Science and the Self
For some brilliant video interviews with specialists in this area, see the following sections of the website Closer to Truth:
An article by renowned physicist Carlo Rovelli on why Philosophy and Physics need each other.
Methodologies Unit
Required reading:
James Ladyman’s Understanding Philosophy of Science provides an excellent commentary which covers most of the “Nature & Methodologies of Science” unit syllabus. It is (superbly) pitched at the VI form / undergraduate reader with no previous experience of the subject.
Karl Popper’s Logic of Scientific Discovery sets out his idea of falsification, which has had a profound impact upon scientific practice.
Thomas Kuhn’s Structure of Scientific Revolutions is one of the most influential books in philosophy of science; he argues that science proceeds by paradigms which eventually undergo crises in explanation and are replaced through scientific revolution.
Full list of references:
Al-Khalili, Jim, Pathfinders, Penguin, London, 2012
Aristotle, Organon (C4th BCE): https://ia801407.us.archive.org/34/items/AristotleOrganon/AristotleOrganoncollectedWorks.pdf
Aronson, Jarrod, A Realist Philosophy of Science: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/bfm%3A978-1-349-17378-5%2F1.pdf
Ayer, A.J. Language, Truth & Logic, OUP, 1936
Ayer, A.J. The Problem of Knowledge, Macmillan, London, 1956
Bacon, Francis Novum Organum, (Ed. Joseph Devey, Collier, NY, (1620) 1902): http://lf-oll.s3.amazonaws.com/titles/1432/Bacon_0415_EBk_v6.0.pdf
BBC Radio 4 debate, “The Logical Positivists” (45 mins), with Barry Smith, Professor of Philosophy at the University of London; Nancy Cartwright, Professor of Philosophy at the London School of Economics; and Thomas Uebel, Professor of Philosophy at Manchester University: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00lbsj3
BBC Radio 4 debate, “The Scientific Method”, (45mins) with Simon Schaffer, Professor of the History of Science at the University of Cambridge; John Worrall, Professor of the Philosophy of Science at the London School of Economics and Political Science; Michela Massimi Senior Lecturer in the Philosophy of Science at University College London: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01b1ljm
Bird, Alexander, Philosophy of Science, Routledge, London, 2002
Butts, Robert E., William Whewell’s Theory of Scientific Method, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, 1968: http://digital.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/t/text/text-idx?c=pittpress;view=toc;idno=31735057892626
Chalmers, A.F., What is This Thing Called Science? UOP, Buckingham, 1992
Fiegl, Herbert & Brodbeck, May, Readings in the Philosophy of Science, University of Minnesota, New York: https://archive.org/stream/readingsinphilos00feig#page/n7/mode/2up
Hempel, Carl: “Two Models of Scientific Explanation”: http://fitelson.org/woodward/hempel_tm.pdf
Hume, David, extract from An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, (1748):
Hume, David An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, (1748) [full text]:
http://www.davidhume.org/texts/ehu.html
Kahn, Thomas, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, (1962) 1996.
Ladyman, James, Understanding Philosophy of Science, Routledge, London, 2002
Okasha, Smair, Philosophy of Science: A Very Short Introduction, OUP, Oxford, 2002
Massimi, Michaela (Ed.), Philosophy & the Sciences, Routledge, Abingdon, 2015
“Newton’s 4 Rules of Scientific Reasoning from Principia Mathematica” (University of Alabama factsheet): http://apex.ua.edu/uploads/2/8/7/3/28731065/four_rules_of_reasoning_apex_website.pdf
Popper, Karl, The Logic of Scientific Discovery, Routledge, London, (1959) 1992
van Frassen, Bas “Arguments Concerning Scientific Realism”: http://www.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de/fileadmin/Redaktion/Institute/Philosophie/Theoretische_Philosophie/Fahrbach/Wissenschaftlicher_Realismus/vanFraassen%20%20aus%20C-C.pdf