The History and Philosophy of Science is designed to give students from science and medicine the tools needed to address ethical, philosophical, and policy-focused questions that accompany scientific work and which embody the urgent problems facing us today.

The course provides students not only with an introduction to contemporary issues and research within the history and philosophy of science, but it also takes up larger questions concerning science denialism, the nature of evidence, science policy, and social and cultural influences on scientific practice.

Part one of the course runs in Michaelmas and is composed of eight lectures on the history of science. Part two of the course runs in Hilary and is composed of eight lectures on the philosophy of science. The scope of the introduction is broad, but the questions we are posing are recurrent: to what extent have scientific ideas been informed by religion, society, and culture? What happens when a field of scientific enquiry is fractured by multiple paradigms? Why do we need philosophy of science as well as science? What is science and can we distinguish science from other forms of enquiry? Is there a scientific method, and what does it involve?

In addition to the lectures, there are usually 9 tutorials (4 in Michaelmas, 5 in Hilary). Tutorials provide students with opportunities to prepare for the exam, explore the course themes in greater depth, develop writing skills, and debate questions with tutors and peers.

The syllabus, reading lists, exam information, and other materials can all be found on the canvas page.