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 ‘Philosophy and Religion’, is the second of three related courses in our Philosophy, Science and Religion Online series, and in this course we will ask important questions about the age-old debate between science and religion, such as: • What kind of conflicts are there between religion and science? • Does current cognitive science of religion effectively explain away God? • If there is a God who has made us so that we can know him, why do some people not believe? • Is belief in science also a kind of fundamentalism? • What makes us good at getting, giving, or sharing, knowledge? Is this different when it is religious knowledge? The first course in the Philosophy, Science and Religion series, 'Science and Philosophy' was launched early in 2017 and you can sign up to it at any time. The third course —‘Religion and Science’—will be launched early in 2018. Completing all three courses will give you a broader understanding of this fascinating topic. Look for: • Philosophy, Science and Religion I: Science and Philosophy https://hua.dididi.sbs/learn/philosophy-science-religion-1/ • Philosophy, Science and Religion III: Religion and Science Upon successful completion of all three courses, students will: (1) Understand the main parameters at stake in the current debate between science and religion. (2) Have some familiarity with the relevant areas of science that feature in the debate—including cosmology, evolution, and the neurosciences—and will have begun to engage with them conceptually. (3) Have encountered key philosophical approaches to the interface between science and religion, and will have had the opportunity to engage them in practice. (4) Have embarked constructively in cross-disciplinary conversations. (5) Have demonstrated an openness to personal growth through a commitment to dialogue across intellectual and spiritual boundaries. You can also follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/EdiPhilOnline and you can follow the hashtag #psrmooc Learners can apply for Financial Aid directly with Coursera to assist with the cost of accessing the full course and gaining a certificate for successfully completing the course.
SB
Very interesting. This was my first taste of philosophy and at first it was a bit confusing but I enjoyed learning new ways of looking at things.
K
The inter relationship between all the three concept has to be understood for having through knowledge creation
ST
really interesting and accessible with different topics and different angles. Makes you think in a whole new way!
DP
I loved this course! Thoughtful, well-balanced, excellent professors: just what a course should be.
MA
Islam is the second biggest religion in the world and is one of the Ibrahimic religions. There should be some more research done on it.
AS
Very informative and Well designed course to dive into the field of Philosophy, Science and Religion.
BA
Excellent course, I learned a lot, as well all professors and presentation have excellent knowledge about the subjects
EM
Refreshing to be updated with the latest developments in epistemology and philosophy of religion among others.
MH
It is a good course that provide a basic understanding for inter-relation between religion and philosophy as both of the believe systems have existed since hundred years ago
AP
Very informative and intellectually challenging, but definitely learned a lot. All the best to the course organizers.
AM
An engaging and thought-provoking course. Week 5 (Scientism) was of especial interest to me and was very well presented.
CW
This was a first class course in all respects. The calibre of the lecturers was very high indeed and they all made the material very accessible.
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Honestly, it was pretty lackluster. An entire module (the one on the hiddenness argument) was absolutely irrelevant, but pretended to be otherwise. This course is mostly philosophers who lack experience with religion discussing religion. The focus on Scientism would also be better placed in the Science and Religion course.
The course includes a wide range of topics that are well explained. I don't understand the concept of the course, how the different topics were selected or how they were assigned to the three parts of this course. It seems quite random and unstructured to me.
Very informative and Well designed course to dive into the field of Philosophy, Science and Religion.
I like the course. it helps me understand many things! thanks
I love this subject matter, I just wish the tests where a wee bit tougher. I think these courses should be mandatory at least in high school and especially college. Thank you to the staff for putting together a fun class. Maybe next time make the course 18 weeks similar to a real university course, I would love that.
I thoroughly enjoyed the three part course on "Philosophy, Science and Religion" by the University of Edinburgh. A BIG THANK YOU to those who put these courses together.
Philosophy is the ultimate mother of all knowledge, and irrespective of one's specific subject interest and expertise, makes one even more interested and deeper, by making the thinking and ideas fundamentally clearer. In this series, the designers wonderfully weaved the relationship between the three apparently diverse disciplines in a cohesive narrative, making ones understanding richer! THANK YOU!
I Look forward to other courses from you all!
As a sort of Coursera veteran, I have to say that this is the course to attend if you want to master, or, at least, understand more, complex and complicated issues of philosophy, science, and religion.
It is a good course that provide a basic understanding for inter-relation between religion and philosophy as both of the believe systems have existed since hundred years ago
I have enjoyed all three courses in this program about philosophy, science and religion. Excellent information and I took sooooo many pages of notes.
This was a first class course in all respects. The calibre of the lecturers was very high indeed and they all made the material very accessible.
Really interesting and well put together course.
buenísimo
awasome
This was by far the most difficult of the three-course series for me, and it may be that philosophy for me is the most challenging of the three fields. I liked Prof Ritchie's approach--the brain sciences were made accessible. However, whomever wrote one of the quizzes after Prof Greco's lecture needs to go back to school. I parsed one of the questions repeatedly, went back over and over to the lecture transcript, and I could make neither heads nor tails of what it was getting at regarding the correct response. Still, it made me more cognizant, despite the subtitle, of how science enriches the pursuit of wisdom in the other two realms. The variety of speakers and topics weekly keeps one enlivened and the supplemental readings and videos are welcome as resources for further discovery and learning.
An interesting course, but success could only be achieved with the assistance of a dictionary. The lecturers all assumed their knowledge of the meanings of erudite words and concepts would be known to all students. I advise anyone taking this course to have a window open to an online dictionary.
This was my first experience studying philosophy. I found some of the material difficult to understand, both the concepts and reasons for them. But the lectures and reading materials made it possible to achieve new understandings. The course was very helpful in sorting out the value and likelihood of the many things I hear and read in connection with scientific and religious points-of-view. The course includes several readings you can download and save. The optional textbook is a good value for students who are new to philosophy.
The course was kind of basic, but, very intense in knowledgeble themes, and that helped me to understand a lot about religion and science, the existent shades of science, and religion are gone with the ligth of knowledge in Philosophy, Science, and Religion. Many thanks to my instructor for guiding the course, and helping Ana Pelayo to graduation by explaining the steps to get to the point of graduation in this course.
Wrote, and spoke out,Ana Pelayo.
It was such a constructive experience to attend these courses. The course's content was really interesting and it filled me with so many thoughts. I wouldn't expect that an online class would be so efficient, even for someone like me with difficulty in fully understanding the english language. I really want to thank you both the Coursera team and the University of Edinburgh. All the professors gave us really valuable educational material!
It stretched my understanding and thinking. I could only invest myself when I had plenty of time. At times I needed to listen more than once and then read the notes, but that is because it was a new direction and new course for me. Thanks, you also helped me appreciate religious thought and place now and in the future. I would say, if you are thinking about the course, go for it.
Gerard Howell
I find this course very interesting and well structured. I reckon that these three courses about Philosophy, Science and Religion conform a very complete approach to the topic. I would recommend these three courses to anyone interested in our role as human-beings in the existence. I feel very grateful to the instructors of the courses and Coursera's platform.