PHL2115

Making knowledge: modern scientific controversies

(ART)

Professor Homer Le Grand

6 points + 2 hours per week + Second semester + Clayton + Prerequisites: 12 points in Philosophy, History or Social Sciences, or 18 points in Science at any level

Synopsis: The analysis of controversies over knowledge claims in science - claims about data, instruments, techniques, theories and world-views - reveals the provisional, revisable and dynamic character of scientific knowledge. This often results in controversies within one or more disciplines, the resolution of which may be the inclusion, removal or modification of what is accepted by the scientific community as valid knowledge. Student will gain a familiarity with several competing interpretations of this process and how these may be applied to a range of past and present controversies drawn primarily but not exclusively from the earth sciences. www.arts.monash.edu.au/phil/undergraduate/

Assessment: Five tutorial exercises (1500 words): 30% + Essay (1500 words): 25% + Essay (2000 words): 45%