Philosophy 2330:
Science and Society
Fall, 2021

Professor Joel Velasco
Office: 251C (Eng/phil building)
Office Hours: M, W, F 12-1:00 or by appointment

Class meets T, Th, 11:00-12:20 (in Phil 164)

All of the boilerplate information such as course policies and the grading scheme can be found on the syllabus. The readings for the course are below.

Syllabus

Required Books:

Religion and the Sciences of Origins: Historical and Contemporary Discussions by Kelly James Clark. Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.

Why Trust Science? by Naomi Oreskes. Princeton University Press, 2019.

All class assignments and any other readings will be found on this website. You should check this website reguarly for updates and bring copies of the assigned readings to class. All readings should be done before the date they are listed here. Come to class on that day prepared to discuss them.

This is a tentative schedule/reading list:

Week 1 -

Tue, 8/24
- Introduction
Thur, 8/26
- Okasha, Ch 1 of Philosophy of Science: A Very Short Introduction
- Gould, NOMA defined and defended
- Dawkins, You can't have it both ways: Irreconcilable differences?
Extras
- Concepcion, How to read philosophy (the appendix especially)
- Popper, Conjectures and Refutations (short version)
- Popper, Conjectures and Refutations (all of chapter 1)
- Gould, Nonoverlapping Magisteria

Week 2 -

Tue, 8/31
- Clark, Religion and the Sciences of Origins Ch 1, Ch 2
Thur, 9/2
- Clark, Ch 3
Extras:
- Russell, The Conflict of Science and Religion
- Atkins, The Limitlessness of Science

Week 3 -

Tue, 9/7
- short essay #1 due (example essay on a different, but similar, assignment)
- DeWitt, The Ptolemaic System (ch 13 from Worldviews)
- You tube video of retrograde motion
Thur, 9/9
- Singham, The Copernican Myths
- DeWitt, The Copernican System (ch 14 from Worldviews)
Extras:
- DeWitt, Worldviews: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science (chapters 9-12) - Blackboard
- Aaber, What every young person ought to know about naked-eye astronomy (ch 0 of Episodes from the Early History of Astronomy)
- Excerpts from Kuhn, The Copernican Revolution (the problem of the planets)
- Excerpts from Kuhn, The Copernican Revolution (Copernican astronomy - the sun)

Week 4 -

Tue, 9/14
- DeWitt, Galileo and the Evidence from the Telescope
- Clark Ch 4
- Bellarmine, Letter to Foscarini
- Galileo, Letter to Grand Duchess Christina
Thur, 9/16
Extras:
- PBS Nova documentary, Galileo's Battle for the Heavens
- Lindberg, Galileo, the Church, and the Cosmos
- Gingerich, Truth in Science: Proof, Persuasion, and the Galileo Affair
- Gingerich, The Galileo Affair
- McMullin, Galileo on Science and Scripture

Week 5 -

Tue, 9/21
- Class time (11-12:20) at the TTU Science Museum
- LCG time (4-5:20) - read Halvorson, Why Methodological Naturalism?
Thur, 9/23
- Plantinga, When Faith and Reason Clash: Evolution and the Bible
Extras:
- Published dialogue on Plantinga's Faith and Reason paper
- Plantinga, Methodological Naturalism
- McDonald and Tro, In Defense of Methodological Naturalism
- Biologos - on interpreting Genesis (theistic evolution account)
- Biologos - on the Flood (theistic evolution account)
- Answers in Genesis - on Genesis (young earth creationism account)

Week 6 -

Tue, 9/28
- short essay #2 due
- Clark Ch 5
- Slides for class today and Thur (no need to look at these ahead of time)
Thur, 9/30
- Clark Ch 6
- Dobzhansky, Nothing in Biology makes sense except in the light of evolution
- Dilley, Nothing in Biology makes sense except in the light of Theology?
Extras:
- Paley, from Natural Theology
- All of the Origin of Species
- Joel's second debate with Paul Nelson (of the Discovery Institute) about common ancestry
- Gish, Creation, evolution, and the historical Evidence
- Nelson, The role of theology in current evolutionary reasoning

Week 7 -

Tue, 10/5
- no new reading
Thur, 10/7
- Worrall and Ratzsche - Does Science Discredit Religion?
Extras:

Week 8 -

Tue, 10/12
- Tutorial #1 - assignment (location for all tutorial meetings - PHIL 251B)
- timeslot signup sheet
Thur, 10/14
- Mid-term in-class Exam BRING A BLUE BOOK
Extras:

Week 9 - Why Trust Science?

Tue, 10/19
- Oreskes, Why Trust Science? Read the introduction and start reaching chapter 1 - at least pages 1-42.
Thur, 10/21
- Oreskes - finish chapter 1 (through page 68)
Extras:
- Oreskes Ted Talk - https://www.ted.com/talks/naomi_oreskes_why_we_should_trust_scientists
- Merchants of Doubt documentary (based on a book by Oreskes and Erik Conway

Week 10 - Why Trust Science?

Tue, 10/26
- Oreskes chapter 2
Thur, 10/28
- finish Oreskes chapter 2 (including the Coda)
- short paper #3 due
Extras:

Week 11 - Why Trust Science?

Tue, 11/2
- Anderson, Democracy, Public Policy, and Lay Assessments of Scientific Testimony
- Oreskes, The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change
Thur, 11/4
- tutorial #2 (no class - meet in PHIL 251B instead)
- tutorial schedule
- Sample 1, Sample 2
Extras:
- Will public trust in science survive the pandemic? (from chemical and engineering news)
- The 60 yr old scientific screwup that helped Covid (from Wired)
- The real scandal about ivermectin (from The Atlantic)
- FDA authorization news release (approving Pfizer Covid vaccine for 5-11 year olds)
- FDA briefing document

Week 12 - Values in Science

Tue, 11/9
- long paper #1 due
- Kitcher, from Science, Truth, and Democracy (chs 1, 7, 8) - on Blackboard
Thur, 11/11
- visit from Dr. Brad Snodgrass
Extras:

Week 13 - Values in Science

Tue, 11/16
- Kitcher, from Science, Truth, and Democracy (chs 9-11)
Thur, 11/18
- no new reading
Extras:
- Sociobiology Study Group of Science for the People, Sociobiology: Another Biological Determinism
- Wilson, Reply to SSG note above
- Against Sociobiology
- For Sociobiology (Wilson's reply)

Week 14 - Values in Science

Tue, 11/23
- Tutorial #3 - no class Signup Sheet
Thur, 11/25
- NO CLASS - THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY
Extras:

Week 15 - Values in Science

Tue, 11/30
- The WIRED guide to CRISPR
- Sarkar, The false promise of human gene editing
Extras:

Final paper due Tuesday, Dec 7th (before 11:59pm)