MODULE I – Scientific Thinking
Sec 1 • Why Philosophy of Science?
1.1 Intellectual Self-Defense
1.2 Thales • From Ad Hoc Stories to Causes
1.3 Ockham • Razors & Good Arguments
1.4 Aristotle • The Four Causes
Sec 2 • Reason, Faith, & Modernity
2.1 Avicenna & Maimonides • Reason & Faith
2.2 Aquinas • Scholasticism & the Medieval Cosmos
2.3 The Birth of Modernity
2.4 Reason & Nature • How Nature Became Lawful
Sec 3 • Nature Written in Mathematics
3.1 Copernicus & Kepler • Moving the Earth
3.2 Galileo • Measuring Nature
3.3 Descartes • Self-Evident Truth
3.4 The Mechanical Philosophy • Nature as a Machine
Sec 4 • Nature Read by Experiment
4.1 Bacon • Idols & Experiment
4.2 Locke • Empirical Thinking
4.3 Newton • Laws & the Clockwork
4.4 From Natural Philosopher to Scientist
MODULE II – Science & Reason
Sec 5 • The Problem of Induction
5.1 Hume • The Problem of Induction
5.2 Popper • Falsifiability
5.3 The Engineer's Answer • Codes, Safety Factors, & Testing to Failure
5.4 Challenger • Extrapolating Past the Data
Sec 6 • Evidence & the Best Explanation
6.1 Duhem & Quine • No Crucial Experiments
6.2 Neptune & Vulcan • Same Method, Opposite Outcomes
6.3 Semmelweis • Inference to the Best Explanation
6.4 Darwin • One Long Argument
Sec 7 • Revolutions & Reality
7.1 Kuhn • Paradigms & Revolutions
7.2 Do Electrons Exist? • Realism & Instrumentalism
7.3 Hawking • Model-Dependent Realism
7.4 Tacoma Narrows • All Models Are Wrong
MODULE III – Science & History
Sec 8 • From Newton to Einstein
8.1 Michelson–Morley • The Experiment That Found Nothing
8.2 Einstein • Risky Predictions Confirmed
8.3 Was Newton Wrong? • Correspondence & Incommensurability
8.4 GPS • A Theory You Must Use to Engineer
Sec 9 • The Quantum Century
9.1 Planck to Heisenberg • The Quantum Century
9.2 Interpretations • Copenhagen, Many-Worlds, & Bohm
9.3 Bell • An Experiment That Settled a Philosophical Question
9.4 The Quantum Engineer • From Interpretation to Technology
Sec 10 • Observation & Trust
10.1 The Canals of Mars • Theory-Laden Observation
10.2 Hanson & Kuhn • Seeing-As
10.3 Instruments as Arguments
10.4 The Face on Mars • The Career of a Non-Fact
Sec 11 • Values, Religion, & the Limits of Science
11.1 Kuhn • Objectivity, Value Judgment, & Theory Choice
11.2 Why Method Exists
11.3 Science & Religion as Fields of Inquiry
11.4 Scientism • Can Science Settle Everything?
MODULE IV – Science & Responsibility
Sec 12 • Technology & Truth
12.1 Heidegger • Modernity & Technology
12.2 Arendt • Truth & Politics
12.3 Frankfurt • Indifference to Truth
12.4 Merchants of Doubt • Manufacturing Uncertainty
Sec 13 • When Systems Fail
13.1 Therac-25 • When the Software Is the Agent
13.2 Challenger Revisited • Responsibility & the Normalization of Deviance
13.3 The 737 MAX • Automation & Authority
13.4 Petroski • Failure as Teacher
Sec 14 • Minds, Machines, & Responsibility
14.1 Turing & Searle • Simulation Is Not Possession
14.2 Opacity • A Decision That Cannot Be Explained Cannot Be Defended
14.3 Deepfakes • Evidence After Photography
14.4 Hawking's Question, Answered • What Philosophy Is For
