Learning outcomes

The purpose of this course is to study the methodology and the fundamental concepts of modern science, of mathematics and physics but also of the sciences of life, and to clarify principles of demarcation between scientific knowledge and other forms of knowledge. An important pay-off of such an analysis is given by its applications to Bioethics.
The analytic study of the foundations is supplemented by a historical consideration of the origin of scientific concepts in Western philosophical tradition. Special attention will be given to the biological works by Aristotle.

Program

PART 1
Ernest Nagel The Structure of Science, Problems in the Logic of Scientific Explanation Hackett Publishing Company, 1979,
Chapters 2 e 3
Chapters 4 e 5

G.Boniolo e Stefano Giaimo (ed.) Filosofia e scienze della vita. Un'analisi dei fondamenti della biologia e della biomedicina, Bruno Mondadori editore, 2008

PART 2
John Losee A Historical Introduction fo the Philosophy of Science Oxford University Press, Fourth Edition 2001

Aristotle:
Excerpts from Posterior Analitics, Mario Mignucci ed., Laterza, De Anima, De motu animalium.

On issues of bioethics

Blackwell Philosophy Anthologies. Bioethics edited by Helga Kuhse e Peter Singer, Blackwell 1999.

Examination Methods