PHIL 154: Philosophy of Social Science Fall 2020 – MWF 9:20-10:10 This schedule may change! Don’t carve it into any stone tablets. Readings for which you must complete a reading response are italicized. Date Topic Readings & assignments due 8.10 Welcome to the class 8.12 What is philosophy? Popova 2012: What is philosophy? Priest 2006: What is philosophy? (§4-5 only) 8.14 How to argue Pryor 2006: Arguments 8.17 What is science? Okasha 2002: What is science? 8.19 What is social science? 8.21 Quiz 1: Argumentation, philosophy, and science 8.24 Classes cancelled 8.26 Explication Carnap 1950: Logical foundations of probability Recommended: Leitgeb & Carus: Rudolf Carnap’s methodology (just §1) 8.28 Operationalization and measurement Mueller 2004: Conceptualization, operationalization, and measurement 8.31 Case study: Personality 9.02 Case study: Intelligence Resnick 2017: IQ, explained in 9 charts Nagdy: Our World in Data – Intelligence 9.04 Case study: Intelligence Bartholomew 2004: Measuring Intelligence, Ch.13 9.09 Criteria for explication 9.11 How to not change the subject Reading response – Prinzing 2018: The revisionist's rubric 9.14 Experimental explication Nado 2019: Conceptual engineering and experimental philosophy 9.16 Experimental philosophy 9.18 Quiz 2: Explication and experimental philosophy 9.21 Values in social science Drescher 2015: Depathologizing homosexuality 9.23 Values in social science Reading response – Douglas 2007: Rejecting the ideal of value-free science 9.25 Thick concepts in science Broadbent 2019: Health as a secondary property 9.28 Objectivity in social science Douglas 2004: The irreducible complexity of objectivity 9.30 Case studies in values and objectivity 10.02 Case studies in values and objectivity 10.05 Viewpoint diversity in social science Reading response – Duarte et al. 2015: Political diversity in social science (pages 1-13) Clark & Winegard 2020: Tribalism in War and Peace 10.07 Quiz 3: Values and objectivity10.12 The philosophy of well-being Crisp 2013: Well-being (§1 & 4) 10.14 The philosophy of well-being 10.16 The science of well-being Alexandrova 2016: The science of well-being 10.19 The science of well-being Diener & Seligman 2004: Toward and economy of well-being 10.21 Measuring well-being Alexandrova & Haybron 2016: Is construct validation valid? 10.23 Measuring well-being Reading response – Wodak 2019: What if well-being measurements are non-linear? 10.26 Values in the science of well-being Prinzing 2020: Positive psychology is value-laden 10.28 Objectivity for the science of well-being Alexandrova 2017: Chapter 4 10.30 A multidisciplinary approach Prinzing: How to study well-being 11.02 Quiz 4: Well-being 11.04 The “replication crisis” (Just skim these) OSC 2015: Estimating the reproducibility of psychological science Prinz et al. 2011: Believe it or not 11.06 Is it really a crisis? Fanelli 2018: Is science really facing a replicability crisis, and do we need it to? 11.09 What should be done? Reading response – Machery 2019: The alpha war 11.11 What should be done? Bishop 2019: Reign in the four horsemen of the replication crisis Due: Draft of final paper 11.13 Evidence based policy TED Talk: Social experiments to fight poverty Starritt 2018: When what works doesn't work Due: Critique of partner’s paper 11.16 Quiz 5: Evidence based policy and reproducibility 11.19 Final exam session