Lecturer
Recommended Reading
Petros Metafas, Philosophy, History and Sociology of Sciences, University of Patras 2016.
Michel Blay & Efthymios Nicolaïdis (eds.) L’Europe des sciences: Constitution d’un éspace scientifique, Paris: Seuil 2001.
Steven Shapin, The Scientific Revolution, University of Chicago Press 1998.
Alan F.Chalmers, What is this thing called Science?, University of Queensland Press, Hackett 1999.
Ian Hacking, Representing and Intervening, Introductory Topics in the Philosophy of Natural Science, Cambridge University Press 1983.
A.C. Crombie, Augustine to Galileo (2 volumes), Heinemann Educational Books 1979.
Course Description
History and Philosophy of Physical Sciences
Contents: 1st Unity
(1) From classical Empiricism to Logical Positivism (‘Vienna Circle’, 1920-1930).
(2) The transition to the ‘historicistic turn’ (1960’s decade).
(3) Characteristics of scientific research and methods, it’s aims. Distinction between sciences and pseudosciences.
(4) The history of ideas on ‘scientific method’. Induction. Falsificationism.
(5) Philosophical views on scientific ‘change’ and scientific ‘progress’. Rationalism. Relativism.
(6) Scientific realism vs. anti-realism debate. In the laboratory. Theory and observation.
(7) Some aspects of ‘Continental Philosophy of Science’.
2nd Unity
(1) Ancient Greece. Physical philosophy of Aristotle.
(2) First Medieval Universities. European physical sciences in the Middle Ages.
(3) The history and significance of ‘Scientific Revolution’ in Western Europe. Sciences and Enlightenment.
(4) Historiographical elements: for the history of history of science. Cultural and Social History of Sciences.
(5) From ‘History and Philosophy of Science’ to ‘Science and Technology Studies’.
(6) The sociology of scientific knowledge. Contemporary debates over ‘Social Studies of Science’. ‘Gender and Science’.
