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Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
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Week 1 |
1/5/2026 |
1/6/2026 |
1/7/2026 |
1/8/2026 |
1/9/2026 |
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Classes
Begin |
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Last
Day of Add/Drop SUNDAY 1/11/26 |
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Assignments
Due |
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Welcome/ Setting the Table |
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Lectures
& Notes |
https://faculty.fiu.edu/~harrisk/Notes/Welcome/Welcome.htm https://faculty.fiu.edu/~harrisk/Notes/Critical%20Thinking/Logic-%20Deduction%20&%20Induction%20.htm Argument Analysis: Argument for Vegetarianism Lecture
1a - How Does Science Give Us Knowledge- The Evolution of Modern Science Lecture
1b - Evolution of Modern Concepts of Knowledge |
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Video
Lectures |
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Canvas
Readings |
Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina of Tuscany, 1615 http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/galileo-tuscany.asp Francis
Bacon Novum Organum (1620) http://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/1432 The New Organon Or True Directions
concerning The Interpretation of Nature (1620) http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/assets/pdfs/bacon1620part1.pdf Philo of Byzantium http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philo_of_Byzantium |
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Week 2 |
1/12/2026 |
1/13/2026 |
1/14/2026 |
1/15/2026 |
1/16/2026 |
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Assignments
Due |
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How
did we get here? |
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Lectures
& Notes |
Lecture
1c - Let’s Get Scientific! Preview of Coming Attractions Lecture
1d - The Standard View- Chapter on Canvas |
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Video
Lectures |
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Canvas
Readings |
Russell’s
“Appearance and Reality” http://www.ditext.com/russell/rus1.html The
Elimination of Metaphysics: Alfred Jules Ayer http://joelvelasco.net/teaching/3330/Ayer-elimmetaphysics.pdf Philosophy Bites Back: can
science do away with philosophy? |
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Week 3 |
1/19/2026 |
1/20/2026 |
1/21/2026 |
1/22/2026 |
1/23/2026 |
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Martin
Luther King Jr. Holiday (No Classes) |
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Last
Day to Apply for Graduation SUNDAY |
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Assignments
Due |
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Induction |
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Lectures
& Notes |
Lecture 2a - Hume’s Problem of Induction Lecture 2b - Recent Problems of Induction (Hempel) |
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Video
Lectures |
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Canvas
Readings |
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Week 4 |
1/26/2026 |
1/27/2026 |
1/28/2026 |
1/29/2026 |
1/30/2026 |
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Assignments
Due |
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Two
Dogmas of Empiricism |
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Lectures
& Notes |
Lecture 3a - Two Dogmas
of Empiricism |
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Video
Lectures |
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Canvas
Readings |
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Week 5 |
2/2/2026 |
2/3/2026 |
2/4/2026 |
2/5/2026 |
2/6/2026 |
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Assignments
Due |
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Causality |
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Lectures
& Notes |
Lecture 4a - An Overview of Causality |
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Video
Lectures |
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Canvas
Readings |
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy - Causality |
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Week 6 |
2/9/2026 |
2/10/2026 |
2/11/2026 |
2/12/2026 |
2/13/2026 |
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Assignments
Due |
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Teleology |
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Lectures
& Notes |
Lecture 5a – Teleology Overview Lecture 5b - The Case Against Teleological Reductionism: Larry Wright |
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Video
Lectures |
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Canvas
Readings |
The Case Against Teleological Reductionism: Larry Wright (jstor) |
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Week 7 |
2/16/2026 |
2/17/2026 |
2/18/2026 |
2/19/2026 |
2/20/2026 |
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Assignments
Due |
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Natural Laws and Explanation in Science |
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Lectures
& Notes |
Lecture 6a - Three Approaches To Explanation In Science Lecture 6b - Natural Law Philosophy of Science Bird
Chapter 1 (Notes) |
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Video
Lectures |
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Canvas
Readings |
What
is a Law of Nature? A.
J. Ayer Revue
Internationale de Philosophie Vol.
