学生对 爱丁堡大学 提供的 Philosophy and the Sciences: Introduction to the Philosophy of Physical Sciences 的评价和反馈

What an amazing course! I really enjoyed it!

Very nice and informative course

it was an amazing experience working through this course, Material and lectures were very interesting and made me want to pursue further in the world of philosophy

Excellent course, with the contribution of professionals,

that manage to transmit not only the knowledge but the questions to solve, Transmitted in excellent form.

eternal apprentice One more course. More information. I love the COURSERA platform.

A great course. My only quiblle are that the summary slides don't always coincide with the video explanations.

Great Curse. Thank you

Question Your Assumptions

Science is a process, conducted by human beings over many years, decades and centuries. Scientists are influenced by who they are, where they were educated, who influenced them, what they believe, and the assumptions they hold. Yesterdays “science” can sometimes be tomorrows “garbage”. There is a long list of these, dead and abandoned ideas in all scientific professions and fields. This course has demonstrated that scientists are often wrong and for many reasons. This is a good thing because science is self-correcting, and therefore we do not worship science or scientists as it is not a religion, with “gods”. Our concept of the universe, and the “creation” of the universe has changed over many millennia. This is all to the good. It is important to be skeptical, and use critical thinking and logic. Some of the most brilliant scientists, i.e., Einstein, can be wrong or partially wrong. We live in an exciting time, when everything is being questioned (although creating some stress and anxiety): the “big bang”, the cosmological constant, the multiverse, string theory, and many other concepts. This course has made this very clear. It even has implications for religious belief, i.e., concepts as: the “beginning”, “creation”, the concept of “nothing”, quantum mechanics, the concept of cause and effect and others. The presenters did an excellent job in presenting these many controversies, without bias. The presenters also presented good example between theory and experimental evidence. There is bow a controversy that much of astronomy and cosmology is being unduly influenced by mathematics rather than experimental evidence. However, string theory for example is difficult to demonstrate experimentally. Finally, one must always question one’s beliefs and assumption, even thought that can be emotionally and psychologically difficult (i.e., Einstein and Bohr), but that is science, a process not a religion. Therefore, I am also taking the other course, on the philosophy of science: cognition. William B. Secor

This course is very interesting to get to know deeply Contemporary astronomy and his philosophical consequences. Thanks

This course wasn't exactly what I thought it would be, It was better. I found it to be challenging but good.

Amazingly mindblowing and interesting. Even though some of the explanations on dark energy and why it has an expanding effect on the universe are quite hard to understand and grasp.

very interesting course. I learnt a lot new things and also reinforced some of the other things I use to know.

This course will interest physics and cosmology buffs as well as philosophy enthusiasts. It discusses deep philosophy-of-science topics, like "how do we know that we know" and "how can cosmology be a science if you can't really create experiments"; it does this through an interesting and accessible explanation of the latest in cosmology.

The course is challenging but accessible and provides a good glimpse into both cosmology and philosophy.

Very good lecturers, very well delivered.

It was a really good course. Something very different for me. I just wish it was a litter longer than 4 weeks.

Astonishing insights. Very well taught.

The broad principles of the progress of science including paradigm shifts is interesting. The physics involved in the treatment of Cosmology is complex, but the important concepts were beautifully extracted by the lecturer. The lecture slides were a valuable resource to review before each quiz. After the course, I feel that I have tasted the flavor of the astrophysics, enjoyed it, but by no means have I begun to be an astrophysicist .

It is a great deliberation of the interaction between Philosophy and Physical-Sciences. The emphasis is on Astronomy as the representation of philosophical thought. While the focus of astronomy elucidates the conflict and comprise with "Theory of Choice" and other aspects of philosophy - the subject (Astronomy) is largely non-intrusive to day today life of the ~8 billion people. It is also a subject that is rather elitist and grandiose, while physical sciences like Climate (Earth Systems), and Geology are nearer home.

Esperava explicações mais simples dos fenômenos, muitas vezes me perdia

A bit short. The discussions on cosmology is difficult to understand for someone like me who does not learn anything about yet.

This course very much helpful to those who are new philosophy of science.

Great class. Some of the cosmology lectures were a bit hard to understand, but very interesting overall.

Excellent course with some challenging content, very good lecturers, highly relevant. One star taken for the ending, which is missing (a summary video would have been good - finishing with a quiz is anticlimactic) - something that might reflect the current state e.g. of the discovery of primordial gravitational waves. Overall, enjoyed this very much & I have much material to read and to go through. The course really re-awakened my interest in cosmology & taught me something about the philosophy of science and where it's at (almost) right now.

The course is quite interesting, bringing to attention many of the most fundamental issues regarding our views of what is science and the philosophy behind it. The lecturers provide great explanations and plenty of additional readings for those more curious about the many topics.

For those with some background in philosophy of science, especially in physics, this may seem a bit too simple. Nevertheless, it is a great introduction to the topic and provide some very interesting insights even for more familiarised researchers. Definitely worth the time investment.

An enlightening course that helps capture a brief history of the scientific method and aims to give some purpose to scientific pursuits.