Darwin and Religion

Fall 2010 with H. Allen Orr

Details | Instructors | Overview | Assessment | Textbooks | Research | Schedule [ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 ]

Part of Darwin's “Diagram of Divergence of Taxa”, the only diagram in On The Origin of Species. For the full diagram see here.

Details

Instructors

Overview

This is a course on the interaction of science and religion, focusing, though not exclusively, on the reception of The Origin of Species. The course will involve equal parts science, history, and philosophy. We will consider topics including the rise of modern science in Judeo-Christian culture, historical attitudes toward biblical literalism, and the challenges posed to religious culture in Europe and America by science, especially the appearance of Darwinism. We will also discuss Darwin's own evolving scientific, philosophical, and religious views and the relevance of Darwinism to ongoing debates over the relationship between science and religion. The course will be very reading-intensive and involve classroom discussion. It is required that students have taken a class in (and ideally be intending to major in) either Philosophy, Religion and Classics, or one of the natural sciences. Instructor permission is required; please contact Professor Weslake.

Assessment

Requirements:

• Class participation.
• Weekly 1–2 page reading summaries.
• One 8–10 page research paper.
• One 10–12 page research paper.

The final grade will be determined as follows:

Due dates:

Textbooks

The following textbooks are required. They have not been ordered into the bookstore; please order copies from the links below:

Brooke, John Hedley. 1991. Science and Religion: Some Historical Perspectives, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. [AddAll]

Harrison, Peter. 1998. The Bible, Protestantism, and the Rise of Natural Science, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. [AddAll]

Darwin, Charles. 2008. Evolutionary Writings: Including the Autobiographies, James A. Secord (Ed), Oxford University Press, Oxford. [AddAll]

Research

Books placed on reserve can be seen here. A research guide on the history of science and religion, which will be updated as the course progresses, can be downloaded here [PDF] (Updated 16 September). For research assistance, students are encouraged to consult either with us or with Eileen Daly, philosophy subject librarian, who maintains a useful set of resources here.

Schedule

Meeting One (Wednesday 1 September)
Introductory discussion

No Class (Monday 6 September)

I. Historiography: Conflict and Harmony

Meeting Two (Wednesday 8 September) and Meeting Three (Monday 13 September)

Overviews

• Wilson, David B. 2000. “The Historiography of Science and Religion,” in Gary B. Ferngren (Ed), The History of Science and Religion in the Western Tradition: An Encyclopedia, Garland Reference Library of the Humanities, Vol. 1833, Garland, 2000, pp. 2–11. [PDF]

  Reprinted in Gary B. Ferngren (Ed), Science and Religion: A Historical Introduction, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD, 2002, pp. 13–29.

• Russell, Colin A. “The Conflict of Science and Religion,” in Ferngren (2000, pp. 12–17). [PDF]

  Reprinted in Ferngren (2002, pp. 3–12).

Primary Reading

• Brooke (1991, Introduction and Chapter 1).
• One of the following:
  • Draper, John William. 1874. History of the Conflict between Religion and Science, D. Appleton and Company, New York, Chapters 1–2. [HTML] [GOOGLE] [LIBRARY]
  • White, Andrew Dickson. 1898. A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom, D. Appleton and Company, New York, Volume 1, Chapter 1, Section 1. [HTML] [GOOGLE] [LIBRARY]
  • Hooykaas, Reijer J. 1972. Religion and the Rise of Modern Science, William B. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids MI, 1972, Introduction and Chapter 1, pp. xi–28. [PDF] [LIBRARY]

Secondary Reading

• Cantor, Geoffrey. 2010. “What shall we do with the ‘Conflict Thesis’?”, in Thomas Dixon, Geoffrey Cantor, and Stephen Pumfrey (Eds), Science and Religion: New Historical Perspectives, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 283–298. [PDF]

• Stark, Rodney. 2003. “God's Handiwork: The Religious Origins of Science”, in For the Glory of God: How Monotheism Led to Reformations, Science, Witch-Hunts, and the End of Slavery, Princeton University Press, Princeton, pp. 121–200. [LIBRARY]

