Phil/Psych 447
Office hours (HH368):
M 1:00-2:00; F 12:30-1:30, and by appointment.
Seminar in Cognitive Science
Week 2: Evidence & Faith
The Method of Inference to the Best Explanation
Inference as explanatory
coherence
Explanation as mechanisms
Alternatives to Inference to the Best Explanation
Empricism: don't go beyond sense experience
Rationalism: use reason alone
Hypothetico-deductive method (confirmation theory)
Bayesian inference: stick to probabilities
Religion
What is faith?
How can it be defended?
Does science make belief in God
obsolete? (Templeton)
Philosophical Alternatives to Naturalism
Are there a priori truths?
What about conceptual clarification?
Discussion Questions
- Can science and religion be compatible with each other?
- Is inference to the best explanation a legitimate form of reasoning?
- How does scientific reasoning differ from everyday inference?
- How should people make medical decisions?
- How would religious believers respond to criticisms of faith?
- Does inference to the best explanation justify belief in God?
- What role should thought experiments play in science and philosophy?
- Is philosophy concerned with conceptual analysis?
Computational Epistemology
Laboratory.
Paul
Thagard
This page updated Sept.22, 2008