About this course: Philosophy, Science and Religion mark three of the most fundamental modes of thinking about the world and our place in it. Are these modes incompatible? Put another way: is the intellectually responsible thing to do to ‘pick sides’ and identify with one of these approaches at the exclusion of others? Or, are they complementary or mutually supportive? As is typical of questions of such magnitude, the devil is in the details. For example, it is important to work out what is really distinctive about each of these ways of inquiring about the world. In order to gain some clarity here, we’ll be investigating what some of the current leading thinkers in philosophy, science and religion are actually doing. This course, entitled ‘Science and Philosophy’, will serve as the first of three related courses in our Philosophy, Science and Religion Online series, and in this first course we will ask important questions about the nature of scientific knowledge, its limits and implications for the disciplines of philosophy and religion, as well as for their intersection. We begin by asking whether scientific claims aspire to absolute truth. For instance, are there any scientific claims that are absolutely true, or are they all true relative to the system of thought that generated them? If we accept the latter, does this also hold true of any claims we might make, including within the domains of philosophy and religion? In this Science and Philosophy course we will also be exploring in some detail current and exciting questions about the relationship between physics and faith, science and pseudoscience, creationism and evolutionary biology. The second and third courses in the Philosophy, Science and Religion series—‘Philosophy and Religion’ and ‘Religion and Science’—will be launched later in 2017. Completing all three courses will give you a broader understanding of this fascinating topic. Look for: • Philosophy, Science and Religion II: Philosophy and Religion • Philosophy, Science and Religion III: Religion and Science Check out our trailer to hear more: https://youtu.be/OifqTI5VKek You can also follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/EdiPhilOnline and you can follow the hashtag #psrmooc
Who is this class for: This class can be taken by learners at all levels, and should be easy to understand for 1st and 2nd year undergraduate students. Although passing short quizzes is required to pass the course, those who want to engage further also have the option of receiving peer-feedback on optional short-answer questions. The course is self-contained but can also act as a taster for Edinburgh's online MSc in Philosophy, Science, and Religion.
Taught by: Dr J Adam Carter, Researcher
Epistemology - Philosphy
Taught by: Dr Orestis Palermos, Research Explorer
School of Philosophy
Taught by: Dr Mark Harris, Senior Lecturer in Science and Religion
School of Divinity
Taught by: Professor Duncan Pritchard, Professor of Philosophy
University of Edinburgh
| Level | Beginner |
| Commitment | 4 weeks of study |
| Language | English |
| How To Pass | Pass all graded assignments to complete the course. |
| User Ratings |
- Video: Lecture 1.1 - Overview
- Video: Lecture 1.2 - Relativism and Science
- Video: Lecture 1.3 - Faith and Physics
- Video: Lecture 1.4 - Evolutionary Biology and Creationism
- Discussion Prompt: Does disagreement about a subject constitute a good reason to be a relativist about the subject matter in question?
- Video: Lecture 2.1 - What is Relativism?
- Video: Lecture 2.2 - The Sociology of Science
- Video: Lecture 2.3 - Kuhn and the Structure of Scientific Revolutions
- Video: Lecture 2.4 - Relativism and Science
- Video: Lecture 2.5 - The Future of Relativism in the Study of Science
- Peer Review: Peer-reviewed essay question
- Reading: [Video Lecture] Stathis Psillos on Scientific Realism
- Reading: Further Reading on Relativism
- Reading: Podcasts, Interviews, and Videos
- Video: Lecture 3.1 - Conflicting in Principle
- Video: Lecture 3.2 - Non-Conflicting in Principle
- Video: Lecture 3.3 - Potentially Conflicting
- Video: Lecture 3.4 - Can Science Support Religious Beliefs?
- Video: Lecture 3.5 - A Theoretical Challenge
- Video: Lecture 3.6 - A Challenge from Evolutionary Psychology
- Video: Lecture 3.7 - Summary
- Peer Review: Peer-reviewed essay question
- Reading: [Video Lecture] Tom McLeish on the Theology of Science
- Reading: Further Reading on Religion & Science
- Video: Introduction to Week 4
- Video: Lecture 4.1- The Return of Scientia
- Video: Lecture 4.2 - Fundamentalism: "My Precious"
- Video: Lecture 4.3 - Nihilism and Pseudo-Science
- Video: Lecture 4.4 - The Return of Science
- Video: Lecture 4.5 - Dawkins and the Selfish Gene
- Video: Lecture 4.6 - Conclusion
- Video: Lecture 4.7 - Creationism vs Evolutionary Biology
- Video: Lecture 4.8 - Is Creationism Scientific?
- Video: Lecture 4.9 - Is Evolutionary Biology Scientific?
- Video: Lecture 4.10 - Conclusion
- Peer Review: Optional essay question
- Reading: Further Reading on Creationism and Evolutionary Biology
- Reading: Podcasts, Interviews, and Videos
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Excelent course, all the topics are very interesting, great team of professors, congratulations.
Lots of new ideas to think about!
Good critical overview of science, philosophy and religion
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I was very pleased of taking this course. I recommend every course of the University of Edinburgh, I think they are of a very good quality. You learn very interesting things, and furthermore, it is very helpful to practice English language skills.