PHIL 250

PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE I

3. Catalog Description: "Main issues in the philosophy of science. Special attention to the ways scientific developments have influenced the philosophy of science and how philosophy of science has influenced scientific progress. Case studies of selected historical episodes in which science and philosophy have interacted significantly, focusing on the physical, biological, or social sciences."

4. CORE Course: PHIL 250 satisfies the Humanities and the Arts CORE Requirement under the Humanities category (CORE Code: HO).

5. Course Content:This course explores the nature of scientific knowledge. It has three main goals:

to present standard philosophical vies about the nature of scientific knowledge and evaluate how well they apply to today's data rich and computationally intensive science.
to explore how science has changed as it has become computationally intensive and the implications of those changes for philosophical understanding of science.
to come to a realistic understanding of how real science works, warts and all, as it seeks to obtain knowledge.

We will pursue those three goals via an extended case study, the scientific investigation of the planet Venus beginning in the 16th C. and culminating in the 1994-1996 discovery that this very inhospitable "twin" to Earth is geologically alive. Because the planet is shrouded in a dense cloud cover, our entire knowledge of the planet depends essentially on complex radar and other detection and extensive computer visualization and modeling. The case study is fascinating in that it involves high-tech science utilized in manners that range from brilliant to incompetent. As the course proceeds we will introduce various standard doctrines from the philosophy of science when they make contact with Venus science.

Since the case study focuses on how the science was and is being done, it must of necessity treat the science seriously and at the level of scientific practice. That means that we are going to look at a lot of science-but in a manner that is very different from textbook science. When we look at the science our focus will be on understanding how the science works, not on solving problems or doing the science ourselves. However, doing computer modeling using actual data sets will be an integral part of the course. But even here, the focus is less on doing the science than obtaining a reflective understanding what assumptions, etc. are required to do the science. Always our focus is on understanding how what science does can lead to knowledge.

No scientific background is presupposed. What you need to understand the science we examine historically and philosophically will be introduced as we need it. Requisite computer background will be taught.

6. Background Information about the Course: As a philosopher of science I have focused primarily on the nature of scientific theories and models and on the nature of scientific knowledge-especially how the observational and experimental practices of real science lead to knowledge. I also have long been interested in the interactions between computers and science since my undergraduate days when I put myself through college working in jet engine research just as flight test data gathering and analysis was first being computerized.

Computerization of science affects not only how we collect data but also the amount of data. When one's data sets are hundreds of gigabytes or even terabytes or petabytes large, the only way to manage or interpret the data is through computer modeling and visualization. (Example: the Magellan data base on which our Venus case study is built occupies 146 CD-ROMS and the final set of topographic maps of Venus based on that data an additional 170 CD-ROMS.) Around 1990 or 1991 it became clear to me that the computerization of science was changing the very nature of scientific data and how it is used to gain knowledge.

I decided to study this nascent Scientific Data Revolution. First I networked with scientists to get a clear picture of what the scattered pieces and components of this revolution were-especially important since it cuts across scientific disciplines and occurs as diverse pockets in many fields. Next, I organized a year-long series of 60+ public lectures at UMCP, the 1993-94 Year of Data, in which representatives of the diverse aspects of the Data Revolution were brought in to talk about how they worked with data. We had miniseries on Computer and Human Vision; Scientific and Engineering Visualization; the Data Revolution in the Specific Sciences; Chaos Theory; Simulation, Modeling, and Monte Carlos; Managing Massive Data Sets; and the Revolution in Statistical Analysis of Data. These lectures, which included many world leaders and UMCP experts were videotaped as an archive. They contain a great deal of insight into what was happening to science.

My next step was to "go native"-to become a participant-observer in a scientific team doing computationally intensive science involving all the aspects covered in the Year of Data. Under an NSF Fellowship I spent 1993-1994 at Princeton University as a member of a structural geology group that worked on both earth faulting and folding structures but also was part of the NASA Magellan Mission to Venus-a project that returned more data than all previous planetary exploration missions combined. While I was a member of the group it made major discoveries that were crucial to establishing that Venus is geologically alive today-results that became a Nature cover story in December 1995. The Princeton group is headed by my brother, John Suppe, who is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

While at Princeton, I became a member of the Magellan planetary science community and continue to be active in it. I know virtually all the main players in the case we will be studying this semester and continue to attend the major scientific meetings dealing with Venus research. Indeed, I will be in Aspen Colorado, the first week of classes attending the AGU Chapman Conference on Venus which will be the final wrap-up of the Magellan Mission and assessment what was learned from Magellan about Venus.

