136-203 Science, Life and Mind

Note

All BSc students, except those enrolled in the BA/BSc combined course and the BASc course, can only receive 12.5 points science credit at the 200-level for this subject.

Credit Points

Prerequisites

Normally 12.5 points of first-year HPS, or 75 points of first year Science subjects.

Semester

Contact

Subject Description

Science depends on people being able rationally to investigate reality. Recent advances in the sciences of cognitive psychology and evolutionary theory have enabled us to much better understand how human rationality is possible and thus how science is possible. This class deals with such historical and philosophical questions as: How do scientists determine the standard for good reasoning? What are those standards? How accurate are their judgements? How can one tell when the scientific community is acting less than fully rationally?

Assessment

Written work of up to 5000 words, including weekly tutorial papers and a one-hour class test.