This course has two components.  The first is an introduction to the major issues in the philosophy of science, including: scientific explanation, hypothesis testing and confirmation, the relation between theory and observation, theoretical underdetermination, and the rationality of paradigm changes.  The second component is an introduction to issues in the foundations of quantum mechanics, including determinism, the double-slit and EPR experiments, Bell's theorem, the measurement problem, and interpretations of quantum mechanical formalism.  

Required Prerequisite: Introduction to Philosophy or permission of instructor. Helpful Prerequisites: Introductory Logic, Conceptual Physics or General Physics I, any other science course.

Course Texts

Syllabus [PDF]     Reading Guides [PDF]     Examinations [PDF]

Supplemental Readings

Carl G. Hempel and Paul Oppenheim, Studies in the Logic of Explanation
[PDF via JSTOR]

Nancy Cartwright, The Truth Doesn't Explain Much, Chapter 2 of How the Laws of Physics Lie [PDF] 


Pierre Duhem, Excerpt from The Aim and Structure of Physical Theory [PDF]

Peter Lipton, The Ravens Revisited [PDF]

Bas van Fraassen, To Save the Phenomena [PDF via JSTOR]


James Robert Brown, Explaining the Success of Science, Chapter 5 of Smoke and Mirrors [PDF] 


Paul Thagard, The Best Explanation: Criteria for Theory Choice [PDF via JSTOR]


Thomas Kuhn, The Route to Normal Science, Chapter 2 of The Structure of Scientific Revolutions [PDF] 

Robert Stern, Coherence as a Test for Truth [PDF]

Peter Godfrey-Smith, Excerpt from Bayesianism and Modern Theories of Evidence, Chapter 14 of Theory and Reality [PDF]


Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen, Can Quantum-Mechanical Description of Reality Be Considered Complete? [PDF]


Guy Vandegrift, Bell's Theorem and Psychic Phenomena [PDF via JSTOR]

Handouts

None at the moment.

Links

Phil Sci Archives - electronic archive for preprints in the philosophy of science

Selective Bibliography of the Philosophy of Science (to 1998) 

Homepages for Philosophers of Physics  

Peter Godfrey-Smith, Philosophy of Science [via Philosophy Talk]

Cardall and Daunt, The Universe of Aristotle and Ptolemy

Henri Poincare, Science and Hypothesis (1905)

Dr Quantum - Double Slit Experiment [YouTube] 

Sean Carroll and David Albert, Problems in Quantum Mechanics [via bloggingheads.tv]

Walter Lewin - Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle with a Laser [YouTube] 

BBC - Quantum Mechanics (History, EPR, and Electronics) [YouTube]