In both 1994-95 and 1995-96 I had Spring and Summer research leaves (sponsored by NSF and the UMCP General Research Board and spent at the Indiana University Institute for Advanced Study) during which I have been writing a history and philosophical analysis of the use of models in the exploration of Venus. In writing it I have been using the very same data sets and comparable computer resources (funded in large part by NSF but also by special UMCP funding and a great deal of my own money) as the scientific community. It is a way of doing history and philosophy of science blurs the distinction between doing science and studying science, and we will look at some of the methodological issues this raises.

At every stage in this project there has been concern with integrating the research I was doing with instruction. The Year of Data was offered for course credit as a graduate seminar and subsequently three students have made it the focus of their Ph.D. dissertation research. Special funding from the Arts and Humanities College was provided so that the research could be introduced into the undergraduate curriculum aimed at providing an understanding of science as part of a Liberal Arts education. In two previous versions of PHIL 250 modules based on this research were pilot tested.

Last fall was the first time we have tried building an entire course around the research. Since then we have developed a lot of new computer software designed to aid in understanding how computationally-intensive science is done and also have secured about $25,000 in additional funds to support the computer modeling aspect of the course. Thus year we are increasing the amount of computer projects integrated into the course. At this point the special funding by NSF and UMCP making this course possible exceeds $275,000. Your reactions to the draft manuscript will be an important influence on the final product and your reactions to the course will be influential on further curricular developments including possibly a lab course satisfying the lab course physical science CORE requirement that combines replication of the Venus science using the actual data sets with the sort of study we will be doing this semester. Full implementation of such a course would require substantial money from NASA, NSF, other foundations, and private donors. Your experiences with the material this semester will be important to these efforts.

7. Textbooks & Supplies:

There are no required hard-copy textbooks for the course. Instead, students are required to purchase (at production cost--$10) a CD-ROM containing:

Suppe and Stone, Venus Alive!: Modeling Scientific Knowledge. Draft book manuscript, first 8 chapters.
Other course materials
A variety of course-related software.

The Venus Alive! manuscript and some course materials are in pdf format that can be read by most Windows, Windows 95, DOS, MacIntosh, and UNIX operating systems machines using Adobe Acrobat Reader. Required software for reading it is on the CD-ROM. Much of the other software we will be using in the course is Mac-only. You can run it using the CD-ROM on any appropriate Mac including those in WAM Labs...or you can do so in the Computer Lab supporting this course. A few pieces are UNIX only but can be run from specially-equipped Macs in the CHPS Computer Lab (see #8 below).

In addition, each student is required to purchase a Mac-formatted 100 MB Zip Disk for storing your modeling projects. These can be purchased in the Computer section of the University bookstore. They want about $18 a piece. However, they have 5-packs for about $14-$15 a disk, so you might want to go together to get 5-packs and save about $3-$4 per person.

If you do not know how to use CD-ROMs or are unfamiliar with Macs, you need to attend one of the special remedial sessions offered the first week of classes.

8. Computer lab:

Supporting this course is a high-end Instructional Technology facility located in 1102A Skinner. This lab has: SUN SPARC Station and SGI O2 UNIX workstations, four 300 mhz PowerMac 8600s with 100 mb RAM and monitors capable of 21" resolution equipped as X-Windows terminals for UNIX, another PowerMac 7200, and a Mac Quadra 700, scanners, networked CD-ROM Jukeboxes, its own router hub, etc. An ID-card reading computerized access system will control access to the facility. All students enrolled in the course will have automatic access to the lab during hours in which the space is open to the public and not alarmed. Night access can be arranged when either Dr. Suppe or Mr. Iseda are around, including most Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. The computerized access system keeps track of all entrances to the lab.

The UPS strike has delayed installation of the access system. The PowerMac 8600s are on order with an uncertain delivery time, (These are new products only released a couple of weeks ago.) Thus the full resources of the lab may not be available until possibly October. Projects have been scheduled so that this should cause no serious inconvenience for students.

As much as possible we want computer projects for the course to be either delivered by the required CD-ROM or via the web. (The course has access to three UNIX servers controlled by the instructor.) However, some projects require use of 21" resolution monitors and/or specialized software we have under restricted licenses, or using the UNIX X-Windows environment and for those the lab will be the preferred place to work.

This year nearly $30,000 has been put into the lab this year to make it one of the high-end instructional technology resources on campus. At the same time we have put a lot of effort into making the lab user friendly to computer novices.

