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

4.5
stars
942 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 ‘Science and Philosophy’, is the first of three related courses in our Philosophy, Science and Religion Online series. The first launch is now closed to enrolments. We will launch a new version of the course in July 2018. The course will address four themes each presented by guest lecturers: 1. Are Science and Religion in conflict? (Professor Michael Murray, Franklin & Marshall) 2. Neuroscience and Free Will (Professor Al Mele, Florida State) 3. Creationism and Evolutionary Biology--Science or Pseudo-science? (Dr. Mark Harris and Dr. David de Pomerai, University of Edinburgh) 4. Do Scientific claims constitute absolute truths? (Professor Martin Kusch, University of Vienna) The second and third courses in the Philosophy, Science and Religion series are ‘Philosophy and Religion’ and ‘Religion and Science’. They may be taken in any order and completing all three courses will give you a broader understanding of this fascinating topic. Look for: • Philosophy, Science and Religion II: Philosophy and Religion • Philosophy, Science and Religion III: Religion and Science Check out our trailer to hear more: https://youtu.be/OifqTI5VKek You can also follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/EdiPhilOnline and you can follow the hashtag #psrmooc...

Top reviews

SR

Nov 13, 2017

A very interesting course and it has given a great knowleddge to me about the concept of science and religion . just amazed and the professors taught this in a very impressive way . very nyccc .

RR

May 13, 2017

Fine course, nice references for further reading, clear and nice instructors. Only two where a little odd: Statis Psillos, talking too fast, and Conor Cunningham, a bit too theatrical.

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176 - 200 of 253 Reviews for Philosophy, Science and Religion: Science and Philosophy

By Bob M

May 4, 2020

Generally very good. The speakers were knowledgeable, insightful for the most part engaging and the content very interesting. I enjoyed it a great deal.

My main criticisms would be:

In Week 2 Prof Mele dived straight into a discussion of experiments about ‘free will’ without a bit of preamble to make it clear that the concept of ‘free will’ is a lot more complicated than the average person appreciates.

In Week 5 Dr de Pomerai’s presentation on Evolutionary Biology was a dry as dust recitation of facts. It felt a bit like being read tracts from the Bible and I think really failed in the objective of establishing why Evolutionary Biology is a science. To do this you need to do more than recite what is believed, but delve a bit more into the hypotheses, the predictions, and the subsequent supporting evidence

By Natalie B

Apr 10, 2020

The majority of this course was great, though the lecturers could have been more engaging. However my biggest issue with this course was the 5th week, where the final lecturer sounded like he was reciting from a biology textbook about evolution rather than actually discussing anything or making any claims relevant to philosophy or drawing comparisons to religion. Additionally, all the questions in the final section had completely subjective answers, I answered all of them without watching any lectures (though I do have a background in science) these questions could have been answered by a child.

By H D F

Sep 27, 2017

First I want to thank all of you for your hard work and expertise in preparing and presenting this class. All the lessons presented in weeks 1, 2, 3 and lesson 2 of week 4 were excellent both in content and presentation.

Unfortunately, week 4 lesson 1 with Professor Conor Cunningham was not so good. His presentation style was interesting and somewhat captivating, however, (there is that terrible word again) his content was garbled, his allegories were obtuse and the clarity of his important points was obscure.

By Cathy M

Jun 20, 2021

Very interesting in terms of content but more attention could have been paid to presentation, using more graphics, tables, and some visual effects to illustrate points being made. The course is pitched at a higher level that I expected and I am happy about that but the evolutionary biology could have been more simply explained as it really assumes some prior knowledge of biology.

By Anne H

Jul 18, 2017

Fascinating, quick, inspirational. Every scholar should feel more grounded knowing that there are people around the world who understand the connection. 4/5 stars because the "discussion" prompts aren't very open-ended; they were comprehension checks (and optional). I skipped them because I presumed the answers wouldn't vary much, and that would've been boring to read.

