Philosophy of Science

Pre-requisites: None

Course objectives: To familiarize students with basic viewpoints in contemporary philosophy of science as well as with major critical arguments against them.

Course description: The basic conceptions, arguments and problems of dominant methodological positions in contemporary philosophy of science are discussed with a detailed analysis of the traditional logico-positivist view. Those are: Popper's falsificationism, Kuhn's relativistic position, Feyerabend's epistemological anarchism, Lakatos's methodology of scientific research programmes, Laudan's methodology of research traditions, as well as the so-called strong program of Bloor and Barnes.

Learning Outcomes: It is expected that students acquire basic knowledge and terminology which will allow them further (independent) work in this field.