Philosophy of Science, 3 cr

The course is an introduction to the central themes in the philosophy of science. In the philosophy of science, rational critical inquiry is directed towards science itself. Among the pivotal questions in the philosophy of science are for example the following: What is science? What distinguishes science from non-science? How do the various fields of science differ from each other? How certain can scientific knowledge be? What does scientific inference consist of? What is the relation between science and values? The course introduces the main concepts, issues, and schools of thought in the philosophy of science, focusing on problems, their motivations and possible solutions. Final answers to the philosophical questions are not given; the purpose of the course is to provide the doctoral researcher with points of view from which to better understand science and their own field of expertise within it. The course does not presuppose prior knowledge of philosophy.

Course themes include:

• The nature of science and scientific research, the classification of the sciences

• Scientific inference

• The relation between theory and observation

• Scientific realism and anti-realism

• The development and progress of science

• The difference between the natural and the human sciences

• Value freedom and the role of values in science