9. Course Work:

Reports: You will be required to submit three reports during the semester. These reports will combine specific detailed reports on the Modeling Projects with analysis of how your experiences in those projects confirm or disconfirm various philosophical views about science or the accounts given in Venus Alive!.
Mid-Term: I do not presently plan to have a midterm. However, if the class feels that a mid-term would help solidify grasp of material, then I will be glad to add a take-home midterm. It would follow the format of the final (indicated below).
Final exam:
This will be open-book, open-note, semi-open-neighbor (you may discuss the exam over the Listserv but not otherwise) take-home true-false, multiple Choice, & Essay exam that focuses on basic understanding of key concepts and ideas concerning the philosophy of science and the Venus case study, covering the entire semester. It will draw upon the various things you have been asked to do in the three reports. It will be designed to be a learning tool that will help you solidify your understanding of course material and it will help you do a final synthesis of the course.

Since the final exam is take-home, open-note and open-neighbor memorizing material is unimportant. Also, the exam(s) will be designed as study-review vehicle for helping you synthesize and understand course material. Thus if you are up on the readings and assignments, there is no need to prepare for the final exam.

Note on papers and exams: Whenever word lengths are specified a word count is to be included with your paper.

All standard word processing programs have the ability to do this automatically.

Extra Credit:A lot of the software we will be using in the course has been developed by undergraduate and graduate students here and at Indiana University. If you have significant computer skills of the right sort, you can earn substantial extra-credit working on software development in support of future versions of the course. Indeed, a common arrangement is that you get extra credit for this course and also get 3 credits/semester of 400 level independent study credit. Students also may have opportunities to present their work at meetings such as the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference with published Abstracts for their resumes.

Please contact Dr. Suppe if you are interested. Projects we are interested in include:

Develop a Monte Carlo package for simulation of impact cratering. (Statistical knowledge and familiarity with suitable software required.)
Write a tutorial front-end for ArcView that teaches one how to map from Magellan Radar Images.
Generate 3-D rendered perspective views of the surface of Venus using a visualization program like Spyglass Transform or a ray-tracing graphics package like KPT-Bryce.

11. Submission of Papers and Exams: Papers and exams are to be submitted in both hard copy and on a 3.5" High Density disk. The idea is that we will add our comments to the file version on disk, and then you can read or print out a version of the paper containing my comments. I am equipped to handle just about any standard wordprocessor in Macintosh, Windows, or DOS formats including the following: Microsoft Word, Microsoft Work, Macwrite, WordPerfect.-even XYwrite. If you plan to use a non standard wordprocessor such as Bob's Wordprocesser check with us first. Whatever your word-processor and computer platform you must use a High-Density disk.

12. Electronic Files & E-mail:

A Web Site for the course is being prepared. Some course materials will be available on it. In addition it will have links to various planetary science and Venus sites and data bases around the world. You can access it through Web Browsers such as Netscape or Mosaic from any networked computer in the world. This can be done in WAM Labs or from your own machine if it has a direct or modem connection to the net. You may either read the materials on a computer screen or download them for reading on your own computer or from hard copies you print out. The site will be accessed through

http://carnap.umd.edu:90/phil250/Syllabus_250F97.html

Exams, assignments and supplementary course materials will be down-loadable from the class web site.

All students are eligible to have e-mail accounts and are required to do so. A Listserv for PHIL 250 is being established. This will allow students in the class an opportunity to exchange ideas about course material, have discussions, seek help, etc. It functions very much like an Internet newsgroup or electronic bulletin board, although it is restricted to just members of this class. You will receive all posts to the Listserv as e-mail, and when you post (send e-mail) to the Listserv group all members of the class having e-mail will receive your post as e-mail. You are required to subscribe to the PHIL250 Listserv.

To subscribe: Using the e-mail account where you want to receive Listserv messages, send an e-mail message to

LISTSERV@UMDD.UMD.EDU

leave the subject heading blank. On the first line of the message portion, type:

signup PHIL250 My Name

(i.e., type your own name in lieu of the words "My Name"). Type nothing else in the message portion. Then send the message (this may require typing a period on the next line if you are using UNIX mail). If you have signed up properly, you should receive two messages within about 4 hours--one being instructions for using Listservs and one being a welcome message from Dr. Suppe. If you want to have the Listserv messages sent to multiple accounts, you need to subscribe separately from each account.

To post messages to the Listserv, simply send an e-mail message to:

PHIL250@UMDD.UMD.EDU

Everyone who has signed-up for the Listserv will automatically receive your message in their e-mail.

You will be automatically removed from the Listserv at the end of the semester. (If you want to get off earlier, say because you drop the course, the procedure is the same except you substitute "signoff" for "signup".

