Review Readings Lederman Ayer Popper Kuhn and Duhem

Review Readings: Lederman, Ayer, Popper, Kuhn and Duhem Film: The Elegant Universe Topics: Logic and demarcation Verifiability (Ayer) Falsifiability (Popper and String Theory) Paradigms (Kuhn) Challenge: Duhem’s holism (to which? )

Review Terminology (areas of analysis/study) Metaphysics: General definition v. Ayer’s Epistemology Value Theory (Aesthetics, Ethics, Social/Political Theory) Logic: the study of inferences/arguments Deduction: Validity and soundness Induction: Strong or weak Crucial tests (“reductio ad absurdum” and “false” dichotomies)

Review What do Ayer and Popper agree about? Disagree about? What do Popper and Kuhn agree about? Disagree about? What do Popper and Duhem disagree about? What do Kuhn and Duhem agree about?

Review Demarcation criteria: What is “verifiability” and who advocate it? What is the difference between “practical verifiability” and “conclusive verifiability”? What is “falsifiability” and who advocates it? What is the difference between “falsified” and “falsifiable in principle”?

Review Demarcation criteria: What is “normal science” and who advocates it as a criterion that distinguishes science from “non-science”? How does Kuhn’s account of “normal science” challenge Popper’s account of science (as opposed to pseudo-science)? Does Kuhn’s account of “normal science” challenge Ayer’s “verifiability” criterion?

Review Demarcation criteria: What are the implications of Duhem’s “Holism” for these other accounts? For Ayer: are individual claims or hypotheses “verifiable” in isolation? Is the determination of what to hold as “verifiable” or “verified” a matter of pure logic and/or of pure experimental results… or is there judgment and/or choice involved?

Review Demarcation criteria: What are the implications of Duhem’s “Holism” for these other accounts? For Popper: are individual claims or hypotheses “falsifiable” in isolation? Is the determination of what to hold “false” a matter of pure logic and/or of pure experimental results… or is there judgment and/or choice involved?

Review Demarcation criteria: ? What are the implications of holism? For Ayer: are individual claims or hypotheses “verifiable” in isolation? Is the determination of what to hold “verified” a matter of pure logic and/or of pure experimental results… or is there judgment and/or choice involved?

Review Demarcation criteria: ? What are the implications of holism? For Kuhn: Does holism help to explain the ways in which scientists hold onto a paradigm… or does it raise critical questions about the Kuhnian thesis that in “normal science, ” scientists don’t question the paradigm when faced with apparent anomalies/falsifications?

Review Cases: The ancient Greeks (Thales et al and Democritus) The Copernican Revolution Darwin’s theory of “natural selection” Freudian theory and Adlerian psychology and Marxism Einstein’s account of gravity v. Newton’s Fermilab and sub-atomic particles Quantum Theory String Theory Planetary “misbehavior”