2018-2019 University Catalogue 
    
    Mar 28, 2024  
2018-2019 University Catalogue [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

PHIL 310 - Philosophy and the Social Sciences


Considers philosophical questions about the nature of the social sciences as well as philosophical questions prompted by the results and methods of the social sciences. These questions include: Do the natural sciences offer an appropriate model for the social sciences, or is there something distinctive about human phenomena that requires a fundamentally different mode of inquiry and style of explanation? Are the reasons for which we act also the causes of our actions, or are reason-based and cause-based explanations of human behavior fundamentally distinct? Are economists correct in their assumptions about the rationality of economic agents? Is it possible, or desirable, to conduct social scientific research in a value-neutral fashion? If not, what are the consequences for the objectivity of the social sciences? Are our values and moral attitudes themselves merely the effects of natural selection, as evolutionary psychologists maintain? Readings are drawn not only from philosophy, but also from sociology, economics, political science, psychology, and sociobiology.

Credits: 1.00
Corequisite: None
Prerequisites: One course in philosophy
Major/Minor Restrictions: None
Class Restriction: None
Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
Liberal Arts CORE: None


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