No course description available.

The unique combination of history and philosophy offered in this course emphasizes education as a process of freedom, diversity, creativity, and perennial growth. The Italian physicist and astronomer Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) was the decisive figure in the rise of modern science. In this course you will learn historical and philosophical skills that will enable you to understand, scholarly evaluate and memorize narratives concerning 1. how Galileo ushered in a new era in astronomy when he aimed a 30-powered telescope at the sky in 1610; 2. how he revolutionized the concept of science when he argued that the book of nature is written in the language of mathematics; 3. how he astounded the theologians, who eventually condemned him to life imprisonment, when he claimed that the scientist’s search for the truth must not be constrained by religious authority; 4. Galileo in the broader intellectual, social, and religious context of early modern Europe. There are no prerequisites.

 

What is our best available evidence for medical phenomena that are still rather poorly understood? And how do we best evaluate this evidence? Picture the three words in the title of this class to form a partially overlapping Venn diagram. Together we will study philosophical, scientific, and historical accounts of whatever falls into their intersection: Phenomena that (1) pertain to medicine, (2) have received considerable scientific attention, and (3) are yet to be well understood and may even strike one as somewhat magical. We will read about medical conditions and remedies, past and present, from placebo effects, psychosomatics, miracle healings, as well as illnesses and cures that would appear to be relative to particular historical, political, cultural, or economic contexts. Besides these readings, the class will be centered around individual student projects. You will get to choose a relevant phenomenon and explore it from various angles throughout the course of the class. I will provide a pool of suitable topics and literature from recent studies of homeopathy to various discarded or controversial mental and physical conditions and diagnoses for you to pick from. You are most welcome to suggest a topic that you found yourself as long as it is medical, scientific, as well as arguably magical. There will be no exams. Instead, there will be a constant and moderate workload in the form of weekly and biweekly assignments pertaining to our readings and your student projects so you can receive continuous feedback on the latter.

No course description available.

No course description available.

No course description available.

No course description available.

 

No course description available.

No course description available.

In this course, we will examine bioethical issues that arise in contemporary medical research and practice through a philosophical lens. We will analyze traditional bioethical dilemmas around: informed consent and medical decision-making, death and dying, race in medicine, pandemics, mental health, and clinical research, among other topics. Students will develop reasoning strategies to support particular decisions and analyze disagreements by identifying the facts, values, concepts and logic that are assumed. This course is part of a core sequence leading to certification in the Conceptual Foundations of Medicine Certificate Program and is a companion course to HPS 0612 (Mind and Medicine) but may be taken independently. 

No course description available.

No course description available.

No course description available.

No course description available.

In this course, we will explore two important traditions in feminist philosophy of science. The first half of the course centers on the work of feminist empiricists who argue against the idea that ‘good science’ cannot be influenced by social or political values. We will evaluate two arguments against the value-free ideal—underdetermination and inductive risk—and ask what implications these accounts have for our understanding of objectivity. In the second half of the course, we will turn to questions raised by standpoint theorists about how a subject’s social location shapes their knowledge, with an eye towards how these questions intersect with those raised in decolonial philosophy of science. Finally, we will ask what it might look like to adopt lessons from feminist philosophy of science in real scientific practice.