carnap). The empiricist theses that will be examined will include: (i) the rejection of metaphysics; (ii) conventionalism regarding logic and ontology; (iii) the logicist interpretation of mathematics; (iv) semantics as a foundation for logic; (iv) a sharp distinction between the analytic and the synthetic; (v) the instrumentalist interpretation of scientific theories; (vi) the logical interpretation of probability; and (vii) the possibility of a formal epistemology that captures the historical development of science. The differences between the logical empiricists with respect to these theses will be noted in order to emphasize the openness of mind and high critical standards and logical rigor that they brought to philosophy. The external critics of logical empiricism discussed in this seminar will include Popper, Feyerabend, Kuhn and Quine. Finally, an attempt will be made to assess the legacy of logical empiricism in epistemology, the philosophy of language and the philosophy of science.

Grading

One term paper due at the end of the semester.

Texts

Readings will be available on Blackboard.

This is a course on environmental philosophy with a focus on environmental ethics but also treating epistemological issues. Much of the course will be a survey of major problem areas including intrinsic and instrumental value of environmental features, decision analysis, animal rights, biodiversity, restoration, sustainability, environmental justice, and climate change. The emphasis will be on using locally pertinent case studies to analyze philosophical problems arising from environmental concerns.

Readings: 

These are in the order in which they will be treated in class. Unless explicitly indicated otherwise, all readings are available on Blackboard.

Ferry, L. 1995. The New Ecological Order. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Darnton, R. 1984. The Great Cat Massacre, and Other Episodes in French Cultural History. New York: Basic Books.

Sarkar, S. 2009. Environmental Philosophy. Book mss.

McShane, K. 2007. "Why Environmental Ethics Shouldn't Give Up on Intrinsic Value." Environmental Ethics 29: 43 -61.

Soulé, M. E. 1985. What is Conservation Biology? BioScience 35:727 –734.

Solow, R. M. 1993. “Sustainability: An Economist’s Perspective.” In Dorfman, R. and Dorfman, N. S. Eds. Economics of the Environment. New York: W. W. Norton, pp. 179 -187.

Norton, B. G. and Toman, M. A. 1997. “Sustainability: Ecological and Economic Perspectives.” Land Economics 73: 553 -568

Martinez-Alier, J. “The Environment as a Luxury Good or 'Too Poor to Be Green'?” Ecological Economics  13: 1 -10.

More texts will be added as the semester progresses.

Requirements:

1. Each Tuesday, before class begins, students are required to turn in 10 typed questions raised by all of that week’s readings. These are worth 10 % of the final grade.
2. There will be three in-class open-book examinations, each worth 20 % of the grade. Please bring your own blue book and use the same book for all three examinations.
3. One 1 200-word typed paper will be due on 29 April 2010 and will be worth 30 % of the grade; or a (joint) project report must be delivered on 29 April or 4 May 2010 and will be worth 30 % of the grade. Possible paper and report topics will be uploaded on Blackboard.

This course will examine the growth and development of science in modern times
through the history of certain crucial debates and breakthroughs that have taken place
since the beginnings of modern science in the 17th century. Topics considered will
include: what is the nature of science? Does it have a distinctive method (or methods)
that distinguish it from other forms of inquiry? What are its criteria of truth? Can science
ever achieve certainty, and if not, does it have any distinctive claims on our belief, and if
so why? What are the mechanisms of scientific progress and change? How does science
relate to, and differ from, other forms of intellectual inquiry?