Postgraduate Course: Philosophy, Science and Religion 1: The Physical World (Online) (PHIL11160)
Course Outline
| School | School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
| Course type | Online Distance Learning |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course will introduce students, at an advanced level, to key contemporary questions and debates in the intersection of science and religion. It provides the necessary background for graduate work in these areas.
Please note auditing is not allowed on this course. Students must only take for credit. |
| Course description |
This course (along with its sister course, 'Philosophy, Science and Religion 2: Life and Mind') will explore the big contemporary issues in the debate between science and religion, and the ways in which philosophy has mediated. Some of the most challenging contemporary areas of modern science will feature, but specialised prior knowledge will not be assumed. Quantum mechanics, relativity, cosmology, evolutionary biology, neuroscience, human origins and the search for extraterrestrial existence will feature, along with the big issues for religious belief: the problem of evil, miracles, the theologies of creation and providence. All of these will form the backdrop to this exploration of one of the most far-reaching intellectual debates of modern times.
Much of course 1 will be taken up with in-depth study of the idea of 'reality'. Not only will this foster a good understanding of the relevant debates in the philosophy of science and the philosophy of religion, it will involve understanding the different accounts of the beginnings (and end) of the universe. This will set the scene for course 2, which will also focus on the issue of 'reality', but from the perspective of embodied life, and the importance of 'mind'. The aim is to foster an in-depth philosophical understanding of the role of religious belief in modern scientific practice, and of the challenge of science to religious orthodoxies.
Projected modules:
1. Philosophies, Sciences, and Religions
2. Physics and Reality: Classical or Quantum?
3. Philosophy and Reality
4. Time and Reality: A Brief Philosophy
5. The Christian Doctrine of Creation
6. 'In the Beginning': Big Bang Cosmology
7. The Anthropic Principle
8. Natural Law and Divine Action
9. Miracles
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
|
| Academic year 2018/19, Available to all students (SV1)
|
Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
| Course Start Date |
17/09/2018 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 10,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 10,
Summative Assessment Hours 4,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
172 )
|
| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
85 %,
Practical Exam
15 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Courses will primarily be assessed through the submission of an essay of no more than 2500 words on a topic set by the course organiser. This will account for 85% of the student's course mark. The remaining 15% of the final course mark will be determined by the student's successful participation in the on-line activities associated with the course, such as the completion of on-line quizzes or making a certain number of relevant postings on the course discussion board. |
| Feedback |
Formative feedback will be continuous, through regular access to faculty and teaching assistants.
Students have the opportunity to submit a formative essay by week 6 deadline on Turnitin via Learn. The essay cannot be draft of summative essay but it can be on the same topic. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- demonstrate a good understanding of the key areas in the current science-religion interface (including cosmology, evolution, and the neurosciences)and will be able to engage with them philosophically.
- demonstrate strong analytical skills and philosophical acumen in approaching debates between science and theology.
- engage critically with key textual sources in the field.
- engage constructively in cross-disciplinary conversations.
- demonstrate an openness to personal growth through a commitment to dialogue across intellectual and cultural boundaries.
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Reading List
Alston, William P. 'Divine Action: Shadow or Substance?' In The God Who Acts: Philosophical and Theological Explorations. Edited by Thomas F. Tracy, 41-62. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1994.
Bagir, Zainal Abidin. 2012. 'Practice and the Agenda of 'Islam and Science'' Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 47: 354-366.
Barbour, Ian G. Religion and Science: Historical and Contemporary Issues. Rev. ed. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1997.
Boyd, Richard N. 'The Current Status of Scientific Realism.' In Philosophy of Science: An Historical Anthology. Edited by Timothy J. McGrew, Marc Alspector-Kelly, and Fritz Allhoff, 586-604. Blackwell Philosophy Anthologies 30. Chichester, UK, and Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009
Broad, C. D. 'Hume's Theory of the Credibility of Miracles.' In Human Understanding: Studies in the Philosophy of David Hume. Edited by Alexander Sesonske and Noel Fleming, 86-98. Wadsworth Studies in Philosophical Criticism. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1965.
Brooke, John Hedley. 'Learning from the Past.' In God, Humanity, and the Cosmos. 2d ed. Edited by Christopher Southgate, 63-81. London and New York: T&T Clark, 2005.
Brooke, John Hedley, and Ronald L. Numbers, eds. Science and Religion around the World. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.
Brown, Colin. Miracles and the Critical Mind. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1984.
Collins, Robin. 'The Teleological Argument: An Exploration of the Fine-Tuning of the Universe.' In The Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology. Edited by William Lane Craig and J. P. Moreland, 202-281. Chichester, UK, and Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009.
