 Hi everybody and welcome to history and philosophy of science. I'm your professor Matthew Brown Or you can call me Matt or Dr. Brown as you like. I'm gonna Tell you a little bit about What we're doing in this class this semester what history and philosophy of science is is all about so I'll often use the acronym HPS to refer to history and philosophy of science When I say science, I'm Understanding that broadly to include medicine particularly medical research a little bit about medical practice as well and engineering and The research that goes into technology development Sometimes we might call that applied science as well so Just with those terms out of the way we can start with this question. What is HPS and You know, we can start with the acknowledgement that really what we're talking about here are two disciplines right history of science and philosophy of science these are fields really within the disciplines of history and philosophy and They are can be often are pursued separately so You know, there's history of science work that doesn't touch too deeply on philosophy There's philosophy of science work that doesn't depend too significantly on history There also is a significant area of interaction and integration Across these two disciplines. So, you know, the first question you might have is well, these are two disciplines Why teach them together? And I'll say right up front. You don't have to As they're separate you can teach them separately but history and philosophy of science have many shared goals and historians and philosophers of science have found over over time especially through the middle and into the 20th century to today that there's a lot of productive Things that happen when you Do these things together, right? So what are those shared goals that history of science and philosophy of science have? That sort of motivate HPS. Well, both fields are trying to understand science understand how it works Understand how it's come to be the way it is and why Both history of science and philosophy of science Help us think critically about the nature of science The limits of science perhaps The relationship between science and society These are all things that are sort of shared aims and So I think there's a lot to be gained From looking at these things together one approach in philosophy of science is fairly a historical It looks at primarily the results of science. So what is sort of ensconced in textbooks What you might read about in scientific journals or before that in in major works scientific manuscripts Like Newton's from Principia Mathematica, for example but philosophers of science Since at least the middle of the 20th century have argued that you actually get a much better Image of science much better picture of how science works by relying on and doing history history of science and We'll we'll talk about that why more as the course goes on But the the idea is that the science as it is practiced is a little different from what ends up being reported In the official scientific literature and doing the history can help us understand that It's also it's also the case that in some contexts a Philosophical argument philosophical analysis philosophical questioning Make a little bit more explicit what can be learned from Looking at the history then just looking at the history on its own. So there's also a way in which History of science or philosophy when you bring it to history of science Helps us unpack things about science that the history by itself might Leave implicit or underground right a good history and philosophy of science is not just sort of philosophy of science with little sprinkling of history or vice versa it's a really Integrated approach right in which you know philosophical analysis is done on science in concert with a careful Unpacking investigation into the history and contemporary practice of science and that's that's sort of the approach that We'll take in this class in these in these lectures, right? Okay, so that's sort of that's sort of a basic idea what what HPS is why teach HPS as an integrated class as an integrated field And a number of key questions that HPS asks about science You know, we want to know how science works. What it what is the process of science? What is the scientific process? Does science have a method and what does that method generate? We might also ask How does science change right how does science change over time? You know one of the main worries that people have had or questions that people have had is is science cumulative Does it just does it grow gradually or are there revolutionary changes? Does does science come to? Reject in some case aspects of its past another kind of question we ask about science is Is it is it objective? Is science objective? Is it impartial? Is it value-free? Alternatively, does science depend in important ways on society and on our values, you know Related to this question we might ask how much credence should we have in science? Should we trust? What scientists tell us? What decisions they urge us to make what kind of authority does science have? Does science get at the truth does it get at? Does it give us a real understanding of the world when it posits? things Objects or laws that we can't see or observe directly, but only infer indirectly Should we trust that right? Should we believe that those things are real? Those are the kinds of things that history and philosophy of science ask and because This practice of science is so important to HPS We explore those questions in direct connection with concrete episodes in science, right? Looking at the history of science Also looking at the the contemporary practice of science Now these are not just abstract questions. These are questions that have significant contemporary social relevance and to show that We'll we'll explore a number of specific examples through this class dealing with research on disease and research in medicine Those topics of course Are of interest to everyone to some extent, but are particularly pressing topics in the contemporary situation in which we're all We're all you know living through this global COVID-19 pandemic situation So one of the things I hope the class will do is help you think a little bit more and help you better understand The the science behind Everything that's happening around this pandemic and our attempts to address it and also to think critically about that science and its role In your life and the decisions that are being made by you and also on your behalf. So that's my very quick Overview of what we're going to be doing in this class We will be looking in the first half of the class largely at some classic texts in history and philosophy of science and looking at some Important episodes in the history of science and in the second half of the class will be looking more More at issues related to science and society science and values science and politics That'll be the main focus of the second half of the class And a lot of really specific issues dealing with disease and medicine medical evidence medical, you know medical knowledge and The values and and and social issues that arise So that's a little bit about the class. I look forward to Exploring these things with you, please. Let me know if you have any questions by stopping in on the class discord server or Leaving a comment on the video Otherwise, I'll see you in class Later today. Thanks