10, No. 36 (2) (1956), pp. 144-165 https://www.jstor.org/stable/23936935?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents Theoretical Laws and Theoretical
Concepts: Rudolf Carnap Chapter
23: Theories and Nonobservables http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/carnap.htm The Skeptical Perspective: Science
Without Laws of Nature: Ronald Giere Theoretical
Laws and Theoretical Concepts: Rudolf Carnap Chapter
23: Theories and Nonobservables http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/carnap.htm Scientific
Explanation: Three Basic Conceptions:
Wesley Salmon http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.567.1229&rep=rep1&type=pdf Studies
in the Logic of Explanation: Carl G. Hempel and Paul Oppenheim (JSTOR) http://www.sfu.ca/~jillmc/Hempel%20and%20Oppenheim.pdf The Truth
Doesn't Explain Much: Nancy Cartwright http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/kk3n/philsciclass/cartwrightexp.pdf |
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Week 8 |
2/23/2026 |
2/24/2026 |
2/25/2026 |
2/26/2026 |
2/27/2026 |
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Spring Break (No Classes) |
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Assignments
Due |
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Lectures
& Notes |
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Video
Lectures |
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Canvas
Readings |
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Week 9 |
3/2/2026 |
3/3/2026 |
3/4/2026 |
3/5/2026 |
3/6/2026 |
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Assignments
Due |
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Popper, Kuhn and Scientific Progress |
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Lectures
& Notes |
Lecture 7a - Karl Popper and Falsification Lecture 7b - Thomas Kuhn and the Structure of
Scientific Revolutions |
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Video
Lectures |
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Canvas
Readings |
Truth, Rationality, and the Growth of Scientific Knowledge: Karl R. Popper https://www2.southeastern.edu/Academics/Faculty/jbell/popper.pdf (I, II, III, IV, V, VI, IX, X, XVIII, XIX) Thomas Kuhn and the Structure of Scientific Revolutions https://www.lri.fr/~mbl/Stanford/CS477/papers/Kuhn-SSR-2ndEd.pdf Lecture 7c - Is intelligent design science?
Dissecting the Dover decision https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/2583/1/Methodological_Naturalism_2.pdf Is intelligent design science? Dissecting the Dover decision. |
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Week
10 |
3/9/2026 |
3/10/2026 |
3/11/2026 |
3/12/2026 |
3/13/2026 |
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Assignments
Due |
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Realism and Anti-realism |
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Lectures
& Notes |
Lecture 8a Realism and Anti-realism Lecture 8b Van Fraassen Scientific Realism and Constructive Empiricism |
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Video
Lectures |
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Canvas
Readings |
Experimentation and Scientific Realism: Ian Hacking The Plurality of Science: Patrick Suppes |
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Week
11 |
3/16/2026 |
3/17/2026 |
3/18/2026 |
3/19/2026 |
3/20/2026 |
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Last
Day to Drop with a DR |
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Assignments
Due |
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Observation
Statements vs Theoretical Statements |
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Lectures
& Notes |
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Video
Lectures |
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Canvas
Readings |
Russell’s
“Appearance and Reality” http://www.ditext.com/russell/rus1.html Theoretical Reduction: Carl Hempel |
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Week
12 |
3/23/2026 |
3/24/2026 |
3/25/2026 |
3/26/2026 |
3/27/2026 |
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Assignments
Due |
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Goodman on Nominalism |
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Lectures
& Notes |
Lecture 9a - Goodman on Nominalism |
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Video
Lectures |
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Canvas
Readings |
Scientific Realism: Between
Platonism and Nominalism |
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Week
13 |
3/30/2026 |
3/31/2026 |
4/1/2026 |
4/2/2026 |
4/3/2026 |
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Assignments
Due |
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Lectures
& Notes |
Lecture
10a - Interpretation in Science and in Art |
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Video
Lectures |
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Canvas
Readings |
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Week
14 |
4/6/2026 |
4/7/2026 |
4/8/2026 |
4/9/2026 |
4/10/2026 |
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Assignments
Due |
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A Case Against Scientism |
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Lectures
& Notes |
Lecture 11a - Aristotle’s Revenge Lecture 11b - Short note to student Kamila |
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Video
Lectures |
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Canvas
Readings |
Neil
deGrasse Tyson and the Value of Philosophy Scholastic Metaphysics Chapter 0 PDF on Canvas Scholastic Metaphysics Chapter 1 PDF on Canvas |
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Week
15 |
4/13/2026 |
4/14/2026 |
4/15/2026 |
4/16/2026 |
4/17/2026 |
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Assignments
Due |
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Lectures
& Notes |
Lecture 12a – Mind and Cosmos |
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Video
Lectures |
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Canvas
Readings |
Chapters 1-3 on Canvas |
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Week
16 |
4/20/2026 |
4/21/2026 |
4/22/2026 |
4/23/2026 |
4/24/2026 |
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Final Exam Week |
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Assignments
Due |
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Lectures
& Notes |
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Video
Lectures |
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Canvas
Readings |
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Week
17 |
4/27/2026 |
4/28/2026 |
4/29/2026 |
4/30/2026 |
5/1/2026 |
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Assignments
Due |
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Lectures
& Notes |
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Video
Lectures |
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Canvas
Readings |
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