Cover, Jan A. 'Miracles and Christian Theism.' In Reason for the Hope Within. Edited by Michael J. Murray, 345-374. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1999.
Craig, William Lane, and Quentin Smith. Theism, Atheism, and Big Bang Cosmology. Oxford: Clarendon, 1993.
Craig, William Lane. Time and the Metaphysics of Relativity. Philosophical Studies 84. Dordrecht, The Netherlands, and Boston: Kluwer Academic, 2001.
Curd, Martin, and Jan A. Cover, eds. Philosophy of Science: The Central Issues. New York and London: W. W. Norton, 1998.
Dawes, Gregory W. Theism and Explanation. Routledge Studies in the Philosophy of Religion 6. New York: Routledge, 2009.
Dorman, Eric R. 2011. 'Hinduism and Science: The State of South Asian Science and Religion Discourse.' Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 46: 593-619.
Earman, John. Hume's Abject Failure: The Argument against Miracles. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Edelmann, Jonathan B. 2012. 'The Role of Hindu Theology in the Religion and Science Dialogue.' Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 47: 624-642.
Gilkey, Langdon B. 'Cosmology, Ontology, and the Travail of Biblical Language.' Journal of Religion 41.3 (July 1961): 194-205.
Guessoum, Nidhal. 'Religious Literalism and Science-Related Issues in Contemporary Islam.' Zygon 45(4): 817-840. (2010)
Guessoum, Nidhal. Islam's Quantum Question: Reconciling Muslim Tradition and Modern Science. Palgrave Macmillan (2011)
Heyd, Michael. 'Be Sober and Reasonable': The Critique of Enthusiasm in the Seventeenth and Early Eighteenth Centuries. Brill's Studies in Intellectual History 63. Leiden, The Netherlands, and New York: E. J. Brill, 1995.
Holder, Rodney D. God, the Multiverse, and Everything: Modern Cosmology and the Argument from Design. Aldershot, UK, and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2004.
Ho'ava, Petr. 'Quantum Gravity at a Lifshitz Point.' Physical Review D 79.8 (April 2009): 084008.
Hume, David. 'Of Miracles.' In An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding: A Critical Edition. Edited by Tom L. Beauchamp, 83-99. Oxford: Clarendon, 2000.
Isham, Chris J., and John C. Polkinghorne. 'The Debate over the Block Universe.' In Quantum Cosmology and the Laws of Nature: Scientific Perspectives on Divine Action. 2d ed. Edited by Robert John Russell, Nancey C. Murphy, and Chris J. Isham, 139-147. Scientific Perspectives on Divine Action 1. Berkeley, CA: Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences, 1996.
Jinpa, Thupten. 2010. 'Buddhism and Science: How Far Can the Dialogue Proceed?' Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 45: 871-882.
Kragh, Helge S. Entropic Creation: Religious Contexts of Thermodynamics and Cosmology. Science, Technology, and Culture, 1700-1945. Aldershot, UK, and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2008.
Kretzmann, Norman. 'Omniscience and Immutability.' Journal of Philosophy 63.14 (14 July 1966): 409-421.
Kukla, Andre. Studies in Scientific Realism. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
Larmer, Robert. 'Is There Anything Wrong with 'God of the Gaps' Reasoning?' International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 52.3 (2002): 129-142.
Lindberg, David C., and Ronald L. Numbers. 'Beyond War and Peace: A Reappraisal of the Encounter between Christianity and Science.' Church History: Studies in Christianity and Culture 55.3 (1986a): 338-354.
Lindberg, David C., and Ronald L. Numbers, eds. God & Nature: Historical Essays on the Encounter between Christianity and Science. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986b.
Lindberg, David C., and Ronald L. Numbers, eds. When Science & Christianity Meet. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003.
Lopez, Donald S. 2008. Buddhism and Science: A Guide for the Perplexed. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Manson, Neil A., ed. God and Design: The Teleological Argument and Modern Science. London and New York: Routledge, 2003.
Mavrodes, George I. 'Enthusiasm.' International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 25.3 (1989): 171-186.
McMullin, Ernan. 'How Should Cosmology Relate to Theology?' In The Sciences and Theology in the Twentieth Century. Edited by Arthur R. Peacocke, 17-57. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1981.
McMullin, Ernan. 'Van Fraassen's Unappreciated Realism.' Philosophy of Science 70.3 (July 2003): 455-478.
