Philosophy and the Sciences

Transcript for Lecture 1.1

Introduction to the Course

Michela Massimi and Duncan Pritchard
Welcome to our new MOOC, Philosophy and the Sciences. My name is
Michela Massimi, and I am at the University of Edinburgh in the School of
Philosophy, Psychology, and Language Sciences.
And my name is Duncan Pritchard, and I'm also in the School of Philosophy,
Psychology, and Language Sciences. This MOOC which is hosted by the
Eidyn Philosophical Research Centre represents a unique interdisciplinary
collaboration between philosophers and scientists, and in particular
scientists working in the physical sciences and the cognitive sciences. Over
the next seven weeks, we'll be looking at topics in such areas as cosmology,
linguistics and psychology. And we'll be examining the philosophical issues
that arise in those areas. Each week we'll feature a philosopher and a
scientist in dialogue and they'll be presenting the material in a simple and
accessible way.
The interaction between philosophy and the sciences has a very long
history stretching back to ancient Greek philosophy and Medieval
philosophy, and ranging from key conceptual changes brought about by
the scientific revolution, to pressing questions arising in contemporary
science. The area of philosophy called philosophy of science investigates
the variety of philosophical questions arising from science, its history, and
practice. Some of these questions have a general flavour, for example
questions about the method of science, laws of nature or the rationality of
theory choice. Other questions are more specific and foundational, and it
concerns specific branches of science. So philosophy of science divides into
a variety of fields such as philosophy of physics, philosophy of biology and
philosophy of cognitive sciences, just to mention three examples.
The primary goal of this course is to introduce you to the field of the
philosophy of science by considering both general and more specific
foundational questions that arise in two specific areas: cosmology and
cognitive science. Inevitably in a course of this kind we can't cover
everything, but we hope that our selection of topics will give you a well-

rounded view of what the philosophy of science involves. In the first three
sessions we explore cosmology, while in the remaining four sessions we
turn our attention to cognitive sciences.
So these are the questions that we will be exploring in the next three
lectures: Why was Cosmology regarded as a branch of philosophy for such
a long time? And what kind of specific philosophical problem did
Cosmology face before it became a science in its own right? And what does
current Cosmology tell us about the universe, its origin and fundamental
constituents?
Before we plunge into our journey from cosmos to consciousness and
computers, let us take a step back. In this introductory section we are going
to be asking, what is science and what is it about science that makes
scientific knowledge so special? And we are going to be looking at some of
the answers that philosophers of science have given to these questions.

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