PER5045 - Science and Religion

Objectives:

Assessment tasks are designed to enable students to demonstrate the Learning and Employability outcomes for the relevant level of study. Level Learning Outcomes are embedded in the assessment task(s) at that level. This enables a more integrated view of overall student performance at each level.

Content:

This module is designed to explore the apparent conflict between scientific and religious ways of explaining phenomena in the world around us. In order to do this, it is first necessary to examine the following questions: (1) What is science? and (2) What is religion? Recognising that students doing PER examine (2) in the module “Studying Religion”, this module will begin by examining (1). To do this, the module will explore what has come to be known as the Demarcation Problem—that is, the problem of distinguishing scientific theories from non-scientific theories. In the first half of this module, students will learn about a number of different proposed solutions to the Demarcation Problem. This part of the module is intended to prompt students to think critically about what qualifies as a science (something we often take for granted).

The second half of the module will then turn to some specific domains in which religious and scientific explanations seem to come into conflict. These may include (but are not limited to): testimony about miracles and the nature of evidence, miracles and the laws of nature, cosmology, psychology and religious experience, and naturalism. In examining these conflicts, students will be prompted to apply their understanding from the first half of the module. Students will be expected to think critically about the nature and extent of the conflicts in these domains. The objective is that, by the end of the module, regardless of where students’ sympathies lay at the start, they will each come away appreciating that the question is much more complicated than it first seemed.

Learning and Teaching Information:

Lectures/Seminars
Hours: 24
Intended Group Size: 30

Guided independent study
Hours: 126

Further details relating to assessment
Essay Plan: Students will submit a 500-word essay plan for the essay they intend to submit at the end of the semester. A list of suggested essay topics and questions will be provided in advance, but students are free to take this opportunity to propose their own question/topic. The plan should include the student’s proposal for a thesis statement, the outline of their argument, and a brief list of resources they intend to use. It is through this process that students will gain approval for the essay question they design (see ‘Essay’ below). This will not be treated as ‘set in stone’; that is to say, students’ essays need not reflect this plan precisely. That said, it would be to students’ benefit to write an essay that closely matches their plan so that they can make the most of the feedback received on the plan.

Essay: Students will complete a 2500-word essay on a question of their design (to be approved by the lecturer at midterm, see ‘Essay Plan’ above). This question should be related to the overarching question behind the module: what is the nature of the conflict between science and religion. Students will be expected to make an argument for the answer to the question chosen. They should draw on at least one text from the module but will also be expected to conduct their own independent research.

Assessment:

001 Essay Plan; 500 words; pass/fail; mid semester 1 %
002 Essay; 2,500 words; end of semester 1 100%

Fact File

Module Coordinator - David Ellis
Level - 5
Credit Value - 15
Pre-Requisites - NONE
Semester(s) Offered - 5S1

Click here to go back to previous page