RELG 3340
Clayton Crockett Fall
Semester 2004
Email: ClaytonC@uca.edu
Office Hours: MWF 9-10, 11:30-1,
Office: Harrin 128 TT
10:30-11:45
Phone: 450-5506
Religion, Science and Technology
Course Description: This course examines the impact of scientific and
technological developments and ideas on religion in the 19th and 20th
century. On the one hand, what are the cultural effects of science and
technology on how we think about religion? On the other hand, what are the
religious implications of contemporary science and technology? Students will
conduct research, write papers, and participate in discussions dealing with the
interrelationships among religion, science and technology.
Course Goals: Students will become aware of the pervasive
influence and impact of science and technology upon religious practice and
thought, as well as contemporary culture in general. The course will stress
theoretical tools of interpretation in order to make sense of what can appear
to be an overwhelming amount of information. Students will gain skills of
critical thinking, interpretation, and application of important developments,
controversies and debates.
Course Overview: The course will proceed historically, while
also connecting up with contemporary issues and debates. After an introductory
survey of the development of modern science and its interaction with religious
issues, the first part of the course will focus on the the theory of evolution.
Here Darwinian natural selection will be emphasized, but attention will also be
paid to alternative theories of evolution, as well as alternative explanations,
and references will be made to contemporary controversies over the teaching of
evolution and “intelligent design”. The second part of the course will examine
developments in physics in the early twentieth century, attending to the
cultural and religious significance of Einstein’s relativity theory as well as
quantum physics. These developments will be contextualized in relationship to
both Newtonian physics and contemporary notions of “chaos theory” and
“complexity theory”. The primary goal is to become aware of the religious and
cultural significance of these developments and ideas. The third part of the
course will focus on computer technology and information theory, in order to
see how these technologies, whether natural or artificial, have affected our
self-understanding, including our perception, our bodies and our politics, while
maintaining focus on their religious implications. At the end of the semester,
students will make presentations of their own research projects into some
aspect of contemporary science and technology, and its cultural and religious
significance.
Required Texts:
Christopher
Southgate et.al, God, Humanity and the Cosmos
William
Gibson, Neuromancer
Stephen Jay Gould, Ever
Since
Mark C. Taylor, The
Moment of Complexity
Katherine Hayles, How
We Became Posthuman
Course
Requirements:
20% Participation. Students are required to attend class and participate in discussions.
Anyone who misses more than nine classes will automatically fail the course. Students will read and discuss primary and secondary sources dealing with modern and contemporary developments in science and technology and their religious implications or significance. Each student will turn in a one-page written response to each class day’s scheduled reading assignment. These papers will be read but not individually graded, although they will help determine the quality and quantity of participation in the class.
60% Papers. Students will write three 5-page papers, each due on the date assigned on the course syllabus. Late papers will not be accepted without prior permission. These papers will engage the topics and the reading material, and will combine descriptive analysis and critical evaluation. Papers should have a narrow focus; a thesis and theme that undergoes development and draws a significant conclusion. Each response paper is worth 20% of the final grade.
20% Research Project. Students will compose and turn in a semester research project. This
project may consist of a paper, but it may also make use of other media that
explores and assesses the religious significance of a particular issue related
to science and/or technology. This project will require some outside research,
and will be finished and turned in by the day scheduled for the final exam,
Wednesday, December 8.
Participation: 20%
3 Essays: 60% (20% each)
Research Project: 20%
Total: 100%
Grade scale:
A = 90-100%
B = 80-89%
C = 70-79%
D = 60-69%
F = below 60%
Each student is expected to do his or her own work. Any form of academic dishonesty or plagiarism may result in anything from an "F" for the particular assignment, to an "F" for the course, to expulsion from the university (see Student Handbook).
The
Students are responsible to familiarize themselves with the policies listed in the Student Handbook. Special attention should be given to the Sexual Harassment and Academic Policies.
Intro
F. 8/20 Introduction to the Course; Syllabus.
M. 8/23 Religion and the Development of Modern
Science: Copernicus and Gallileo.
Read God, Humanity and the Cosmos
(GHC), 1. Section A, pp.3-27.
W. 8/25 Religion and the Development of Modern
Science:
Read GHC, 1. Section B, 1.12-1.13,
pp. 27-33; 2., Section A, pp.95-100.
1 page response paper due.
1984: Sci-Fi Punk
Year Zero
F.
8/27 Gibson
Read Neuromancer.
M.
8/30 Gibson cont.
