Philosophy and the Sciences

Examining Philosophy's relationship with the Physical and Cognitive Sciences

About the course

What is the origin of our universe? What are dark matter and dark energy? What is our role in the universe as human agents capable of knowledge? What makes us intelligent cognitive agents seemingly endowed with consciousness?

Scientific research across both the physical sciences and the cognitive sciences has raised pressing questions for philosophers. The goal of this course is to introduce you to some of the main areas and topics at the key juncture between philosophy and the sciences. The course is structured around two broad areas, Philosophy and the Physical Sciences and Philosophy and the Cognitive Sciences.

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Philosophy and the Physical Sciences

Philosophy and the Cognitive Sciences

Videos

Handouts

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What is this thing called science? (912.64 KB / PDF)
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The origins of our universe (918.15 KB / PDF)
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Dark matter and dark energy (817.45 KB / PDF)
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The anthropic principle and multiverse cosmology (1.08 MB / PDF)
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Stone-age minds in modern skulls: evolutionary theory and the philosophy of mind (1.16 MB / PDF)
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What is consciousness? (1.34 MB / PDF)
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Intelligent machines and the human brain (1.44 MB / PDF)
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Embodied cognition (1015.11 KB / PDF)

If you require a PDF document in an alternative format, such as large print or a coloured background, please email philinfo@ed.ac.uk (for Philosophy enquiries).

Textbook

To accompany ‘Philosophy and the Sciences’, we are pleased to announce a tie-in book from Routledge entitled Philosophy and the Sciences for Everyone. This course companion to the ‘Philosophy and the Sciences’ course was written by the Edinburgh Philosophy and the Sciences team expressly with the needs of MOOC learners in mind. ‘Philosophy and the Sciences for Everyone’ contains clear and user-friendly chapters, chapter summaries, glossary, study questions, suggestions for further reading and guides to online resources.

Philosophy and the Sciences for Everyone

Learning objectives

Upon successful completion of this course, learners will:

Gain a fairly well-rounded view on selected areas and topics at the intersection of philosophy and the sciences
Understand some key questions, and conceptual problems arising in the natural sciences and cognitive sciences.
Develop critical skills to evaluate and assess these problems.

Instructors

This article was published on 2024-10-14