Monton, Bradley J. Seeking God in Science: An Atheist Defends Intelligent Design. Peterborough, ON, and Buffalo, NY: Broadview, 2009.
Peters, Ted. 'Theology and the Natural Sciences.' In The Modern Theologians: An Introduction to Christian Theology in the Twentieth Century. 2d ed. Edited by David F. Ford, 649-668. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1997.
Pitts, J. Brian. 'Some Thoughts on Relativity and the Flow of Time: Einstein's Equations Given Absolute Simultaneity.' Chronos: The Annual Proceedings of the Philosophy of Time Society 6 (2003-2004): 1-21.
Pitts, J. Brian. 'Why the Big Bang Singularity Does Not Help the Kalam Cosmological Argument for Theism.' British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 59.4 (December 2008): 675-708.
Plantinga, Alvin. 'What Is 'Intervention'?' Theology and Science 6.4 (2008): 369-401.
Plantinga, Alvin. Where the Conflict Really Lies: Science, Religion, and Naturalism. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.
Pruss, Alexander R. 'Fine- and Coarse-Tuning, Normalizability, and Probabilistic Reasoning.' Philosophia Christi 7.2 (2005): 405-423.
Putnam, Hilary. 'Time and Physical Geometry.' Journal of Philosophy 64.8 (27 April 1967): 240-247.
Raman, Varadaraja V. 2002. 'Science and the Spiritual Vision: A Hindu Perspective.' Zygon: Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 37: 83-94
2012. 'Hinduism and Science: Some Reflections.' Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 47: 549-574.
Ratanakul, Pinit. 2002. 'Buddhism and Science: Allies or Enemies?' Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 37: 115-120.
Russell, Robert John, Nancey C. Murphy, and C. J. Isham, eds. Quantum Cosmology and the Laws of Nature: Scientific Perspectives on Divine Action. 2d ed. Series on Divine Action in Scientific Perspective. Berkeley, CA: Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences, 1999.
Ruthven, Jon. On the Cessation of the Charismata: The Protestant Polemic on Postbiblical Miracles. Journal of Pentecostal Theology Supplement 3. Sheffield, UK: Sheffield Academic, 1993.
Saunders, Nicholas. Divine Action and Modern Science. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
Smedes, Taede A. Chaos, Complexity, and God: Divine Action and Scientism. Studies in Philosophical Theology. Leuven, Belgium, and Dudley, MA: Peeters, 2004.
Sorabji, Richard. Time, Creation and the Continuum: Theories in Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006.
Stanford, P. Kyle. Exceeding Our Grasp: Science, History, and the Problem of Unconceived Alternatives. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.
Stenmark, Mikael. How to Relate Science and Religion: A Multidimensional Model. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2004.
Wilcox, John T. 'A Question from Physics for Certain Theists.' Journal of Religion 41.4 (October 1961): 293-300. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Students will acquire and enhance the following main graduate attributes:
- The ability to read and understand scientific, theological and philosophical texts relevant to issues in science and religion and to engage critically with them.
- The ability to engage in constructive discussion with peers and across disciplinary boundaries.
- The ability to engage philosophically with key areas in the current science-religion interface to show strong analytical skills and philosophical acumen in approaching these debates.
- The ability to engage in independent research.
Students will acquire and enhance the following transferable skills:
- General analytical skills (the ability to construct, reconstruct, recognise and critically assess arguments and evidence).
- Organisational skills (the ability to manage time, to complete a large-scale and complex project)
- Team and group work (the ability to coördinate work with others to constructive ends, and to engage in collegial discussion and debate with others).
- General research skills (the ability to find, recognise and organise information relevant to a project, and to assess the import of it).
- Critical thinking (the ability to select and evaluate relevant data in texts).
Students will acquire and enhance the following professional skills:
- The ability to reconstruct and assess philosophical and theological arguments using the tools of logic and relevant evidence.
- The ability to understand relevant scientific texts, data and research methods.
- The ability to formulate a research goal (of an essay, or dissertation) and to complete a project including large-scale complex projects on time.
- The ability to identify and use the methods and resources necessary for a given project. |
| Additional Class Delivery Information |
Priority for this course will be given to online Philosophy, Science and Religion students. Students on any other programme must obtain permission to enroll from Dr Alasdair Richmond as Programme Director. |
| Keywords | philosophy,science,religion,quantum mechanics,relativity,cosmology,reality,creation,anthrop |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Sarah Ritchie
Tel: (0131 6) 50 8903
Email: sarah.laneritchie@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Becky Verdon
Tel: (0131 6)51 5002
Email: Rebecca.Verdon@ed.ac.uk |
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