Course Unit – Advanced Topics of Epistemology and Philosophy of Science

12 ECTS – 3rd level (PhD Degree)

2021- 2022, 1st Semester

Instructors: Adriana Silva Graça (coord.), Domingos Faria, Davide Romano

Language of Instruction: English

 

Course Description:

Module 1 – Analysis of Knowledge (Adriana Silva Graça)

This model will deal with issues around the analysis of knowledge such as the traditional analysis and the main objections to it. The standard responses --known as internalist and externalist ones-- will be discussed. Finally, philosophical approaches as the virtue epistemology and “knowledge first” will be addressed.

 

Module 2 – Social Epistemology (Domingos Faria)

The module on social epistemology will cover topics related to groups, testimony and disagreement, and their relationship to scientific knowledge. The first topic will be on group knowledge and the debate between summativism and non-summativism. The question that will guide the debate is the following: Is the knowledge of a group (as a scientific team) just the sum of the knowledge of each of its members? The second topic will be on testimonial knowledge and the debate between reductionism and non-reductionism. In this topic we want to know whether or not a receiver needs positive reasons to accept the testimony of a sender. And the last topic will be on peer disagreement and the debate between conciliatory and steadfast views. In particular, we want to discuss the following question: What is the rational reaction to disagreement?

 

Module 3 – Philosophy of Science (Davide Romano)

The module will present and discuss two major approaches to the analysis of scientific knowledge: “falsificationism” by Karl Popper and the notions of “paradigm” and “paradigm shift” by Thomas Kuhn. Kuhn’s notion of scientific revolution will be also illustrated through simple examples from classical and quantum mechanics.

 

Grading and Assessment:

Students are expected to write a final essay (around 4000 words) in one of the modules (40% of the final grade) and to make one written test for each module (60% of the final grade). Depending on the instructors’ choice and on the number of students in class, oral presentations may be included.

 

Readings (selection):

First Module:

R. Audi (2011), Epistemology. A Contemporary Introduction to the Theory of Knowledge. Routledge.

D. Pritchard (2018), What Is This Thing Called Knowledge?. Routledge.

Second Module:

Bird, Alexander. (2014). "When is There a Group that Knows? Distributed Cognition, Scientific Knowledge, and the Social Epistemic Subject". In J. Lackey (Ed.), Essays in Collective Epistemology. Oxford University Press.

Greco, John. (2015). "Testimonial Knowledge and the Flow of Information". In D. Henderson and J. Greco, (eds.), Epistemic Evaluation. Oxford University Press.

Lackey, Jennifer (2010) "A Justificationist View of Disagreement’s Epistemic Significance". In A. Haddock, A. Millar, & D. Pritchard (eds.), Social Epistemology. Oxford University Press.

Third Module:

K. Popper: The Logic of Scientific Discovery, Routledge (2nd edition, 2002)

T. Kuhn: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Univ. of Chicago Press (2012)