Links: all supervision subjects; supervision instructions.

Here are the topics, questions, and reading lists for the Part II Philosophy of Science supervisions in the Philosophy Tripos at Cambridge. Students must choose just one question when more than one is listed. Only four topics will be covered.

1 Biology

Question:

How, if at all, can stating the function of a feature of an organism explain that feature?

Primary reading:

  • Millikan, ‘In defense of proper functions’
  • Neander, ‘Functions as Selected Effects: The Conceptual Analyst’s Defense’
  • Godfrey-Smith, ‘A modern history theory of functions’
  • Garson, ‘Function and Teleology’

Secondary reading:

  • Garson, What Biological Functions Are And Why They Matter

2 Psychiatry

Is mental illness socially constructed?

Primary reading:

  • Hacking, I. (1999). The Social Construction of What?. Harvard University Press. Chapter 1 (‘Why ask what?’) and 4 (‘Madness: Biological or Constructed?’)
  • Cooper, R. (2013). What’s Special About Mental Health and Disorder? In Arguing About Human Nature, eds. E. Machery and S. Downes. New York: Routledge, pp. 487–500.
  • Murphy, D. (2010). Explanation in psychiatry. Philosophy Compass, 5(7), 602-610. Chicago.

Secondary reading:

  • Nadelhoffer, T., & Sinnott‐Armstrong, W. (2012). Neurolaw and neuroprediction: Potential promises and perils. Philosophy Compass, 7(9), 631-642.
  • Pickard, H. (2015). Psychopathology and the ability to do otherwise. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 90(1), 135-163. Chicago.
  • Kingma, E. (2012). Health and disease: Social constructivism as a combination of naturalism and normativism. In Health, Illness and Disease: Philosophical Essays, eds. Carel H. Cooper R., 37–56. Durham, UK: Acumen Publishing.

3 Physics

3.1 Space and time

3.1.1 Substantivalism and relationalism

Is spacetime relational?

Primary reading:

  • Dainton, Time and Space (Chs. 10–12)
  • Dasgupta, ‘Substantivalism vs Relationalism About Space in Classical Physics’
  • Earman, World Enough and Space-time: Absolute versus Relational Theories of Space and Time (Chs. 1 & 3)

Secondary reading:

  • Maudlin, Philosophy of Physics: Space and Time (Chs. 2–3)
  • Batterman, ‘Substantivalist and Relationalist Approaches to Spacetime’ ($\S$1–6)
  • Weatherall, ‘Classical Spacetime Structure’
  • Friedman, ‘Special Relativity’

3.1.2 Conventionalism

What role (if any) do conventions play in spacetime physics?

Primary reading:

  • Dainton, ‘Curved Space’
  • Nerlich, The Shape of Space (Chs. 6 & 7)
  • Ivanova, ‘Conventionalism, Structuralism and Neo-Kantianism in Poincaré’s Philosophy of Science’

Secondary reading:

  • Sklar, Space, Time, and Spacetime (Ch. 2)
  • Reichenbach, The Philosophy of Space and Time ($\S$1–8)
  • Ben-Menahem, ‘Relativity: From “Experience and Geometry” to “Geometry and Experience”’
  • Nagel, The Structure of Science: Problems in the Logic of Scientific Explanation (Chs. 8 & 9)
  • Friedman, ‘Conventionalism’