- From www.coursera.org
Philosophy and the Sciences: Introduction to the Philosophy of Physical Sciences
- Self-paced
- Free Access
- Fee-based Certificate
- 4 Sequences
- Introductive Level
Course details
Syllabus
- Week 1 - What is this thing called science? (Michela Massimi and Duncan Pritchard)
Introduction to philosophy of science: the nature of scientific knowledge, the debates about the scientific method and the problem of underdetermination. - Week 2 - Week 2: The origins of our universe (Michela Massimi and John Peacock)
How did our universe form and evolve? Was there really a Big Bang, and what came before it? - Week 3 - Week 3: Dark Matter and Dark Energy (Michela Massimi and John Peacock)
According to the currently accepted model in cosmology, our universe is made up of 5% of ordinary matter, 25% cold dark matter, and 70% dark energy. But what kind of entities are dark matter and dark energy? - Week 4 - Week 4: The anthropic principle and multiverse cosmology (Alasdair Richmond and John Peacock)
Anthropic reasoning attempts to understand peculiarities of the physical universe via context-sensitive observers in a multiverse of different distinct universes. What are the problems and prospects of this view? - Week 4 - Philosophy and the Sciences Part 2
Prerequisite
Instructors
Professor Andy Clark
School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences
Dr. Alasdair Richmond
Dr.
Philosophy
Dr. Suilin Lavelle
Lecturer in Philosophy
University of Edinburgh
Dr Kenny Smith
School of Philosophy, Psychology & Language Sciences
Professor John Peacock
Professor of Cosmology
Institute for Astronomy
Professor Michela Massimi
Full Professor
Philosophy
Dr Peggy Series
Institute for Adaptive and Neural Computation
Dr David Carmel
Lecturer
Psychology
Louise Connelly
E-Learning Developer
University of Edinburgh
Dr Mark Sprevak
Senior Lecturer
School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences
Professor Duncan Pritchard
Professor of Philosophy
University of Edinburgh
Professor Barbara Webb
School of Informatics
Editor
The University of Edinburgh is a British university, founded in 1583 during a period of rapid development for the city of Edinburgh. It is considered to be one of the most prestigious universities in the world.
Having counted among its students inventors of the Industrial Revolution, it has more students than any other Scottish university and is one of the largest universities in the United Kingdom.
Platform
Coursera is a digital company offering massive open online course founded by computer teachers Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller Stanford University, located in Mountain View, California.
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