Overview
The discussion in this course will center around four major clashes of religious and scientific world views. (Terminology below borrowed from Philip Kitcher's book.)
- Weeks 1-3
- Living with Aristotle (eternity of the universe; monopsychism)
- Weeks 4-6
- Living with Newton (religion in the clockwork universe)
- Weeks 7-9
- Living with Darwin (religion in an undesigned universe)
- Weeks 10-12
- Living with Heisenberg (challenges to enlightenment epistemology)
Lectures are on Tuesday and Thursday at 11am in McCosh Hall 64. Precepts are on Thursday at 12:30 and 2:30pm.
Required textbooks
- Thomas Aquinas. On faith and reason. Hackett, ed Stephen Brown [books.google]
- Thomas Aquinas, Siger of Brabant, Bonaventure. On the eternity of the world. Marquette University Press, ed Cyril Vollert [books.google]
- Boethius of Dacia. On the supreme good, On the eternity of the world, On dreams. Pontifical institute of medieval studies, trans John Wippel [books.google]
- David Hume. Dialogues concerning natural religion, On miracles. Hackett, 2nd edition, ed Richard Popkin [books.google]
- Immanuel Kant. Religion and rational theology. Cambridge, trans by Allen Wood and George di Giovanni [books.google]
- Course packet including papers by Philip Kitcher, Paul Draper, C. Stephen Evans, and Alvin Plantinga.