Fall 2010
Title To Be Announced
A historical and philosophical examination of the interaction between science and religion, focussing on evolutionary theory, co-taught with H. Allen Orr.
Spring 2010
Philosophy of Science
A survey course on the metaphysics of science.
Philosophy of Cognitive Science
An introduction to the philosophy of cognitive science. Possible topics include the structure of cognition; theories of mental representation; explanation and reduction in cognitive science; folk psychology and theory of mind; and evolutionary psychology. While not assumed, it is recommended that students first take Philosophy of Mind, Minds and Machines, or at least one class in Brain and Cognitive Sciences.
Fall 2009
Philosophy of Mind »
An overview of the recent history of philosophy of mind, focusing on the relationship between the mind and the physical world.
Philosophy of Mind (Reading Group) »
A reading group run in conjunction with Philosophy of Mind, focusing on questions concerning the nature of belief, content externalism and self-knowledge, and content externalism and psychological explanation.
Philosophy of Biology »
An introduction to philosophy of biology focussing on issues connected with the nature and scope of biological explanations. Possible topics include the nature of fitness, natural selection and drift; whether there are biological laws and if so what form they take; the degree to which evolutionary outcomes are contingent; the varieties of biological explanation; whether there is more than one level of selection; the nature of biological function; and the scope of adaptationist explanations. No prior philosophy of science or biology will be assumed.
Spring 2009
Philosophy of Science »
A survey course on the metaphysics of science.
Reason and Science »
An introduction to the epistemology of science.
Models and Idealisation (Reading Course) »
A reading course on models and idealisation, focusing on their role in explanation and confirmation.
Fall 2008
Philosophy of Mind »
An overview of the recent history of philosophy of mind, focusing on the relationship between the mind and the physical world.
Inference to the Best Explanation and Scientific Realism (Graduate Seminar) »
An examination of inference to the best explanation as it figures in recent debates over scientific realism.
Philosophy of Biology (Reading Course) »
An introductory reading course on philosophy of biology, run in collaboration with Richard E. Glor from the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology division of the Department of Biology.
Spring 2008
Philosophy of Science »
A survey course in general philosophy of science.
Reason and Science »
Issues at the intersection of science and religion, and science and public policy. Including a special guest lecture from H. Allen Orr.
Conditionals and Counterfactuals (Graduate Reading Course)
A reading course on conditionals and counterfactuals, focussing on counterfactuals and the temporal asymmetry of counterfactual dependence.
Fall 2007
Philosophy of Mind »
An overview of the recent history of philosophy of mind, focusing on the relationship between the mind and the physical world. Including a special guest lecture from Jaegwon Kim.
Scientific Explanation (Graduate Seminar) »
A survey of accounts of scientific explanation from the logical positivists to the present, focussing on three interrelated themes:
- The role of laws in explanation;
- Explanation in the special sciences;
- Explanatory asymmetries.
