Published on: 27 March 2020


UWA lecturer in Philosophy, Dr Remco Heesen visited the School recently to speak with our Year 12 Philosophy and Ethics class on the ‘Philosophy of Science.’

Dr Heesen addressed the boys on the question of whether the success of scientific theories can tell us anything about the existence of unobservable entities, such as electrons, genes, and quarks.

“No one has ever seen or touched any of these, so the question the philosopher of science asks is – do we have good reason to believe they exist or are they just useful fictions?” questioned Dr Heesen while describing the theories.

Dr Heesen presented an argument for and against the existence of unobservable entities – The ‘No Miracles Argument’ and the ‘Pessamistic Meta-Induction Argument.’

“It was a delight to have Dr Heesen share his expertise. As a Year 12 teacher it is beneficial to expose the boys to the top researchers and thinkers in the field of study we are covering within the curriculum,” commented Humanities Teacher, Mr Matt Smith.

“The boys got to taste what a Philosophy lecture at university might look like and obtained a myriad of examples to reference in future class discussions and assessments.”

A big thank you to the Centre for Ethics for organising the visit.