2-3 page response paper due.
1859: The Origin of
Species: Beginning of Effective Natural History
W.
9/1 Precursors to
F. 9/3
Intro to
Read GHC 4., Section A, pp. 137-143.
1 page response paper due.
M.
9/6 Labor Day: No Class.
W.
9/8 Darwiniana: Intro to Gould.
Read Gould, Prologue, Part 1, pp.11-45.
1 page response paper due.
F.
9/10 Developments in Evolutionary
Theory.
Read GHC 4., Section B and C,
pp.143-163. 1 page response paper due.
M.
9/13 Human Evolution.
Read Gould, Part 2, pp.49-75; Read
GHC 4., Section D, pp.163-171.
1 page response paper due.
W.
9/15 Gould cont. Read Parts 3-4,
pp.79-138. 1 page response paper due.
F.
9/17 Gould cont. Read Parts 5-6,
pp.141-198. 1 page response paper due.
M.
9/20 Science and Society. Read Gould,
Parts 7-8, pp. 231-271.
Physical Effects-Series (1905, 1913, 1927, 1972…)
W.
9/22 The New Physics. Read GHC 3.,
Sections B and C, pp.100-119.
*5 page paper on Religion and
Evolution due.
F.
9/24 Modern Cosmology. Read GHC 3.,
Sections D, E and F, pp.119-135.
1 page response paper due.
M.
9/27 The Simple and the Complex. Read
Gell-Mann, Ch.1-4, pp.3-50.
1 page response paper due.
W.
9/29 The Simple and the Complex, cont.
Read Gell-Mann, Ch.5-9, pp.51-120.
1 page response paper due.
F.
10/1 The Quantum Universe. Read
Gell-Mann, Ch.10-12, pp.123-176.
1 page response paper due.
M.
10/4 The Quantum Universe cont. Read
Gell-Mann, Ch.13-15, pp.177-231.
1 page response paper due.
W.
10/6 Diversity and Sustainability. Read
Gell-Mann, Ch. 21-23, pp.329-75.
1 page response paper due.
1989: And the Walls Came Tumbling Down
F.
10/8 Intro to
1 page response paper due.
M.
10/11 From Grid to Network. Read
1 page response paper due.
W.
10/13 Critical Emergency. Read
1 page response paper due.
F.
10/15 Fall Break: No Class
M.
10/18 Strange Loops. Read
*5 page paper on Religion and
Physics due.
W.
10/20 Noise in Formation. Read
1 page response paper due.
F.
10/22 Emerging Complexity. Read
1 page response paper due.
M.
10/25 Evolving Complexity. Read
1 page response paper due.
W.
10/27 Intro to Religion and Technology.
Read GHC, Ch.10, pp.329-353.
1 page response paper due.
F.
10/29 No Class – Get started on Hayles
book.
M.
11/1 Biotechnology. Read GHC, Ch.11,
pp.355-385.
1 page response paper due.
1999: When We Became Post-Human
W.
11/3 Embodied Virtuality. Read Hayles,
Ch.1, pp.1-24.
1 page response paper due.
F.
11/5 Flickering Signifiers. Read Hayles,
Ch.2, pp.25-49.
1 page response paper due.
M.
11/8 Cybernetics. Read Hayles, Ch.3-4,
pp.50-112.
1 page response paper due.
W.
11/10 Cybernetics cont. Read Hayles,
Ch.5-6, pp.113-159.
1 page response paper due.
F.
11/12 Fiction and Materiality. Read
Hayles, Ch.7-8, pp.160-221.
1 page response paper due.
M.
11/15 Artificial life. Read Hayles,
Ch.9, pp.222-246.
1 page response paper due.
W.
11/17 Semiotics of Virtuality. Read
Hayles, Ch.10, pp.247-282.
1 page response paper due.
Afterwords
F.
11/19 Conclusions on Technology. Read
Hayles, conclusion, pp.283-291.
*5 page paper on Religion and
Technology due.
M. 11/22 –
F. 11/26 Thanksgiving: No Class.
M.
11/29 God, Humanity and the Cosmos Conclusion. Read GHC, Ch.12, pp.391-398.
W.
12/1 Course Conclusions. Informal
discussion of research topics.
F. 12/3 No
Class: Reading Day.
Final
Research Project due in Instructor’s office (Harrin 128) or mailbox (Harrin
224) by the end of the day scheduled by the Registrar for final exam,
Wednesday, December 8, by 4:30pm.