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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Philosophy, Science and Religion: Philosophy and Religion by The University of Edinburgh

4.6
stars
478 ratings

About the Course

Philosophy, Science and Religion mark three of the most fundamental modes of thinking about the world and our place in it. Are these modes incompatible? Put another way: is the intellectually responsible thing to do to ‘pick sides’ and identify with one of these approaches at the exclusion of others? Or, are they complementary or mutually supportive? As is typical of questions of such magnitude, the devil is in the details. For example, it is important to work out what is really distinctive about each of these ways of inquiring about the world. In order to gain some clarity here, we’ll be investigating what some of the current leading thinkers in philosophy, science and religion are actually doing. This course, entitled ‘Philosophy and Religion’, is the second of three related courses in our Philosophy, Science and Religion Online series, and in this course we will ask important questions about the age-old debate between science and religion, such as: • What kind of conflicts are there between religion and science? • Does current cognitive science of religion effectively explain away God? • If there is a God who has made us so that we can know him, why do some people not believe? • Is belief in science also a kind of fundamentalism? • What makes us good at getting, giving, or sharing, knowledge? Is this different when it is religious knowledge? The first course in the Philosophy, Science and Religion series, 'Science and Philosophy' was launched early in 2017 and you can sign up to it at any time. The third course —‘Religion and Science’—will be launched early in 2018. Completing all three courses will give you a broader understanding of this fascinating topic. Look for: • Philosophy, Science and Religion I: Science and Philosophy https://www.coursera.org/learn/philosophy-science-religion-1/ • Philosophy, Science and Religion III: Religion and Science Upon successful completion of all three courses, students will: (1) Understand the main parameters at stake in the current debate between science and religion. (2) Have some familiarity with the relevant areas of science that feature in the debate—including cosmology, evolution, and the neurosciences—and will have begun to engage with them conceptually. (3) Have encountered key philosophical approaches to the interface between science and religion, and will have had the opportunity to engage them in practice. (4) Have embarked constructively in cross-disciplinary conversations. (5) Have demonstrated an openness to personal growth through a commitment to dialogue across intellectual and spiritual boundaries. You can also follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/EdiPhilOnline and you can follow the hashtag #psrmooc...

Top reviews

B

May 29, 2020

The course was really beneficial especially for people who want to know deeper information about the truth of the begging, the main argue and how people are different in thinking.

AM

Feb 3, 2021

Crate course, aimed at a relatively basic level but a very good overview of the topic and very enjoyable. Recommend a course to anyone relatively new to philosophy. Thank you.

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1 - 25 of 117 Reviews for Philosophy, Science and Religion: Philosophy and Religion

By Jared E

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Jun 1, 2018

Honestly, it was pretty lackluster. An entire module (the one on the hiddenness argument) was absolutely irrelevant, but pretended to be otherwise. This course is mostly philosophers who lack experience with religion discussing religion. The focus on Scientism would also be better placed in the Science and Religion course.

By Aman S

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Nov 15, 2017

Very informative and Well designed course to dive into the field of Philosophy, Science and Religion.

By Fogan A (

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Mar 9, 2019

I like the course. it helps me understand many things! thanks

By scalesr4

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Sep 25, 2017

I love this subject matter, I just wish the tests where a wee bit tougher. I think these courses should be mandatory at least in high school and especially college. Thank you to the staff for putting together a fun class. Maybe next time make the course 18 weeks similar to a real university course, I would love that.

By Kim

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Aug 31, 2020

The course includes a wide range of topics that are well explained. I don't understand the concept of the course, how the different topics were selected or how they were assigned to the three parts of this course. It seems quite random and unstructured to me.

By A K

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Dec 26, 2018

I thoroughly enjoyed the three part course on "Philosophy, Science and Religion" by the University of Edinburgh. A BIG THANK YOU to those who put these courses together.

Philosophy is the ultimate mother of all knowledge, and irrespective of one's specific subject interest and expertise, makes one even more interested and deeper, by making the thinking and ideas fundamentally clearer. In this series, the designers wonderfully weaved the relationship between the three apparently diverse disciplines in a cohesive narrative, making ones understanding richer! THANK YOU!

I Look forward to other courses from you all!

By Eugene M

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Jan 26, 2018

As a sort of Coursera veteran, I have to say that this is the course to attend if you want to master, or, at least, understand more, complex and complicated issues of philosophy, science, and religion.

By Muhammad I A H

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Apr 29, 2020

It is a good course that provide a basic understanding for inter-relation between religion and philosophy as both of the believe systems have existed since hundred years ago

By imaloserdude

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Apr 8, 2022

I have enjoyed all three courses in this program about philosophy, science and religion. Excellent information and I took sooooo many pages of notes.

