Midterm oral exam
Midterm oral exam
Philosophy of Science
Lecturer: Sandy Berkovski
Bilkent University
November 2011
- The exam will have the weight of 45%.
- The exam will be conducted on a lottery basis. Each student will randomly draw one question.
- Clarifying or additional questions can be put to the student in the course of the exam.
- Students are allowed the use of the books on our syllabus list. No other materials will be permitted. All electronic gadgets must be switched off. Draft sheets will be retained by the examiner.
- The exam will take place on 16.11.11. It will begin at 9:00AM. Students will be called in reverse alphabetic order.
Exam topics
During the exam you will be given approximately twenty minutes for
preparation. Questions will be formulated on the basis of the topics below. You should provide a specific answer to the specific question you are given, rather than offer a general discussion of the issue. Answer each question in as much detail as possible. The focus should be on your creative interpretation of the texts, rather than on the knowledge of statements in the texts.
- The relationship between philosophy and science.
- The role of laws in scientific explanation.
- Scientific explanation and the why-questions.
- Troubles with the D-N model of explanation.
- Unification and explanation.
- The regularity account of laws.
- The Ramsey-Lewis account of laws.
- Relativism and meaning-change in scientific theories.
- Reference potential and the response to relativism.
- Arguments for scientific anti-realism.
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On 14 Nov 2011, 19:52.