Philosophy of Science — Overview
Course: Philosophy of Science (5354PHSC6Y) — Sep–Oct 2026, Period 1 Programmes: MSc Logic, MSc Physics & Astronomy (+ MSc AI) Credits: 6 EC Coordinator: Sebastian De Haro ([email protected]) Teachers: Enrico Cinti ([email protected]) Tutorials: Luka Vinck ([email protected]), Matteo Fabbri ([email protected]) Textbook: M. Curd & J.A. Cover, Philosophy of Science: The Central Issues, Norton (2013) Exam: Written (50%), Monday 2026-10-19 09:00–11:00, SP C0.110. Min mark 5.5 required to pass Lectures: Tuesdays 15:00–16:45, SP L1.08 Seminars/tutorials: Thursdays 11:00–12:45, SP L0.06
Assessment
| Component | Weight | Deadline | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Project proposal | n/a | Fri 2026-09-25 20:00 (Canvas) | Gate for the research project |
| Presentation | 20% | Given Thu 2026-10-15, SP L0.06, session 10:00–13:00, Stanislaw’s slot 12:00–12:15; slides to Luka by Wed 2026-10-14 night, Canvas upload by Sun 2026-10-18 20:00 | Mandatory, no remote option. 10 minutes, strictly cut off, + 5 minutes Q&A |
| Paper | 30% | Draft Sun 2026-10-18 20:00; final Sat 2026-10-31 20:00 (Canvas) | Research project paper |
| Exam | 50% | Mon 2026-10-19 09:00–11:00, SP C0.110 | Minimum 5.5 required |
The slide deadline falls after the talk
Canvas wants the slides on Sunday 18 October, three days after the presentation on Thursday 15 October. The upload is bookkeeping; the slides have to be finished for the 15th.
Flashcards
PhilSci - Flashcards collects every lecture’s flashcards for drilling before the exam. Each lecture note also ends with its own set (every lecture except L03b, which is not examinable).
All lecture notes were rewritten on 2026-10-12 and 13 to be read once instead of attending the lecture, and each was reviewed by independent reviewers. The official mock exam with answers is in Assets/Mock Exam_with Answers.pdf; every note’s mock questions match it.
Objectives
- Acquire knowledge of central debates in contemporary philosophy of science at master’s level
- Skills: handle primary literature, present a text (possibly collaboratively), debate at academic level, concisely represent a text in short writing
- Attitude: critically reflect upon scientific knowledge from a meta-perspective; approach texts analytically
Course Content
- Theory vs Evidence: Logical empiricism, induction, prediction, evidence
- Kuhn: Philosophy of science, scientific revolutions
- Scientific Realism Debate: No-miracles argument, constructive empiricism, pessimistic meta-induction, inference to the best explanation, structural realism
- Duhem-Quine Thesis: Underdetermination
- Explanation and Understanding
- Laws of Nature
Weekly Programme
Tutorials
PhilSci - Tutorials holds every tutorial discussion question with an answer, plus the full course plan from tutorial 1, which is more complete than anything else published on Canvas.
Standing times and rooms, confirmed from MyTimetable, synced 2026-09-16
- Lecture: Tuesdays 15:00–16:45, SP L1.08. Remaining: 6 Oct, 13 Oct. Mostly De Haro; lectures 4 (22 Sep) and 5 (flipped, 29 Sep) were given by Enrico Cinti
- Seminar / tutorial: Thursdays 11:00–12:45, SP L0.06. Luka Vinck for weeks 1 to 4; week 5 is announced as Matteo (Fabbri). Remaining: 8 Oct
- Group presentation: Thursday 2026-10-15, 10:00–12:45, SP L0.06. Note the 10:00 start, an hour earlier than the usual seminar slot
- Exam: Monday 2026-10-19, 09:00–11:00, SP C0.110
Week 1 (Calendar 36): What is Science? / Logical Empiricism
| Session | Material | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Lecture 1 | PhilSci-L01 - Introduction and Logical Empiricism | Introduction and logical empiricism |
| Lecture 1b | PhilSci-L01b - Popper and Lakatos | Falsification and research programmes. Worth 20 marks on the mock exam |
| Reading | Pages | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Carnap — The Elimination of Metaphysics | Canvas | |
| Godfrey-Smith — Logic Plus Empiricism | Canvas | |
| Popper — Science: Conjectures and Refutations | pp. 3–10 | Curd & Cover |
| Friedman — Carnap and Heidegger | Canvas | |
| Galison — Modernism | Canvas | |
| Richardson — Origins of Logical Empiricism | Canvas |
Week 2 (37): Kuhn on Scientific Progress
| Session | Material | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Lecture 2 | Kuhn on scientific practice | Complete lecture note |
| Reading | Pages | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Lakatos — Science and Pseudoscience | pp. 20–26 | Curd & Cover |
| Kuhn — The Nature and Necessity of Scientific Revolutions | pp. 79–93 | Curd & Cover |
| Longino — Values and Objectivity | pp. 144–164 | Curd & Cover |
Week 3 (38, 14–18 Sep): The Duhem-Quine Thesis
Seminar: Thu 17 Sep 11:00–12:45, SP L0.06. No Tuesday lecture, the lecture was flipped. Flipped classroom: the 15 Sep session was the flipped classroom. The pre-recorded lecture video, Flipped classroom - Under-determination.mp4, plus the slide deck stood in for the live lecture.
