PHIL 815:  Selected Topics in Formal Studies (Asymptotic Explanation)

Spring Semester 2014 | Day | Burnaby

INSTRUCTOR: Nic Fillion, WMC 4610 (nfillion@sfu.ca)

REQUIRED TEXTS

Articles and notes will be provided by email as we go.  Students should get a copy of Batterman’s The Devil is in the Details and Mark Wilson’s Wandering Significance or have access to the corresponding ebooks.  Excerpts from Corless and Fillion’s Graduate Introduction to Numerical Methods will also be used (but don’t buy it unless you like spending $100)

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course has a twofold objective.  On the one hand, we will seek to further understand the use of mathematics in science – with cases from both the natural and the social sciences — by focussing on the concept of explanation.  Our approach will be based on the now standard (but not entirely uncontroversial) philosophical method of rational reconstruction of the scientific practice in order to isolate the methods of justification that underlie (proper) scientific knowledge.  This being said, students will be introduced to an area of the philosophical literature on science that refrains from idealizing scientific practice to the extent that philosophy of science becomes a fantastic story about “in principle science”.  The problem with such rational reconstructions of the scientific method is that they fail to appreciate the genuinely unavoidable epistemic and computational constraints that undermine a naive approach.  Once one recognizes that the devil is in the details indeed, it becomes essential to examine the methods used in actual science to overcome the epistemic and computational limitations in question.  This is what will lead us to the study of asymptotic explanation.

On the other hand, students will be expected to improve their working knowledge (that is, their “know-how” and not merely their “know-that”) of the use of mathematics in science.  Thus, students will need to study elements of mathematics in the fields of calculus, linear algebra, statistics, numerical analysis, and perturbation theory.  Students will also be asked to learn the programming language Matlab (and maybe Maple), and to typeset their work in LATEX.  Homework assignments with progressively increasing levels of difficulty will be the main pedagogical aid to acquiring these skills.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Grades will be determined as follows:

•  Weekly homework assignments including mathematical and programming problems
• Leading seminar discussions
• Term paper

Students auditing will also be asked to lead some discussions.