  For a compressed presentation of this argument see also Stark, Rodney. 2003. “False Conflict: Christianity is Not Only Compatible With Science—It Created It”, in The American Enterprise, Vol. 14, October/November 2003, pp. 27–33. [PDF]

• Efron, Noah. 2009. “That Christianity Gave Birth to Modern Science”, in Ronald L. Numbers (Ed), Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths about Science and Religion, Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA, pp. 79–89. [PDF] [LIBRARY]

II. The Scientific Revolution

Meeting Four (Wednesday 15 September) and Meeting Five (Monday 20 September)

Overviews

• Osler, Margaret J. 2009. “That the Scientific Revolution Liberated Science from Religion”, in Ronald L. Numbers (Ed), Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths about Science and Religion, Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA, pp. 90–98. [PDF] [LIBRARY]

Primary Reading

• Brooke (1991, Chapter 2).

Secondary Reading

• Harrison, Peter. 2006. ““Science” and “Religion”: Constructing the Boundaries,” in The Journal of Religion, Vol. 86, No. 1, January 2006, pp. 81–106. [URI]

  Reprinted in Dixon, Cantor, and Pumfrey (2010, pp. 23–49).

• Osler, Margaret J. 2010. “Religion and the Changing Historiography of the Scientific Revolution,” in Dixon, Cantor, and Pumfrey (2010, pp. 87–110). [PDF]

• Henry, John. 2010. “Religion and The Scientific Revolution”, in Peter Harrison (Ed), The Cambridge Companion to Science and Religion, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 39–58. [PDF]

III. Protestantism and Science: The Merton Thesis and The Harrison Thesis

Meeting Six (Wednesday 22 September) and Meeting Seven (Monday 27 September)

Overviews

• Morgan, John. 2000. “Puritanism and Science”, in Wilbur Applebaum (Ed), Encyclopedia of the Scientific Revolution: From Copernicus to Newton, Garland, New York, pp. 840–843. [PDF]

Primary Reading

• Brooke (1991, Chapter 3).
• Harrison (1998, Introduction and Chapters 1–2).

Secondary Reading

• Webster, Charles. 1986. “Puritanism, Separatism, and Science,” in David C. Lindberg and Ronald L. Numbers (Eds), God and Nature: Historical Essays on the Encounter between Christianity and Science, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1986, pp. 192–217. [LIBRARY]

• Ashworth Jr., William B. 1990. “Natural History and the Emblematic World View”, in David C. Lindberg and Robert S. Westman (Eds), Reappraisals of the Scientific Revolution, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 303–333. [PDF]

  Reprinted in Hellyer, Marcus (Ed). 2003. The Scientific Revolution: The Essential Readings, Blackwell, Malden MA, pp. 130–156.

IV. The Harrison Thesis (continued)

Meeting Eight (Wednesday 29 September) and Meeting Nine (Monday 4 October)

Primary Reading

• Harrison (1998, Chapters 3–4).

Secondary Reading

• Harrison, Peter. 2006. “The Bible and the Emergence of Modern Science”, in Science and Christian Belief, Vol. 18, No. 2, pp. 115–132. [PDF]

V. The Mechanical Philosophy and The Foster Thesis

Meeting Ten (Wednesday 6 October) and Meeting Eleven (Wednesday 13 October)
(No Class Monday 11 October)

Primary Reading

• Brooke (1991, Chapter 4).

