Philosophy of Nature
Objectives
a) Place the Philosophy of Nature in the general context of philosophical knowledge;
b) Identify and precisely describe the main questions dealt with by the Philosophy of Nature;
c) Know directly some of the historically most important texts in the Philosophy of Nature sphere;
d) Study the concepts of "nature" and "natural" and place them in the context of the concepts to which they are related as either complements or opposites;
e) Study important Philosophy of Nature issues.
General characterization
Code
711031065
Credits
6.0
Responsible teacher
Marta Maria Anjos Galego de Mendonça
Hours
Weekly - 4
Total - 168
Teaching language
Portuguese
Prerequisites
None.
Bibliography
Armstrong, D. (1983). What is a Law of Nature? Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bigelow, J., Pargetter, R. (1990). Science and Necessity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Carroll, J. (ed.) (2004). Readings on Laws of Nature. Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh University Press.
Carroll, J., Markosian, N. (2018) An introduction to Metaphysics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Harré, R. (1993). Laws of Nature. London: Duckworth.
Hadot, P. (2006). O véu de Ísis. Ensaio sobre a história da ideia de natureza. Trad. de Mariana Sérvulo. São Paulo: Edições Loyola.
Lange, M. (2000). Natural Laws in Scientific Practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lenoble, R. (1969). Histoire de l’idée de nature. Paris: Éditions Albin Michel.
Mumford, S. (2004). Laws in Nature. London: Routledge.
Teaching method
Theoretical-practical classes; combine analysis and free debate of questions and their treatment in classic texts of philosophical literature.
Evaluation method
1. One written test at the middle of the course (35%).
2. One written test at the end of the course (65%).
Subject matter
Nature and natural order
The course will address the issues of nature and the natural order, focussing on the consideration of the modal status of the laws, processes, and objects of the physical world.
The first part of the course will deal with some fundamental moments in the history of the concept of nature, taking Pierre Hadot's The Veil of Isis. An Essay on the History of the Idea of Nature as a starting point. An Essay on the History of the Idea of Nature. The second part of the course will focus on contemporary debates about the status of the laws of nature, and the relationship between this status and the various models of causal explanation used to understand the physical world.