Courses

In recent years, a number of philosophers have argued that there is a class of sciences, the historical sciences, which not only differ from the experimental sciences by being non experimental but which share a core of philosophical attributes-ontological, epistemological, methodological, and representational in naturethat allows them to be grouped together as sciences of a different kind. Many also argue these historical sciences are no lesser sciences for their substantial differences from the experimental sciences. The goal of the course is to introduce students to these discussions and enable them to take a reasoned standpoint concerning them. For this purpose, we will look in some detail at philosophical questions and debates surrounding historical sciences such as historiography, archaeology, evolutionary biology, and paleontology, as well as discussions in general philosophy of science, which traditionally has put most of its focus on the experimental natural sciences.