Secondary Reading

• Harrison, Peter. 2002. “Voluntarism and Early Modern Science”, in History of Science, Vol. 40, No. 1, March 2002, pp. 63–89. [URI]
• Henry, John). 2009. “Voluntarist Theology at the Origins of Modern Science: A Response to Peter Harrison”, in History of Science, Vol. 47, No. 1, March 2009, pp. 79–113. [URI]
• Harrison, Peter. 2009. “Voluntarism and the Origins of Modern Science: A Reply to John Henry”, in History of Science, Vol. 47, No. 2, June 2009, pp. 223–231. [URI]
• Ashworth Jr., William B. 2003. “Christianity and the Mechanistic Universe,” in Lindberg and Numbers (2003), pp. 61–84. [PDF]

VI. The Enlightenment and the Rise of Secular Culture

Meeting Twelve (Monday 18 October) and Meeting Thirteen (Wednesday 20 October)

Visit from Professor Dorinda Outram from the Department of History.

Primary Reading

• Brooke (1991, Chapter 5).

Secondary Reading

• Outram, Dorinda. 2005. “Science and the Enlightenment: God's Order and Man's Understanding,” and “The Rise of Modern Paganism? Religion and the Enlightenment”, in The Enlightenment, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, Second Edition, pp. 93–125. [LIBRARY] [PDF]
• Broman, Thomas H. 2003. “Matter, Force, and the Christian Worldview in the Enlightenment,” in Lindberg and Numbers (2003), pp. 85–110. [PDF]
• Brooke, John Hedley. 2010. “Science and Secularization”, in Harrison (2010), pp. 103–123. [PDF]

VII. Natural Theology and Design Arguments before Darwin

Meeting Fourteen (Monday 25 October) and Meeting Fifteen (Wednesday 27 October)

Lectures: Design Arguments Old and New (Weslake)

Overviews

• Brooke, John Hedley. 2000. “Natural Theology”, in Ferngren (2000, pp. 67–74). [PDF]

  Reprinted in Ferngren (2002, pp. 163–175).

Primary Reading

• Brooke (1991, Chapter 6).

Secondary Reading

• Brooke, John Hedley and Cantor, Geoffrey. 1998. “Section III: Having Designs on Nature”, in Reconstructing Nature: The Engagement of Science and Religion, T. and T. Clark, Edinburgh, pp. 139–243. [URI]
• Bowler, Peter J. 1977. “Darwinism and the Argument from Design: Suggestions for a Reevaluation”, in Journal of the History of Biology, Vol. 10, No. 1, March 1977, pp. 29–43. [URI]
• Elliott Sober. 2008. “Intelligent Design”, in Evidence and Evolution: The Logic Behind the Science, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 109–188. [PDF]

Focus on Sections §§2.1–2.13.

VIII. Darwin: The Theory

Meeting Sixteen (Monday 1 November), Meeting Seventeen (Wednesday 3 November) and Meeting Eighteen (Monday 8 November)

Lectures: Evolutionary Theory Old and New (Orr)

Primary Reading (Darwin)

• Darwin, Charles. 1859. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, 1st Edition, John Murray, London, Chapters I-IV and Chapter XIV. [URI]

  Reprinted in Secord (2008).

Primary Reading (Geology, Deep Time and Biblical Interpretation before Darwin)

• Brooke (1991, Chapter 7).

Secondary Reading (Geology, Deep Time and Biblical Interpretation before Darwin)

• Rudwick, Martin J. S. 1986. “The Shape and Meaning of Earth History”, in Lindberg and Numbers (1986, pp. 296–321).
• Rappaport, Rhoda. 1978. “Geology and Orthodoxy: The Case of Noah's Flood in Eighteenth-Century Thought”, in The British Journal for the History of Science, Vol. 11, No. 1, March 1978, pp. 1–18. [URI]
• Browne, Janet. 2003. “Noah's Flood, the Ark, and the Shaping of Early Modern Natural History”, in Lindberg and Numbers (2003, pp. 111–138). [PDF]
• Augustine, The Confessions, Book XIII, “The Days of Creation and the Prophecy of the Church”.

IX. Darwin: The Person

Meeting Nineteen (Wednesday 10 November) and Meeting Twenty (Monday 15 November)

Overviews

• Brooke, John Hedley. 2010. “Darwin and Religion: Correcting the Caricatures”, in Science and Education, Vol. 19, No. 4–5, April–May 2010, pp. 391–405. [URI]

Primary Reading

• “Introduction” and “Autobiographies”, in Secord (2008).