By Christopher W

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Jun 10, 2018

This was a first class course in all respects. The calibre of the lecturers was very high indeed and they all made the material very accessible.

By Nicholas P

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Feb 19, 2019

Really interesting and well put together course.

By René D N A

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Feb 12, 2019

buenísimo

By BILAL S

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Feb 10, 2019

awasome

By John L M

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May 3, 2020

This was by far the most difficult of the three-course series for me, and it may be that philosophy for me is the most challenging of the three fields. I liked Prof Ritchie's approach--the brain sciences were made accessible. However, whomever wrote one of the quizzes after Prof Greco's lecture needs to go back to school. I parsed one of the questions repeatedly, went back over and over to the lecture transcript, and I could make neither heads nor tails of what it was getting at regarding the correct response. Still, it made me more cognizant, despite the subtitle, of how science enriches the pursuit of wisdom in the other two realms. The variety of speakers and topics weekly keeps one enlivened and the supplemental readings and videos are welcome as resources for further discovery and learning.

By Daniel D

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Jul 21, 2020

This was my first experience studying philosophy. I found some of the material difficult to understand, both the concepts and reasons for them. But the lectures and reading materials made it possible to achieve new understandings. The course was very helpful in sorting out the value and likelihood of the many things I hear and read in connection with scientific and religious points-of-view. The course includes several readings you can download and save. The optional textbook is a good value for students who are new to philosophy.

By Ana P

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Mar 24, 2022

The course was kind of basic, but, very intense in knowledgeble themes, and that helped me to understand a lot about religion and science, the existent shades of science, and religion are gone with the ligth of knowledge in Philosophy, Science, and Religion. Many thanks to my instructor for guiding the course, and helping Ana Pelayo to graduation by explaining the steps to get to the point of graduation in this course.

Wrote, and spoke out,Ana Pelayo.

By Christina B

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Jan 4, 2021

It was such a constructive experience to attend these courses. The course's content was really interesting and it filled me with so many thoughts. I wouldn't expect that an online class would be so efficient, even for someone like me with difficulty in fully understanding the english language. I really want to thank you both the Coursera team and the University of Edinburgh. All the professors gave us really valuable educational material!

By Gerard H

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Sep 29, 2020

It stretched my understanding and thinking. I could only invest myself when I had plenty of time. At times I needed to listen more than once and then read the notes, but that is because it was a new direction and new course for me. Thanks, you also helped me appreciate religious thought and place now and in the future. I would say, if you are thinking about the course, go for it.

Gerard Howell

By Pablo G A

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Jun 21, 2018

I find this course very interesting and well structured. I reckon that these three courses about Philosophy, Science and Religion conform a very complete approach to the topic. I would recommend these three courses to anyone interested in our role as human-beings in the existence. I feel very grateful to the instructors of the courses and Coursera's platform.

By Michael S

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Aug 4, 2023

Enjoyed and developed a reasoning in this course. The course allows us to have a broad spectrum on what we believe and not believe. How the balance of life revolves around or are we complete or a part of reality that's in the universe ..Religion and philosopher relates to the balance of how we perceive things in the natural world.

By Sidney C

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Sep 13, 2017

As a Theist I think that the class was very evenly presented with methods of being a skeptic and asking relevant questions of our own thinking as well as the thinking of others. I suggested in the forum to be an open minded skeptic and not a closed minded skeptic, that applies to both the

By PARIMALA R .

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Oct 11, 2022

Great Platform to learn the basics of Philosophy and how it will be related to the mind of people. Happy to learn all the major Concepts over Religion, Philosoph and Science. Mainly the concept of Scientism, bayes's Theorm and Epistemic virtue. Thanks is not enef, but still thanks a lot!

By Rhiannon P

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Apr 1, 2020

Really useful extension ideas to elevate my A Level essays (I study Philosophy Ethics& Religion.) Having a MOOC has made me consider Edinburgh as clearly they are working to level the playing field for state school kids to get into Philosophy too. I will definitely apply next year.

By Joy S

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Feb 22, 2018

kind of liked the format. Only a few questions at a time: not too much gets thrown at a person on a quiz. The instructors seemed also to impart info so that I could understand, as demonstrated by an immediate short quiz. It's interesting stuff.

By Elissavet M

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Jan 3, 2021

A beautiful journey of contemporary philosophy. It gave me lots to think about and helped me understand, even to some degree, some questions I had about people's need for religion. All in all, a very interesting course!