| This course is an introductory course in philosophy of science, with a special emphasis on the scientific method. The course covers basic topics in philosophy of science such as scientific method, scientific explanation, causality, reduction and reductionism, natural laws, demarcation between science and pseudoscience, the relation between evidence and hypothesis, and scientific progress. The works of some important thinkers such as Carl Hempel, Karl Popper, Thomas Kuhn and Imre Lakatos are introduced. The course is also aimed at providing the students the necessary critical thinking skills. For this aim, some basic rules of formal logic, the distinction between deductive and inductive arguments, common cognitive biases and logical fallacies are also discussed. |