Learning objectives
1-knowing and comprehension capability
Analytical reading of texts and capability to orient oneself in reading
2 -knowing and applied comprehension capabilities
Learn to orient yourself in reading and to form your own opinion on the topics covered
3-4-5 independent judgment, communicative skills, learning capabilities
Ability to follow and learn. Capability to intervene in the discussion.
Prerequisites
Some elementary notions of physics that can be found on the first pages of any manual.
Course unit content
The aim of the course is the verification criterion and some aspects concerning the discussion in the 1930s on the meaning and truth of sentences. We will discuss it starting from some readings by authors belonging to the neo-positivist tradition.
Full programme
The aim of the course is the verification criterion and issues concerning the discussion on the meaning and truth of sentences. Moritz Schlick provides some characterizations of the verification criterion. At the same time, he defends verificationism against some criticisms made, in particular by Lewis. Carnap in the selected texts discusses the requirement of verifiability and the problem of meaning. Popper takes up from a different point of view the problems concerning the criterion of verification and criticizes some foundationalist positions expressed in the neo-positivist environment. We will read texts by M. Schlick, in the anthology Tra realism and neo-positivism, by Carnap, in the Italian anthology Analiticity, significance, induction, by Hempel in The formation of concepts and theories in empirical science and by Popper in the logic of scientific discovery
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Primary sources
M. Schlick, Tra realismo e neo-positivismo, Il Mulino, Bologna 1974
R. Carnap, ‘Il linguaggio della fisica come linguaggio universale della scienza’,
R. Carnap, Analiticità, significanza, induzione, Il Mulino, Bologna 1971
K. Popper, The Logic of Scientific Discovery (trad. It.:Logica della scoperta scientifica, Einaudi, Torino 1970)
Handbooks:
Maria Luisa Dalla Chiara, Giuliano Toraldo di Francia, Introduzione alla filosofia della scienza, Laterza, 1999
E. Agazzi, Temi e problemi di filosofia della fisica, ed. Abete, Roma 1974
Stathis Psillos, Martin Curd (edd), The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Science, Routledge, Abingdom - New York 2008
Alex Rosenberg, Philosophy of Science, A contemporary introduction, Second Edition, Routledge, Second edition first published New York, 2005. web:
https://is.muni.cz/www/rostanek/041534316X.pdf
Information material:
Creath, Richard, "Logical Empiricism", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2020 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), forthcoming URL= <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2020/entries/logical-empiricism/>.
Uebel, Thomas, "Vienna Circle", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2020 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), forthcoming URL = https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2020/entries/vienna-circle/
F. Barone, Il neopositivismo logico, Laterza, Bari 1977
Tal, Eran, "Measurement in Science", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2017 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2017/entries/measurement-science/>.
Bibliography
M. Schlick, Tra realismo e neo-positivismo, Il Mulino, Bologna 1974
R. Carnap, ‘Il linguaggio della fisica come linguaggio universale della scienza’,
R. Carnap, Analiticità, significanza, induzione, Il Mulino, Bologna 1971
K. Popper, The Logic of Scientific Discovery (trad. It.:Logica della scoperta scientifica, Einaudi, Torino 1970)
Assessment methods and criteria
final written exam or, in the case of online teaching, oral exam with connection on Teaams. In the tests the following are checked in particular: 1) understanding of the texts, 2) ability to use an appropriate technical-philosophical language; 3) clarity in defining and exposing the topics addressed in the course.
Other information
Lecture notes and texts downloadable from the institutional teaching sites
