136-462 Realism, Relativism and Naturalism

Usually admission to the postgraduate diploma or fourth year honours in HPS, or a postgraduate coursework program.

In this subject students will examine the current trend toward naturalistic approaches to methodological, epistemological and metaphysical issues in modern philosophy of science. Much recent philosophy of science has been characterised by an opposition between realist advocates of the objectivity of science and a variety of cognitive relativist positions which deny such objectivity. However a separate, naturalistic tendency in the philosophy of science promises to transcend the opposition between realism and relativism. On completion of this subject students should have a grasp of the history of and differences between realist and relativist approaches to the philosophy of science and should understand the implications of the naturalistic approach.