Canvas carries two week-3 decks, both uploaded 2026-09-15, and both are now processed. The under-determination deck was revised and renamed 3 ... to 3a ...; the revision was purely additive, appending two slides, and both are folded into the L03 note. The second deck is new and has its own note.
| Session | Material | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Lecture 3 | PhilSci-L03 - Under-determination | Rewritten for reading 2026-10-13 and reviewed. Covers Laudan’s two theses and Quine on the common core |
| Lecture 3b | PhilSci-L03b - GenAI, Writing and Philosophical Learning | Second half of the same session. Course policy on AI use, which governs the paper and the presentation |
| Reading | Pages | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Quine — On Empirically Equivalent Systems of the World | pp. 324 (last para) to 326 (first para) excluded | Library |
| Laudan — Demystifying Underdetermination | pp. 288–320 | Curd & Cover |
| Duhem — Physical Theory and Experiment (optional) | pp. 227–249 | Curd & Cover |
Week 4 (39, 21–25 Sep): Explanation and Understanding
Lecture: Tue 22 Sep 15:00–16:45, SP L1.08. Seminar: Thu 24 Sep 11:00–12:45, SP L0.06.
| Session | Material | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Lecture 4 | PhilSci-L04 - Scientific Explanation and Understanding | Hempel’s D-N model and its objections, causal and unification alternatives, van Fraassen; De Regt and Dieks on understanding. Mock exam question 7 |
| Tutorial 4 | PhilSci - Tutorials | Godfrey-Smith on explanation, De Regt and Dieks on understanding, every question answered |
| Due | Project proposal, Fri 25 Sep 20:00 | Canvas |
| Reading | Pages | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Godfrey-Smith — Explanation | Canvas | |
| De Regt & Dieks — A Contextual Approach to Scientific Understanding | Library | |
| De Jong & De Haro — Technological Understanding (optional) | Library |
Week 5 (40, 28 Sep–2 Oct): Scientific Realism
Flipped classroom: the lecture was pre-recorded (uploaded 24 Sep) and the Tue 29 Sep slot was a Zoom discussion, not held in SP L1.08. Seminar: Thu 1 Oct 11:00–12:45, SP L0.06.
| Session | Material | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Lecture 5 | PhilSci-L05 - Scientific Realism and its Critiques | Semantic, epistemic and metaphysical realism; no-miracles argument and IBE; van Fraassen’s constructive empiricism; Laudan’s pessimistic meta-induction. Mock exam question 8 is on this week’s readings |
| Tutorial 5 | Not yet on Canvas | Slides for the 1 Oct tutorial (Matteo Fabbri) had not been uploaded as of 2026-10-05 |
| Reading | Pages | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Van Fraassen — Arguments Concerning Scientific Realism | pp. 1060–1082 | Curd & Cover |
| Musgrave — Realism vs Constructive Empiricism | pp. 1083–1107 | Curd & Cover |
| Laudan — A Confutation of Convergent Realism | pp. 1108–1128 | Curd & Cover |
Week 6 (41, 5–9 Oct): Scientific Realism 2
Lecture: Tue 6 Oct 15:00–16:45, SP L1.08. Seminar: Thu 8 Oct 11:00–12:45, SP L0.06.
| Session | Material | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Lecture 6 | PhilSci-L06 - Scientific Realism and the Pessimistic Meta-Induction | Enrico Cinti, “Replies to the PMI”: scorecard of the realism arguments; mature-theories reply, Kitcher on reference, Psillos’ selective confirmation, structural realism; Stanford’s historicist critique; De Haro’s extensional scientific realism (the aether refers); Worrall’s structural realism |
| Reading | Pages | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Psillos — Resisting the Pessimistic Induction (1999, ch. 5) | Canvas, in Assets/ | |
| Stanford — ‘Atoms Exist’ Is Probably True, And Other Facts That Should Not Comfort Scientific Realists | the whole paper | Library |
| De Haro — An Extensional Scientific Realism (I): The Continuity of Extensions (optional, draft) | Canvas, in Assets/ |
Syllabus correction, 2 Oct
The syllabus first listed section numbers against the Stanford paper. Those belong to the Chen reading in week 7. Stanford is read in full. The corrected syllabus replaced the old one in
Assets/.