Important course information will be disseminated via the Listserv. Thus students are responsible for regularly reading its messages. You will find the listserv especially valuable when Dr. Suppe is out of town, during take-home exams, and when working on Projects.

Finally, you can use e-mail to contact the instructors with questions, etc. pertaining to the course or course materials, outside of class and office hours.

13. My Teaching and Grading Philosophy:

In my opinion there is no place for busy work in a university course. All work requested of students should have a pedagogical or learning pay off. This includes examinations. In my opinion it is never justified to give an exam or quiz solely for the purpose of determining a grade. Rather exams should be vehicles for learning and providing students with personalized feedback. A good exam is itself a vehicle for learning (that is why I give open-book, open-note, take-home exams), for diagnosis of what the student does and does not understand, and providing useful feedback, clarification, and comments that further facilitate learning.

A course grade should reflect the ultimate mastery of course material, concepts, and intellectual skills, rather than being some commentary on the process whereby one came to such learning. Thus if a student makes lots of errors on exams, but effectively uses the feedback on the exams to master the material, and that mastery manifests itself in end-of-semester performance, then it seems to me the grade should reflect that level of mastery rather than be downgraded because the path to mastery involved mediocre performance on the earlier exams.

Practically this means the following: If the final exam and term paper/project are superior to earlier work (midterm and short papers), the short papers and midterm grades will be thrown out. On the other hand, if there is a drop in performance at the end of the semester with no clear pattern of growing mastery over the semester, your grade will be the average of all work:

Under most realistic circumstances grading on the basis of curves or predetermined quotas for the numbers of As, Bs, etc. is both statistically invalid and pedagogically unjustified. In many respects the distribution of As and Bs should be regarded as a reflection of the quality of teaching. Gifted students who try tend to do well regardless of the quality of teaching, whereas for most students the quality of teaching should affect the distribution of grades. I like to teach and my goal is to get each student to overachieve. Thus I am happiest when lots of students earn high grades in my classes. There is no grade inflation when excellent effort by students and outstanding teaching combine to produce real mastery of course material and the distribution of grades reflects that mastery.

Grades will be assigned on the basis of A "excellent" mastery of the material, B "good" mastery, C "basic understanding", D "marginal understanding", and F general lack of understanding. The final course grade will be my best determination of your mastery of course material on this scale.

Some students may have learning disabilities, special circumstances that interfere with learning or just find the course material difficult. I am happy to spend lots of time helping students who need special attention. For me, the most rewarding aspect of teaching is making a difference in individual student's learning and university experience. Don't hesitate to give me that opportunity.

PHIL 250: Philosophy of Science I

SYLLABUS

Notes: Items preceded with an asterisk (*) are on reserve in the Hornbake Reserve Room and in the CHPS Computer Lab

The Classroom has been changed to 1115 Skinner

The CHPS Computer Lab is located in 1102A Skinner

Week of September 2: Course mechanics. Introduction: What is philosophy of Science? Normative vs. Descriptive conceptions? Relations between Philosophy of Science and Science Studies. How computers have changed science. Computer orientation.

Read: Suppe and Stone, Venus Alive!, Preface, Chapter 1.

For Further Reading:

Smarr and Kauffman, Supercomputing and the Transformation of Science

Remedial Computer instruction for those needing it during sessions TBA.

Dr. Suppe Away Thursday.

See Dr. Suppe this week if you are interested in doing an Extra Credit Project for additional course credit.

Week of September 9 : Introduction to the Venus Case Study. Optical observations of Venus. Early Radar Astronomy: The Moon. Modeling Data and Structural Escalation; robustness or models; local laws. Wiggish vs. non-Wiggish History of Science.

Read: Suppe and Stone, Venus Alive!, Chapter 2.

Thursday: Class Vote--Do you want to know what Venus is really like or do you want to try to figure it out from the evolving data sets as they come in over time? [How Wiggish do we want to be?] This vote will determine how the rest of the semester is taught.

Week of September 16:. Scientific Instrumentation: An aircraft and engine flight test example. Radar Exploration of Venus. Basics of Modeling Data: Radar modeling.

Read: Suppe, "Transformations and Changes in Flight Test Instrumentation and Data: 1940-1969." (handout--on CD)

Suppe & Stone, Venus Alive!, Chapter 3.

Week of September 23: Scientific laws. Ground-Based Radar Exploration of Venus: Determining her surface temperature and rotational period; early images and maps; giant impact basins on Venus? (Range-Doppler mapping)

Read: *Carl Hempel, Philosophy of Natural Science, Chapter 5.

Modeling Project 1: What the "Giant Impact Basins" really were.