By Sanika

Aug 26, 2019

The course was very detailed and informative. I learned some amazing philosophical and scientific facts and also learned about various philosophical and scientific studies in great depth. I got what I expected from this course. Thank You to the University of Edinburgh, to all the passionate professors and the makers of this course and to Coursera.

By A K

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. In this series, the designers wonderfully weaved the relationship between the three apparently diverse disciplines in a cohesive narrative, making ones understanding richer!

By Eduardo S P

Feb 19, 2017

I think this is an excellent introductory course to the philosophy of science. Even so, I felt something was lacking, maybe a sense of closure or a definite end to the course and indication of a clear path forward for those wanting to learn more about this topic. I would recommend this course in any case, I really enjoyed it.

By Vangel V

Mar 21, 2019

I liked the course but have some issues with it. Attacking a group that has so little influence and credibility does not seem becoming of a course like this one. But worse is the fact that the instructors ignore the leap of faith needed to support the supposedly 'scientific' position.

By Vijay S

Apr 7, 2020

as part of the 3 courses in philsophy, science and religion thisone is the shortest and eually interesting, the last week re creationism/evolution and the one before that on relativism etc are quite good. of course the first weekon free will sets the tone.

By Sara H

Feb 21, 2017

The instructor during the last week was in general not very good, he always strayed from the point making it difficult to keep up. He gave examples that are mostly irrelevant, and he was too theatrical and not straight to the point.

By Senthil S P

Sep 17, 2017

It's a pretty interesting course on the relationship between theology and science, which even has a neat session on the sociology of science. Apart from a bizarre session with theologian Conor Cunningham, it does everything well.

By Judd S

Nov 3, 2017

The modules were presented in a very organized way and the explanations given were insightful. However, the lecture of Connor Cunningham were "messy" which failed to give a clear point even though his presentation was excellent.

By Aagash C

Jan 18, 2018

This course was very enjoyable. However, there were a few concepts and terminologies that could have been explained more, such as natural law in week 4. Overall, it definitely gave a very good introduction to the topic

By Ivor C

Sep 8, 2017

A good gereral overview of the current areas of discussion and argument. I felt that the need to provide 'balance' gave too much importance to religious ideas but I had to confront my own bias more that I expected.

By Joe M

Feb 23, 2017

Overall, the content was excellent. However, week 4 taught by Professor Conor Cunningham was rambling at best and made very little sense. The readings for week 4 were the only informative part.

By akhil t

Aug 12, 2019

I expected that his course would deal with current role of religion and philosophy in this scientific world. Well, the course was strayed from my expectation but still was very erudite one

By Sidney C

Jun 12, 2017

I do think it was very interesting and informative. I gave it four out of five stars, only because it could evolve given some time and improve somewhat. I have suggested it to others.

By Park Y

Oct 20, 2017

I think this lecture was really good. I can get basic knowledge related to science and religion, and furthermore, I could learn about the perspective related to soical science

By Suzanne C L

Jan 6, 2022

Very intresting and well presented. However, sometimes it was difficult to exprapolate the quiz answers or essay answers from the material in the manner it was presented.

By Mariano C

Jan 27, 2019

Great initial course to get a more profound insight on the subjects taken into account. Excellent explanation from all the teachers involved in each week's topic!

By Valéry B

Jan 6, 2024

Really great. The last part about religion is a bit confusing - not so sure why this priest it talking about evolution. But otherwise really great. Thanks!

By Daniel J M

Jan 16, 2018

I found some of the lecturers' hard to understand do to language accents. However, being able to follow along with the printed form solved any problems.

By Nathan B

Apr 12, 2017

Very interesting course. I certainly learnt a lot about science and philosophy, especially relating it to religion, and the history behind each domain.

By Viviana L

Mar 8, 2023

Gracias, amplio mucho mi capacidad de ver y analizar estos temas. También impulsó el deseo de seguir profundizándolo.