Philosophy 9830 (Spring 2012): Philosophy of Science
Emergence, Reduction and Explanation
Tentative Schedule (revised)
I. Jan. 19: Mill on the special sciences
Mill, Logic, Book III, “Of Induction”, Chapter IV, “On the composition of causes” (370378), Chapter X, “Of plurality of causes, and of the intermixture of effects” (434-453),
Chapter XI, “Of the deductive method” (454-463)
Optional readings: Book VI, “On the Logic of the Moral Sciences”, Chapter I,
“Introductory remarks” (833-835), Chapter III, “There is, or may be, a science of human
nature” (844-848), Chapter IV, “Of the laws of mind” (849-860)
II. Jan. 26: Reactions to Mill
Broad, The Mind and its Place in Nature, Chapter 2, “Mechanism and its alternatives”
(43-94)
McLaughlin, “The Rise and Fall of British Emergentism” (49-93)
Optional readings: Duhem, Aim and Structure of Physical Theory, Chapter I, “Physical
theory and metaphysical explanation” (7-19), Chapter II, “Physical theory and natural
classification” (19-30)
Rickert, The Limits of Concept Formation in the Natural Sciences, Chapter 3, “Nature
and history” (33-60)
III. Feb. 2: Case study: Thermodynamics
Atkins, The Laws of Thermodynamics: A Very Short Introduction, 1-62
Optional readings: Sklar, Physics and Chance, Chapter 2, “Historical sketch” (14-48)
IV. Feb. 9: Case study: Thermodynamics (cont.)
Atkins, The Laws of Thermodynamics: A Very Short Introduction, 63-97
Optional readings: Sklar, Physics and Chance, Chapter 2, “Historical sketch” (48-88)
V. Feb. 16: Nagel on Reduction
Nagel, The Structure of Science, Chapter 11, “The reduction of theories” (336-397)
VI. Feb. 23: Sklar on Thermodynamics
Sklar, Physics and Chance, Chapter 9, “The reduction of thermodynamics to statistical
mechanics” (333-373)
** Midterm Assigned **
VII. March 1: Batterman on Reduction and Emergence in Physics
Batterman, The Devil in the Details: Asymptotic Reasoning in Explanation, Reduction
and Emergence, Chapter 2, “Asymptotic Reasoning” (9-22), Chapter 4, “Asymptotic
Explanation” (37-60), Chapter 5, “Philosophical models of reduction” (61-76), Chapter 8,
“Emergence” (113-130)
VIII. March 8 ** No Class **
** Midterm Due **
IX. March 15: Alternatives to Batterman
Callender, “Taking Thermodynamics Too Seriously”, Studies in the History and
Philosophy of Modern Physics 32 (2001): 539-553.
Hooker, “Asymptotics, Reduction and Emergence”, British Journal for the Philosophy of
Science 55 (2004): 435-479.
X. March 22: Reduction and Multiple Realizability
Fodor, “Special Sciences (Or: The Disunity of Science as a Working Hypothesis)”,
Synthese 28 (1974): 97-115.
Fodor, “Special Sciences: Still Autonomous After All These Years”, Philosophical
Perspectives 11 (1997): 149-163.
Sober, “The Multiple Realizability Argument against Reductionism”, The Philosophy of
Science 66 (1999): 542-564.
March 29 (no class, spring break)
XI. April 5: Reduction in Biology
Kitcher, “1953 and All That: A Tale of Two Sciences”, The Philosophical Review 93
(1984): 335-373.
Kitcher, “The Hegemony of Molecular Biology”, Biology and Philosophy 14 (1999):
195-210.
Delehanty, “Emergent Properties and the Context Objection to Reduction”, Biology and
Philosophy 20 (2005): 715-734.
XII. April 12: Reduction in Biology (cont.)
Wimsatt, “Emergence as Non-Aggregativity and the Biases of Reductionisms”, in ReEngineering Philosophy for Limited Beings, 2008, 274-312, (notes) 393-399.
Waters, “Beyond Theoretical Reduction and Layer-Cake Antireduction: How DNA
Retooled Genetics and Transformed Biological Practice”, in Ruse (ed.), Oxford
Handbook of the Philosophy of Biology, 2008, 238-262.
Optional readings: Craver and Bechtel, “Top-Down Causation without Top-Down
Causes”, Biology and Philosophy 22 (2007): 547-563.
XIII. April 19: Reduction in Psychology
Kim, “Making Sense of Emergence”, Philosophical Studies 95 (1999): 3-36.
Pereboom, “Robust Nonreductive Materialism”, Journal of Philosophy 99 (2002): 499531.
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XIV. April 26: Alternative Accounts of Reduction in Psychology
** Deadline for approval of final paper topic **
Melnyk, “Can Physicalism Be Non-Reductive?”, Philosophy Compass 3 (2008): 12811296.
Melnyk, A Physicalist Manifesto, ch. 1, section 3, “A Canonical Formulation”, 20-32, ch.
3, “Realizationism and R*d*ct**n*sm”, 71-122, esp. section 5, 88-110.
XV. May 3: Recent Work on Reduction and Emergence
Butterfield, “Emergence, Reduction and Supervenience: A Varied Landscape”,
Foundations of Physics 41 (2011): 920-959.
Optional readings: Butterfield, “Less is Different: Emergence and Reduction
Reconciled”, Foundations of Physics 41 (2011): 1065-1135.
** Final paper due May 10 at noon. **
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