HPS graduate seminars 2025-2026
DW, 11-5-2025
[H] indicates an elective seminar satisfying the History requirement.
Fall 2025
Edouard Machery, Recent Books in Cognitive Science (HPS 2634 Topics in History and Philosophy of Cognitive Science)
This course will focus on a few recently published books in the philosophy of cognitive science, which we will read and discuss in detail, with a focus on recent work on representation, concepts, innateness and empiricism, and, finally, AI. Background readings might be assigned to situate the books in their philosophical context.
John Norton, HPS 2844 Modern Cosmology [H]
In 1917 Einstein asked his new general theory of relativity how the universe might look on the largest scale. So was born the modern tradition in cosmology--rich in wild speculation, technical physics and controversy. We shall review its history and philosophy.
Paolo Palmieri, HPS 2810 Galileo and All That [H]
This seminar focuses on Galileo's contributions to the cultural revolution of the seventeenth century, including the astronomical discoveries, the physics of falling bodies, the philosophy of nature, the harmony of religion and science. The seminar approaches Galileo in the broader humanistic, philosophical, mathematical and religious context of early modern Europe. His ingenious experiments are really or virtually re-enacted in order to illuminate his creative pathways towards. The seminar traces Galileo's lasting legacy in the controversies that shaped the history and philosophy of modern science.
Wayne Wu, Explanation in Cognitive Science and Neuroscience (HPS 2390 Special Topics in History and Philosophy of Neuroscience)
The goal of this course is to understand explanation in cognitive neuroscience, research where neural properties are leveraged to explain psychological phenomena. We deploy Marr’s account of explanation and work with neuroscientists who will present their work in light of questions about neuroscientific explanation. We will work in the science to extract the scientist’s working model of explanation.
Porter Williams, HPS 2101/PHIL 2603 Philosophy of Science Core Seminar
This course will focus on central topics in general philosophy of science, including explanation, confirmation, causation, scientific realism, and the interaction between social and political values and scientific inquiry. We shall combine a reading of some historically important papers along with more recent work.
Spring 2026
Bob Batterman, HPS 2153 / PHIL 2663 Models and Modeling in Science
The use of models and modeling strategies in science is ubiquitous. There is, however, no generally accepted, or received view about the nature and role models play in scientific theorizing. Models are sometimes said to represent scientific targets of interest. How do they do this? Models are sometimes said to be explanatory of behaviors of targets of interest. How do they do this? Is the representative function of models related to their explanatory capabilities? If so, how? This course considers questions of these sorts, examining as well, the fact that models (almost by definition?) appear to involve idealizations of various kinds. What role do idealizations play in modeling contexts? Are they essential? Are they eliminable? . . .
Mike Dietrich, HPS 2103 History and Philosophy of Science Core Seminar
This course will consider the nature of integrated history and philosophy of science. Through key exemplars, we will critically explore different strategies for researching and writing history and philosophy of science. Students will be required to write four short papers over the course of the term. HPS graduate students must pass an exam on course related material at the end of the semester.
Marian Gilton, HPS 2812 Newton [H]
This course is an introduction to the life, work, and legacy of Issac Newton. It will balance readings from primary texts such as the Opticks and the Principia, together with secondary sources covering debates over topics such as: Newton's experimental, mathematical, and philosophical methods; his philosophical conception of space; what exactly about the Principia made it revolutionary; and the further development and reception of Newtonianism as a mode of scientific enterprise.
Sandy Mitchell, HPS 2276 / PHIL 2676 Biological Complexity
Biological systems are multi-level, historically contingent, robust and evolved structures. What are the special complexities of biological organization and dynamics? Some have identified biocomplexity as the reasons there are no laws of biology, others have defended reductionist strategies to explain the complexity, and others have founded new disciplines, like systems biology, as a response to bio complexity. This seminar explores topics related to ontological and methodological challenges for scientific approaches to knowledge of biological systems.
Paolo Palmieri, HPS 2117 Early Modern Women Philosophers [H]
This open-platform seminar questions the presence and absence of women philosophers in early modern Europe. The seminar is student-centered and promotes intellectual emancipation. Participants are welcome from all academic fields and perspectives. We will debate women philosophers and the role of visibility, oppression, seclusion, sexuality, violence, institutional racism, colonial prejudice, and gender in marking disciplinary boundaries within philosophy. Suggested examples of women in early modern philosophy and science include Virginia Galilei, Elizabeth of Bohemia, Margaret Cavendish, Émilie du Châtelet. Laura Bassi. Readings, writing and creative projects, punctuated silence, and colorful patterns of resistance are encouraged. There are no prerequisites.
David Wallace, HPS 2820 / PHIL 2661 Philosophy of Spacetime and Symmetry
This course explores the interpretation of spacetime theories (past, present, and perhaps future) and the role of symmetries (spacetime and otherwise) in the development and interpretation of physical theories. Topics covered may include: the debate over the reality of space and spacetime (that is, the debate between relationism and substantivalism); the relation between geometry, coordinate systems and reference frames; the modal, conceptual, and epistemic status of symmetry transformations; the relation between spacetime geometry and gravity. (Not all topics will be covered in all years.)
Wayne Wu, The Crisis of Attention (HPS 2634 Special Topics in Philosophy of Neuroscience and Cognitive Science)
Is there a crisis of attention? If so, what is the nature of this crisis and what can we do about it? In this seminar, we’ll address this issue of substantial social concern. In the first 10 sessions, there will be three readings: (a) a relevant philosophical perspective; (b) a relevant empirical study or review; and (c) a chapter from the author’s book manuscript. At the center will be an underdiscussed state of mind, attunement as the agent’s potential for attention (cf. disposition to attend). Topics covered include: attention in action; the nature of distraction; bias; the resource/commodity conception of attention; an attention economy; habits and automaticity; value-based attunement; learning attunement in skill, expertise and virtue; mediocre attunement in implicit bias and multitasking; ethical attention in Iris Murdoch, and, at the end, a survey of some recent work on norms of attention in ethics and epistemology. We will develop an empirically informed conception of attunement as the origin of attention as well as map its social and philosophical significance.