Professor Zeyad El Nabolsy
znabolsy@yorku.ca

Office Location:  S418 Ross Building

Office Hours: (by appointment)

This seminar tackles the question of the relationship between science and religion from the perspective of African philosophy. In contemporary Anglophone treatments of the question of the relationship between science and religion, the religion in question is often taken to be Christianity, and more specifically Christianity as it has come to take shape in the aftermath of the triumph of the Scientific Revolution in early modern Europe. In this seminar, we will see how the choice of the “paradigmatic religion” influences the questions that we pose and the answers that we give to those questions. We will thus be concerned with Christianity but also with some of the non-Abrahamic African religions. The key question that we will be interested in answering is the following: does religion aim at the same things that science aims at? Is it reasonable to interpret religion as a theory of anything in the first place?

We will be interested in whether religion, like science, aims at the explanation, prediction, and control of natural and social phenomena. If so, does this mean that science will eventually render religion obsolete? Is a religious outlook that gives up on the goals of explanation, prediction, and control sustainable?

Moreover, we will be concerned with how the philosophy of science that we adopt influences our answers to the aforementioned questions. For example, if you adopt an inductivist philosophy of science, then it might appear that religion is indeed a totally different kind of enterprise from science. However, inductivist philosophies of science have also been heavily criticized (most famously by Karl Popper).

Much of the literature on the relationship between science and “non-Western” religions has been written from the disciplinary perspective of anthropology, and to this extent we will also be interested in investigating the implicit philosophy of science that anthropologists have adopted when they have contrasted “modern science” with “traditional African religions”.

This course will meet for three hours in person on Thursday at 2: 30 pm.

Patterns of Thought in Africa and the West: Essays on Magic, Religion and Science.

Author: Robin Horton.

Publication Date: 1993.

Publisher: Cambridge University Press.

ISBN:

9781139166232

Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic among the Azande [Abridged Version with an Introduction by Eva Gillies]

Author: E. E. Evans-Pritchard.

Publication Date: 1976

Publisher: Oxford University Press.

ISBN: 9780198740292

Attendance and Participation (10%).

Weekly Responses (20%). (Max 300 Words)

Presentation (20%)

Final Paper (50%).  (4000 words)

Class time will be divided between lectures and in-class discussions. It is vital for students to attend class in person (unless there is an emergency).

1. Learn how to discern the argumentative structure of different texts.
2. Develop an understanding of the key problems concerning the relationship between science and religion.
3. Understand how different competing philosophies of science influence the way that the relationship between science and religion is understood.
4. Develop a nuanced account of the relationship between philosophical discourse and its cultural context.
5. Develop an understanding of different ways of conceiving of the relationship between philosophy and anthropology from the standpoint of African philosophy

Schedule of Readings:

September 5^th                       No Readings.

September 12^th                     Prichard, Introduction + Chapters I to IV.

September 17^th                     Prichard, Chapters V to IX.

September 26^th                     Prichard, Chapters X to XIII (and appendices)

October 3^rd                            Horton, Introduction + Chapters 1 and 2.

October 10^th                          Horton, Chapter 3 and Chapter 4.

October 24^th                           Winch, “Understanding a Primitive Society” (PDF

provided) + Horton, Chapter 5 + Horton, Chapter 6

October 31^st                           Horton, Chapter 7 + Wiredu,

“How Not to Compare African Traditional Thought

with Western Thought” (PDF Provided).

November 7^th                          Skorupski, “Science and Traditional Religious

Thought I & II” (PDF provided) + Skorupski, “Science

and Traditional Religious Thought III & IV” (PDF

provided) + Horton, Chapter 8.

November 14^th                        Barry Hallen, “Robin Horton on Critical Philosophy

and Traditional Thought” (PDF provided)

+ Lansana Keita, “Horton Revisited: African

Traditional Thought and Western Science”.

November 28^th                         Horton, Chapter 9 + Postscript

Grading:

The grading scheme for this course conforms to the 9-point system used in undergraduate programs at York University.

Assignment Submission, Late Penalties, and Other Policies:

Assignments will be due at 11:59 pm on the day that they are due. I am happy to grant you extensions as long as you ask at least three days in advance. Unless you have an emergency, I am not going to grant you an extension if you ask me for an extension the day that the assignment is due. If you do not have an extension, then late assignments will be penalized at half a letter grade per day. So, for example, if you get an A+ on an assignment that is two days late, you will receive a grade of B+, and so on.

You miss up to two classes per semester without penalty (and without excuse). However, if you miss more than two, then you need to provide me with some adequate justification.

Students who miss the tests with a valid excuse (e.g., through illness) will be provided with the opportunity to make up for the missed test with no penalty.

All work submitted must be your own work. Plagiarism is a very serious academic transgression and it will not be tolerated. Please see the definition provided by York University. The use of A.I. such as ChatGPT is strictly prohibited.

I strive to create an inclusive classroom environment where everyone is welcome. If you need any accommodations please let me know as soon as possible, and we will develop a plan in collaboration with Student Accessibility Services.

Some of the topics that we will be discussing will undoubtedly lead to the raising of controversial opinions, and I encourage civil critical debate. However, any discriminatory or hateful remarks are not welcome in class.