Philosophy 270

Schedule and Lecture Notes

Spring 2010

Date	What's on	Assignment
Jan 20	Lecture 1: Thales
22	Lecture 2: Euclid
25	Lecture 3: Plato
27	Lecture 4: Aristotle on demonstration	Quiz 1
29	Lecture 5: Aristotle on skepticism and necessity
Feb 1	Lecture 6: Aristotle on knowledge of principles
3	Lecture 7: Aristotle on nature and causes
5	Lecture 8: Ptolemy	Quiz 2
8	Lecture 9: Copernicus on the earth's daily rotation
10	Lecture 10: Copernicus on the earth's orbit around the sun
12	Lecture 11: Bacon on interpretation of nature and idols
15	Lecture 12: Bacon on forms	Quiz 3
17	Review (discussion of the questions for exam 1)
19	Exam 1
22	No class
24	Lecture 13: Comparison of Bacon and Copernicus
26	Lecture 14: Descartes on the principles of philosophy
Mar 1	Lecture 15: Descartes's methodology
3	Lecture 16: Newton on space, time, and motion	Quiz 4
5	Lecture 17: Newton on gravity
8	Lecture 18: Newton on scientific method
10	Lecture 19: Hume on induction
12	Lecture 20: Popper's deductive method	Quiz 5
15	Lecture 21: Popper on auxiliary hypotheses
17	Lecture 22: Kuhn on anomalies
19	Lecture 23: Maher on inductive probability
29	Lecture 24: Maher on justification of induction	Quiz 6
31	Review (discussion of the questions for exam 2)
Apr 2	Exam 2
5	No class
7	Lecture 25: Maher on physical probability
9	Lecture 26: Maher on the law of likelihood
12	Lecture 27: Darwin on artificial and natural selection
14	Lecture 28: Darwin on geographic distribution of species	Quiz 7
16	Lecture 29: Darwin on similarities between species
19	Lecture 30: Hume on causation
21	Lecture 31: Mill on laws and causes
23	Lecture 32: Lange on previous accounts of laws	Quiz 8
26	Lecture 33: Lange on counterfactuals and laws
28	Lecture 34: Woodward on manipulation and causation
30	Lecture 35: Woodward on total and direct causes
May 3	Lecture 36: Woodward on actual causes	Quiz 9
5	Review (discussion of the questions for exam 3)
13	Exam 3 at 10 AM in the usual classroom