HPS 100: Intro to History & Philosophy of Science
Step 1: Choose ONE topic from the options below (on page two of these guidelines). These topics and their corresponding questions are meant to be broad enough for you to formulate your own viewpoint through a critical analysis of the relevant text.
Step 2: Examine your chosen selection closely. Answer the posed questions in an essay format (500-750 words). In your paper, you should explain the author’s claim and argument, the significance of the subject for course themes, as well as formulate your own viewpoint
Essay Topics:
Topic A: In Book 1, Part iii, section 6 of his Treatise on Human Nature, David Hume writes,
“If reason determined us, it would proceed upon that principle, that instances, of which we have had no experience, must resemble those, of which we have had experience, and that the course of nature continues always uniformly the same.”
What does Hume mean by this? What role does this play in the problem of induction? Try to reconstruct Hume’s argument as clearly as possible and, in doing so, explain why this problem is relevant for science. Finally, what is the best response to this problem, in your view, and why?
Topic B: In Chapter 3 of his book, Theory and Reality, Peter Godfrey-Smith writes,
“Some readers might think that if we observe a large number of black ravens and no nonblack ones, then at least we are cutting down the number of ways in which the hypothesis that all ravens are black might be wrong. As we see each raven, there is one less raven that might fail to fit the theory. So, in some sense, the chance that the hypothesis is true should be slowly increasing. But this does not help much.”
What does Godfrey-Smith mean by this? What is the so-called Ravens paradox? Try to reconstruct the problem as clearly as possible and, in doing so, explain why it presents a problem for scientific inquiry. Finally, what is the best response to this problem, in your view, and why?
Topic C: On page 101 of his chapter, “How was it known?”, Steven Shapin writes,
“The artificial effects of the air pump counted as matters of fact about nature. Experimental facts testified to a unitary order of nature that was causally responsible for those facts. The facts of the air pump were visible or tangible, whereas the causes they testified to were not accessible to the senses. How then was it proper to move from the one to the other?”
What does Shapin mean by ‘matters of fact’ here? How can one reason by moving from observable effects to their causes? Drawing on the assigned reading by David Hume (Book 1, part iii, section 6 of A Treatise of Human Nature), explain why this problem is relevant for science. Finally, what is the best response to this problem, in your view, and why?
