John Sutton
Philosophy Department, Macquarie University, Sydney.
My office is at W6A 725: tel. (02)-9850-8817, or email.
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This page is no longer active. Click here for info on current undergraduate units at Macquarie.

Links
The department's Guide to Writing Essays in Philosophy
Macquarie Uni English Language Courses for overseas students
Please see the SCMP Policy on Plagiarism (IMPORTANT)

Course Description
How does science work? Should scientific method be privileged over other ways of knowing? How do scientific theories
change over time? Should the history of science be seen as an unfolding tale of intellectual and technological progress,
or as a messier and ambivalent process? This unit introduces central issues in the philosophy of science, including the
nature of facts, the rationality or irrationality of scientific revolutions, the relation between science and values, and the
relation of the sciences to other forms of thinking like magic, myth, and religion. This unit presumes no particular
background in science - it is suitable for students with a background in arts disciplines as well as for students in the
social, behavioural, biological, and physical sciences.

Last updated 24 March 2005.