Philosophy of Science

By: Jeffrey L. Kasser, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Jeffrey L. Kasser

Length: 18 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

What makes science science? Why is science so successful? How do we distinguish science from pseudoscience? This exciting inquiry into the vigorous debate over the nature of science covers important philosophers such as Karl Popper, W. V. Quine, Thomas Kuhn, Paul Feyerabend, Imre Lakatos, Carl Hempel, Nelson Goodman, and Bas van Fraassen.

These thinkers responded in one way or another to logical positivism, the dominant movement influencing the philosophy of science during the first half of the 20th century - a movement whose eventual demise is an object lesson in how truly difficult it is to secure the logical foundations of a subject that seems so unassailably logical: science.

The philosophy of science can be abstract and theoretical, but it is also surprisingly practical. Science plays a pivotal role in our society, and a rigorous study of its philosophical foundations sheds light on the ideas, methods, institutions, and habits of mind that have so astonishingly and successfully transformed our world.

In the course of these 36 stimulating lectures, you will investigate a wide range of philosophical approaches to science, including empiricism, constructivism, scientific realism, and Bayesianism. You'll also examine such concepts as natural kinds, bridge laws, Hume's fork, the covering-law model, the hypothetico-deductive model, and inference to the best explanation (mistakenly called "deduction" in the Sherlock Holmes stories).

Professor Kasser shows how these and other tools allow us to take apart scientific arguments and examine their inner workings - all the while remaining an impartial guide as you navigate the arguments among different philosophers during the past 100 years.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2006 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2006 The Great Courses

Dense, difficult subject presented well

Any additional comments?

This was the most difficult Great Courses lecture series I've encountered yet. I gave the entire course a second listen and listened for a third or fourth time to several of the later lectures. After all that, I'd at best get a C if I had to take a test.

This is not to say that Professor Kasser does a poor job. He actually does a pretty stunning job of shining a light for the uninitiated on a very deep and fascinating subject. Seriously, it's quite an undertaking. I thoroughly enjoyed it and was surprised and entertained by the breadth of scope.

Exploration, intellectual structure of science

This was an earnest, serious and fair treatment of what sits underneath science. It gave me the desire to look more at the ways I parse my own practice of science.

Excellent Course

Highly recommended to anyone interested in the intersection of philosophy and science. I’ve gone through the course several times and plan to continue to do so.

I would be very interested in a sequel, if at all possible.

Best in Class

Best work available on audio for this subject. Lecturer was pleasant to listen to and very knowledgeable.

Thought Provoking and Interesting

I really enjoyed this, albeit occasionally with a headache. There's a lot to take in, however sitting with it diligently has resulted in multiple breakthroughs in both thought and understanding. The program both answered my philosophy of science questions and had me asking new and better questions.

So much to soak in

It is a great run through of the subject. Great way to gain familiarly with the key ideas and people.

Difficult but worth it

I learned so much that is important to my studies that I have half a mind to find where Kasser teaches and go study with him. But this is not a beginner’s course and I intend to listen to it 2-3 more times to let it sink in. Best listen of the year for sure!

More interesting than I expected

I'm not sure what I expected, but this asks (doesn't answer) the question of 'what is science.'

This lecture series walks through history as it tries to answer that question. How do you formulate what science is that best separates out the science from pseudo-science. (Spoiler:It isn't as easy as it sounds) How do you deal with things like climate science (not mentioned in the lecture) where there is only one and you can't repeat your experiments?

Only for Philosophers and Fundamentalists

I could give an excellent view of what Science is in 15 minutes, but if you listen to this series of lectures YOU WILL HAVE NO IDEA what science is. Lol. So, I will be more careful in future selections, I will NEVER listen to a generic Philosophy of (topic). If you are into philosophical nonsense, you will love it OR if you are a narrow minded Young Earth Fundamentalists who wants to claim "Science is Only another Philosophy" (all the while living and breathing from the greatest intellectual construct and discovery in human history) then you too, will enjoy it.

Broad coverage, well explained '

Well explained, without dumbing down. Doesn’t promote specific positions, although a preference for scientific realism shows through