Secondary Reading

• Sloan, Phillip R. 2001. “ “The Sense of Sublimity”: Darwin on Nature and Divinity”, in Osiris, Vol. 16, Science in Theistic Contexts: Cognitive Dimensions 2001, pp. 251–269. [URI]
• Brooke, John Hedley. 2009. “Darwin and Victorian Christianity”, in Jonathan Hodge and Gregory Radick (Eds), The Cambridge Companion to Darwin, 2nd Ed, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 197–218. [URI]

X. Darwin: The Reception

Meeting Twenty One (Wednesday 17 November) and Meeting Twenty Two Monday 22 November)

Primary Reading

• Brooke (1991, Chapter 8).

Secondary Reading

• Roberts, Jon H. 2010. “Religious Reactions to Darwin”, in Harrison (2010, pp. 80–102). [PDF]
• Moore, James R. 1979. “Part I: Historians and Historiography”, in The Post-Darwinian Controversies: A Study of the Protestant Struggle to Come to Terms with Darwinism in Britain and America, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 17–122. [LIBRARY]
• Turner, Frank M. 2010. “The late Victorian conflict of science and religion as an event in nineteenth-century intellectual and cultural history,” in Dixon, Cantor, and Pumfrey (2010, pp. 87–110). [PDF]

XI. Darwin: Evolution, Naturalism and Chance

(No Class Wednesday 24 November)
Meeting Twenty Three (Monday 29 November) and Meeting Twenty Four (Wednesday 1 December)

Primary Reading

• Elliott Sober. 2011. “Evolution without Naturalism”, in Jonathan L. Kvanvig (Ed), Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion, Oxford University Press, Oxford, Vol. 3. [PDF]
• Beatty, John. 2006. “Chance Variation: Darwin on Orchids”, in Philosophy of Science, Vol. 73, No. 5, December 2006, pp. 629–641. [URI]

Secondary Reading

• Beatty, John. 2006. “Replaying Life's Tape”, in Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 103, No. 7, pp. 336–362. [PDF]

XII. Darwin: One Hundred and Fifty Years Later

Meeting Twenty Five (Monday 6 December) and Meeting Twenty Six (Wednesday 8 December) and Meeting Twenty Seven (Monday 13 December)

Primary Reading

• Brooke (1991, Postscript).
• Dawkins, Richard. 2006. “Why There Almost Certainly is No God”, in The God Delusion, Bantam, London, pp. 111–160. [PDF]
• Robinson, Marilynne. 2006. “Hysterical Scientism: The Ecstasy of Richard Dawkins”, in Harper's, November 2006, pp. 83–88. [PDF]
• Kitcher, Philip. 2007. “A Mess of Pottage”, in Living with Darwin: Evolution, Design, and the Future of Faith, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 117–166. [PDF] [LIBRARY]

Secondary Reading

• Eliot, T. S. 1928. “The Humanism of Irving Babbitt”, in The Forum, Vol. 80, July 1928, pp. 37–44. [PDF] [LIBRARY]

  Reprinted in Eliot, T. S. 1932. Selected Essays, 1917–1932, Faber and Faber, London.

• Eliot, T. S. 1929. “Second Thoughts on Humanism”, in The New Adelphi, Vol. 2, No. 4, June-August 1929, pp. 304–310. [PDF] [LIBRARY]

  Reprinted in Eliot, T. S. 1932. Selected Essays, 1917–1932, Faber and Faber, London.

• Jordan, Jeff. 1994. “Religious Experience and Naturalistic Explanations”, in Sophia, Vol. 33, No. 1, pp. 58–73. [PDF]

  Reprinted in Pojman, Louis P. and Michael Rea. 2012. Philosophy of Religion: An Anthology, 6th Ed, Wadsworth, Belmont CA.

Updated: 6 December 2010