INF391D.9—Spring2004-Course Info-p. 1
University of Texas at Austin
School of Information
2004 February 8
Spring 2004 (SZB 556, Fridays. 2:00-5:00 PM) Miksa
Course description: This seminar will consist of a semester-long investigation of answers to the question, “What is science?” Discussion in the seminar will be focused on the ideas presented in the following books:
Chalmers, A. F. (1999) What is This Thing Called Science, 3rd ed.
Indianapolis, Cambridge:
Hackett Publishing Co.
Popper, K. (2002). The Logic of Scientific Discovery . London and New York: Routledge
Classics. (Originally published 1959)
Popper, K. (1979). Objective Knowledge: an Evolutionary Approach, Revised ed. Oxford:
Clarendon Press.
Kuhn, T. (1970). The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 2nd ed., enlarged.
Chicago: Univ. of
Chicago Press.
Lakatos, I. & Musgrave, A., eds. (1970). Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Feyerabend, P. (1993) Against Method, 3rd ed.
London, New York: Verso.
Chalmers will be used as something of a text, or at least as a landscape into which the other works can be fit, in order to help grasp some of their meaning. It should be noted from the start that an investigation of this kind is of necessity wide-open intellectually. The chief criterion for participating in the seminar successfully is one’s willingness to identify significant questions that are raised and to grapple with them openly. There is no standardized or orthodox list of questions to be asked or answered in some particular way. Nor is there a stated quantity of knowledge for one to attain (as if that were either possible to state or to measure). Learning is the responsibility of those participating. If one does not learn much from the seminar, then the fault for that must be laid at the feet of the person making such a claim. A seminar of this kind is rather much like a workshop of ideas. And the best measure of its success is how vigorous and rigorous its members have expressed in examining the wealth of ideas that it should by any measure provoke.
General Plan for the Semester:
The approach to the topic will consist of two parts: 1) Discussion of Chalmers and the assigned books. Books will be discussed as reports by class members. 2) Presentation of papers which

INF391D.9—Spring2004-Course Info-p. 2 apply the ideas of the books to a topical area related to the school and student research interests.
The following tentative schedule (subject to modification as time passes) will be followed. First part of the course (up to about April 3), discussion of Chalmers and the assigned books. Second part of the course (April 10 to May 7) presentations of papers.
Coursework
Coursework will consist of the following:
1. Critical reading of the books presented plus other material selected by the professor and students during the course.
2. A presentation and class discussion of one of the course text books listed above. Two or three students will select each of the texts listed above, critically review the text for other participants in the seminar, and lead a discussion about the important concepts covered in the text. The main focus should be to raise questions or identify from all that the author wrote and the issues that the presenter feels are most important. In that sense, any sheet of guidance the presenter can get to the other seminar participants, especially a few days before the presentation, would be helpful.
Also, any background materials would be helpful for participants--for example, some sort of bio information on the author, it would be helpful if the presenter could get that information to other participants a few days in advance of the discussion rather than being passed out at the seminar.
Presenters should not take time in the presentation to go over such background material in detail, by the way. Focus instead on the main concepts of the author.
3. A Semester Project, which consists of an essay and presentation. Details are provided in the document: INF 391D.9: Doctoral Research and Theory—II: Spring 2004, (Miksa): Semester
Project.
4. Class participation in the discussions of the topics presented in the seminar and in the iForum.
Grading
According to our agreement in the first class, grades will be determined by quality of work in the following areas:
Book Presentation: 35%
Semester Project: 45%
Class Participation: 20%
There is no specified page length for the written component of the semester project nor a definite percentage split between the written and presentation components of the grade. An excellent paper might be pulled down by a poor presentation while a mediocre paper might be pulled up with an excellent presentation.

INF391D.9—Spring2004-Course Info-p. 3
Grades are based on the following scale:
100-99 = A+ 90-89 = B+ 80-79 = C+ 70-69 = D+
98-93 = A 88-83 = B 78-73 = C etc.
92-91 = A- 82-81 = B- 72-71 = C-
Schedule
Jan 23 Introduction to the course and a beginning of ideas on What is Science?
Jan 30 Chalmers, What is This Thing Called Science , chapters 1-4, discussion, Dr. Miksa.
Feb 6 Popper, Logic of Scientific Discovery, review presentations and discussion:
Jason Turner
Jennifer Jobst
Joe Fernandez
Feb 11 Final essay topic due to Dr. Miksa by noon via Email
Feb 13 Final project topics due. Popper, Objective Knowledge , review presentations and discussion:
Tatiana Nikolova-Houston
Deon Dempsey
Lisa Kleinman
Feb 20 Chalmers, What is This Thing Called Science, chapters 5-7, discussion, Dr. Miksa.
Feb 27 Kuhn, Structure of Scientific Revolutions (Review Presentations)
Gilok Choi
Lance Hayden
Mar 5 Lakatos & Musgrave, Criticism & the Growth of Knowledge (Review Presentations)
Beth Letalien
Jose Sanchez
Owen McNally
Mar 12 Chalmers, What is This Thing Called Science, chapters 8-11, discussion, Dr. Miksa.
Mar 19 NO CLASS—SPRING VACATION—TX LIBR ASSOC

INF391D.9—Spring2004-Course Info-p. 4
Mar 26 Feyerabend, Against Method (Review Presentations)
Maria Esteva
Kwangsuk Lee
Apr 2 Chalmers, chapters 12-15.
Apr 9 General Discussion of all the material previously presented—an integration of all the concepts into a unified whole, Dr. Miksa
Apr 16 Student Paper Presentations
Jason Turner
Jennifer Jobst
Joe Fernandez
Apr 23 Student Paper Presentations
Tatiana Nikolova-Houston
Deon Dempsey
Lisa Kleinman
Apr 30 Student Paper Presentations
Gilok Choi
Lance Hayden
Beth Letalien
Jose Sanchez
May 7 Student Paper Presentations; Semester Project Essays Due; Course Evaluation
Owen McNally
Maria Esteva
Kwangsuk Lee