DESCRIPTION: This is a 6-unit seminar for doctoral students, also offered at
the 500-level as a 4-unit course open to a limited number of advanced master's
students. This course considers the topic of human nature from the perspectives
of Christian theology and the Bible, philosophy of mind, and science. The
thesis of the course is that a nonreductive physicalist account (as opposed to
both dualism and reductive materialism) is most consistent with these three
types of sources.
SIGNIFICANCE FOR LIFE AND MINISTRY: Increasing awareness of the ability of the
cognitive neurosciences to explain capacities that have been traditionally
attributed to the mind or soul is taken by some to entail the falsification of
religious claims. Teachers and pastors in the church need to be aware of the
fact that body-soul dualism is not an essential teaching of Christianity.
Increasingly, also, both philosophers and scientists are advocating a
reductionist form of physicalism that would deny "higher" human capacities such
as morality, free will, and religious awareness. Therefore teachers in the
church also need to understand how to argue for a nonreductive form of
physicalism.
LEARNING OUTCOMES: (1) Knowledge: to become familiar with recent developments
in concepts of human nature from philosophy, biology, and the Christian
tradition. (2) Skills: to improve skills in close reading of philosophical
texts, reasoning, and academic writing. (3) Attitudes: to increase confidence
in the reconcilability of Christian teaching with the best of current
scholarship in science and philosophy, and to increase appreciation for other
scholars' attempts to address difficult intellectual problems, even when their
conclusions are different from those of the student.
COURSE FORMAT: The class will meet weekly for three-hour sessions, with class
time divided between brief lectures and discussion of the readings.
REQUIRED READING: