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//******************* First Day - August 20th, 2019 *************************//
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- Small room with round tables - hopefully it'll be a good class!
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- Alright: rapidfire round with Professor Justin Biddle!
    - First, running down attendance, it seems an appreciable fraction of the class is missing
- Besides that, today'll just be about going over the course - no material!
    - First, our Professor!
        - Justin Biddle, Undergraduate in Physics from University of Dayton, Phd. from Notre Dame in Philosophy of Science, and a professor in Public Policy here at Tech
            - Currently, his research focuses on how AI is used (or could be used) to make policy decisions, like if robots can incarcerate people without being biased

- SO: What's philosophy of science?
    - If we look at many famous scientists throughout history, they didn't just "do" science, but they often reflected on what they were doing: what IS science? How should we do it? How can we do it better? What are its aims and methods? Is it objective, etc., etc., etc.
        - This course is just an introduction to the field, so if you haven't taken a philosophy class in this before, great!
        - At the same time, I consider it an "advanced introduction" because we start reading advanced material right away and wrestle with challenging ideas

- More logistically, syllabus stuff!
    - There're NO required textbooks in this class; all required readings will be posted as PDFs
    - The main goal for the class is to introduce you to historically (and currently) important debates in this field, but also to sharpen your argument and logic skills: how they're structured, how to evaluate them, and so on
        - You should be able to describe the central issues in this field, be able to read and analyze complex materials, and critique their relevant arguments in a rational and clear way
    - The format of the course'll be a mix of lecture and discussion, with some small-group discussion at your tables and others where the whole class is involved
    - ALSO: the evaluation stuff
        - There'll be a BUNCH of small pop quizzes on your readings (~1 per week); they're not supposed to be hard, but just to check that you've done the reading
            - If you do the readings regularly and with care, you'll have a near-guaranteed 100% on this section
        - There'll also be a midterm and a final, both of which are take-home, open-note essays
            - "I don't want exams to be this cramming-regurgitating thing, but instead a learning experience in and of itself; you'll usually have about a week to complete each exam, and you're free to use whatever materials we've used in class"
        - Finally, there WILL be a participation grade, based on frequent, insightful, RESPECTFUL communication with the class at large and your group
            - Implicitly, this also means there's an attendance grade; if you aren't here, you can't participate!
            - If you legitimately can't make it to a lecture, please let Professor Biddle know as soon as possible so he can excuse you

- What level of difficulty can you expect from this course? A few things to think about:
    - I expect a LOT of participation in this class, so if you're not comfortable talking with your peers and attending regularly, this might not be the best choice
    - That being said, if you actually do the readings and take the assignments seriously, I try to guarantee you at least a B, and make A's pretty reasonable to achieve
        - Historically, a lot of students have enjoyed this class immensely, but the readings are NOT easy; if you took this class just because it fit your time slot, don't expect it to be a cakewalk.

- So, before we start the class proper, let's look at what the course structure'll be over the next couple of months:
    - We'll start off by examining what people have historically thought science "is"; it's always been viewed as this privileged, intellectual field, but what it actually involves has changed significantly since Aristotle
        - We'll talk about some of the major debates and shifts in scientific thought and philosophy, going through Aristotle and Francis Bacon and Hume, Mill, and some other members of the Famous Dead Philosopher's Club
        - While we're doing that, we'll also look at some concrete scientific history that was going on during these time periods
    - We'll then begin getting into 20th century science and looking at some HUGE shifts in scientific thought (in particular falsificationism and Thomas Kuhn's ideas on "scientific revolutions")
    - The 3rd part of the course'll take us into the 21st century, and we'll start branching away from physics into other "messier" branches of science like biology, talking about scientific modeling, data driven science, and the like
    - The 4th and final section will bring us to today, talking about how science and society relate to one another through things like climate change, science and democracy, etc.

- A few other notes:
    - For each day on our Schedule in canvas, there'll be a reading; do them BEFORE you show up to class that day
        - The first one will be on Thursday; it's an article from Scientific American responding to some rather not-nice comments about philosophers, as well as a short selection from Aristotle

- ...annnnnd that's actually all for today! See you on Thursday!