Week of September 30: Measurement models; over-determined data sets; computationally-intensive data modeling; interpretations of data as models of data.

Read: Suppe and Stone, Chapter 4.

Modeling Project 2: Viscous Relaxation of Impact Basins and Virtual Reality Tour of Meteor Crater, AZ

Week of October 7: Satellite Investigations of Venus: Pioneer mapping: hypsometry and resolution issues; gravitational modeling; isostatic and other compensation. Topographic mapping as structural escalation; Limits of resolution and epistemological consequences; Simulation modeling; Forward and Inverse Modeling; underdetermination of models by data.

Read: Suppe, "The Structure of a Scientific Paper." Philosophy of Science, forthcoming (on CD-ROM)

Suppe and Stone, op. cit., Chapter 5 (begin)

Tuesday: Write-ups of Modeling Projects 1 and 2 due.

Week of October 14: Satellite Investigations of Venus: Pioneer mapping (continued); philosophical views on confirmation and testing

Read: Suppe and Stone, op. cit., Chapter 5 (conclude)

*Laudan, "Demystifying Underdetermination," Pp. 267-297 in Scientific Theories edited by C. W. Savage (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1990).

Modeling Project #3: Topographic mapping of Venus using Pioneer Altimetry Data.

Dr. Suppe Away Thursday

Week of October 21: Satellite Investigations of Venus: Pioneer and Venera landers; planetary models and comparisons; lithospheric heat conduction scenarios. Probe models; end-member models; use of laboratory experiments; dimensional analysis and fracticality; simulation modeling. Interaction between science and philosophy of science: Percy W. Bridgman.

Read: Suppe, "Bridgmann", Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, forthcoming.

Suppe, "Operationalism," Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, forthcoming.

Suppe and Stone, op. cit., Chapter 6 (begin)

Tuesday: Write-up of Modeling Project 3 due.

Week of October 28: Satellite Investigations of Venus: Pioneer and Venera landers (continued). Analogical Reasoning and Models

Read: Suppe and Stone, op. cit., Chapter 6 (conclude)

*Hesse, Models and Analogies in Science , pp. 7-56.

Week of November 4: Venera 15-16 Mapping missions: preparations for Magellan; planetary demography; volcanism. Raster vs. vector models; resolution and artifacts; combining simulation modeling and models of data; more on robustness, analogy; resolution, and theoretical modeling; "prediction" and its role in testing.

Read: Suppe and Stone, op. cit., Chapter 7

*Hempel, Philosophy of Natural Science, Chapter 2.

Modeling Project #4: Image manipulation.

Dr. Suppe Probably away Thursday.

Week of November 11: Magellan: Modeling data: Demographics. Image processing and Geographical Information (GIS) systems in modeling data.

Read: Suppe and Stone, op. cit., Chapters 8 and (if available) Chapter 9.

Modeling Project #5 (tentative): Virtual Reality tours of Venus surface features as created from Magellan Data.

Week of November 18: Magellan: Relative and absolute crater-age dating.

Read: Suppe and Stone, op. cit., Chapter 10 (if available) [otherwise assignments TBA]

Modeling Project #6: Mapping Venus from Radar Images.

Dr. Suppe Away Tuesday.

Week of November 25: Crater Dating of Venus: Reinventing crater age dating.

Read: Suppe and Stone, op. cit., Chapter 11 (if available) [otherwise assignments TBA]

Tuesday, Write-up of Modeling Projects 4-6 due.

Thursday: No Class-Thanksgiving Recess.

Week of December 2: Investigating the Interior: Finite Element Modeling

Read: TECTON Tutorial (on class CD-ROM or on web site.)

Other finite-Element/subduction readings TBA.

*Oreskes, Schrader-Frechette, and Belitz, "Verification, Validation, and Confirmation of Numerical Models in the Earth Sciences," Science, 263(Feb. 4, 1993; 641-646.

Modeling Project #7 or Class Demonstration: TECTON Finite Element Modeling of possible Subduction on Venus. (The Report on this Project will be part of the take-home Final.)

Week of December 9: Conclusions: How good a job do Philosophy, History, and Sociology of Science do in making sense of Venus science?

*Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, Chapters 3, 9.

*Kuhn, "The Function of Dogma is Scientific Research," in his The Essential Tension. [read this in-between chapters 3 and 9 of the preceding work.]

Thursday: last Day of Class; Take-Home Final Exam Distributed.

[Dec. 8-12: AGU Meeting, SF.]

Friday, December 19: 8-10 AM. Take-Home Final Exams Due; Course Evaluations. Class Party.

PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE I

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