Due:  Monday Oct. 21 by 3:30 P.M.  Late papers will be penalized proportionally to their lateness.

Length:  Around 1000 words (4 solid pages).  Double-spaced, typewritten, 1 “ margins.

Choose Either Topic I or Topic II.

Topic I.  Feyerabend.

In his essay "How to Defend Society Against Science", Feyerabend makes some provocative claims about science and science education.  Scientific theories (and views about scientific method) should be read like fairytales, interesting but full of wicked lies, says Feyerabend. Students should not be taught scientific "facts" or "truths", but simply exposed to a variety of stories and left to make up their own minds. After all, there is no real objective difference between science and pseudo-science or myth. Science should not hold a privileged place in our society as the primary source of TRUTH.

Using a number of assigned course readings, write a critical essay evaluating several of Feyerabend’s theses and arguments.  Explain where, in your view, Feyerabend is right and where he goes wrong, and use facts from science and about science to support your claims. Your essay should address the following issues:

1. According to Feyerabend, what is the usual argument in terms of the scientific method and its results that is given in support of Science occupying a  privileged position in Western  society?  (this is the argument that Feyerabend attacks)

2. To what extent is Feyerabend correct in his claims about "the scientific method" and the results of science?  Do Feyerabend’s conclusions necessarily follow from his claims about the methods and results of science?  Support your answers.

3. To what extent is Feyerabend correct in his claims about science education? For example, should our medical schools teach both the Yin-Yang theory of disease and the Western germ theory of disease as having an equal claim to truth?  Should our psychology courses at UConn teach astrology and current theories of human personality as having an equal claim to truth?

4. Given what you consider to be an accurate view of the methods and results of science, what should be our attitude towards Science as a source of knowledge (knowledge meaning "true, justified beliefs"), and how should it be taught in schools?

Topic II.  Building a computer to do GOOD science.

Suppose that you want to build a computer to do GOOD Science, hoping to avoid  the errors and biases of human scientists.  To what extent is this a feasible or even a desirable project?   Use material from the readings and lectures in answering these questions and to support your answers.  Structure your essay in several parts:

1. What do you consider to be the best description of the processes of scientific inquiry and the meaning of "good" science, and why?  That is, will your computer be based on an Aristotelian, Baconian, Popperian, or Abductive-Kosso view of science (or none of the above), and why?

2. Identify the skills and prior knowledge that  the computer would need to do "good" science, and identify elements that would be particularly difficult to program.  Should this computer be programmed with human-like emotions and desires?  Should it be programmed with social values such as a world free from hunger? Should it be "networked" with similar computers or with human scientists – i.e. should it be part of a scientific community?  Should it be programmed with a general "philosophy" of nature? Provide arguments for your claims.

3. Critically evaluate the performance of this computer as a scientist.   How closely  would the behavior of the computer match that of a real life respected scientist [e.g. Aristotle, Hooke (you read about one of his famous experiments) , Newton, Darwin, or Einstein), and why?

4. What are YOUR own views on  the advantages and/or disadvantages of  the science done by the computer-scientist you described.  To what extent will your computer be  "objective" and free from Bacon’s idols? In the end, would you support a project to build such a computer and why/why not?

Instructions:

1. Use good writing skills: rules of grammar; logical organization; good paragraph structure; clear, precise language.  Edit and revise your paper.

2. Use good argument skills. Support your important claims with details and facts.

3. Make good use of the relevant course readings.  Show that you have done the assigned reading and understand it.  Footnote your references.

4. Develop new insights and think for yourself.

5. Include only relevant material in your essay that contributes directly to some point that you are making.  These are short papers, so there is no room for extraneous material.

Your grade will be based on how well you meet these goals.