Week 7 (42, 12–16 Oct): Laws of Nature
Lecture: Tue 13 Oct 15:00–16:45, SP L1.08, last lecture. Presentation: Thu 15 Oct 10:00–12:45, SP L0.06.
| Session | Material | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Lecture 7 | PhilSci-L07 - Laws of Nature | Enrico Cinti, 13 Oct: laws vs accidental generalisations, counterfactuals, nomological necessity, determinism, Maudlin, Humean (Lewis’s best systems) vs non-Humean (Armstrong, primitivism, dispositions). Reading: Chen, Laws of Physics, sections 1-2.4, 3.1-3.2, 4.1-4.3; optional Carroll, Laws of Nature |
| Presentation | Thu 2026-10-15, 10:00–13:00, SP L0.06 | Mandatory, no remote option, 20% of the final grade. Nine talks in random order, 10 min + 5 min Q&A each, strict. Stanislaw: 12:00–12:15, after the second break. Every group member must contribute substantially. Criteria and evaluation form under Canvas Files. Graded by De Haro and Luka Vinck |
| Due | Project draft and presentation slides | Sunday 2026-10-18 20:00 on Canvas |
Week 8 (43, 19–23 Oct): Exam
| Session | Material | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Exam | Written exam, Monday 2026-10-19, 09:00–11:00, SP C0.110. Hard gate: minimum 5.5 regardless of other marks |
Source material
Every PhilSci deck on Canvas is now in Assets/ and processed into a note. Checked 2026-09-24, and again 2026-10-05 when the week 5 deck was added. On the same date every lecture note was re-checked page by page against its deck and corrected where it had drifted (L01 and L02 were the ones with real gaps).
| Canvas file | Uploaded | Status |
|---|---|---|
1 Introduction and Logical Empiricism.pdf | 2026-09-01 | PhilSci-L01 - Introduction and Logical Empiricism |
Week 1 - Popper and Lakatos.pdf | 2026-09-01 | PhilSci-L01b - Popper and Lakatos |
2 Kuhn on Scientific Practice.pdf | 2026-09-08 | PhilSci-L02 - Kuhn on Scientific Practice |
3a Under-determination_online.pdf | 2026-09-15 | PhilSci-L03 - Under-determination, updated against the revision |
3b GenAI.pdf | 2026-09-15 | PhilSci-L03b - GenAI, Writing and Philosophical Learning |
4 Scientific Explanation and Scientific Understanding.pdf | 2026-09-24 | PhilSci-L04 - Scientific Explanation and Understanding |
5 Scientific Realism.pdf + FlippedClassroom - Scientific Realism.mov (47 min, transcribed, not stored) | 2026-09-28 / 2026-09-24 | PhilSci-L05 - Scientific Realism and its Critiques |
ScientificRealismFlippedClassroom.pdf (discussion questions) | 2026-09-29 | Answered in PhilSci-L05 - Scientific Realism and its Critiques |
6 Scientific Realism - Pessimistic Meta-Induction.pdf (38 pages, in Assets/) | 2026-10-07 | PhilSci-L06 - Scientific Realism and the Pessimistic Meta-Induction |
Tutorial slides weeks 1 to 4 (.pptm) | 2026-09-03 to 2026-09-24 | PhilSci - Tutorials |
What the 3a revision actually changed
Nothing was altered or removed. Two slides were appended: “Additional questions” on Laudan’s non-uniqueness versus egalitarian UD theses, and “On the idea of a common core” with two Quine quotations from pp. 323-324. Both are now in L03.
The four tutorial decks are now all in Assets/ as well. The week 2 deck was checked against PhilSci - Tutorials on 2026-09-24 and matches.
Key Deadlines
| Date | What |
|---|---|
| Fri 2026-09-25 20:00 | Project proposal due (Canvas) |
| Wed 2026-10-14, night | Presentation slides to Luka (email or Canvas) |
| Thu 2026-10-15, 12:00–12:15 | Presentation (session 10:00–13:00), SP L0.06. Mandatory, 20%, 10 min hard stop + 5 Q&A |
| Sun 2026-10-18 20:00 | Project draft due (Canvas) |
| Sun 2026-10-18 20:00 | Presentation slides due (Canvas) |
| Mon 2026-10-19 09:00–11:00 | Exam, SP C0.110 |
| Sat 2026-10-31 20:00 | Final paper due (Canvas) |
Project Guidelines
See the Project Description PDF and Proposal Guidelines PDF in Assets/.
Resource Files
- Syllabus (PDF)
- Project Description (PDF)
- Proposal Guidelines (PDF)
- Course Timeline (Image)
PDF Readings
- Carnap — Elimination of Metaphysics (PDF)
- Friedman — Carnap and Heidegger (PDF)
- Galison — Modernism (PDF)
- Richardson — Origins of Logical Empiricism (PDF)
- Godfrey-Smith — Logic Plus Empiricism (PDF)
- Godfrey-Smith — Explanation (PDF)
- Psillos — Resisting the Pessimistic Induction (PDF, week 6)
- De Haro — Extensional Scientific Realism I, draft (PDF, week 6 optional)