Religious beliefs and practices have been a significant part of the history of humanity. If someone holds a religious belief, what should they do when confronted with someone who disagrees with them? Likewise, if someone does not hold a religious belief, what should they do when confronted with someone who disagrees with them? Epistemology could help them, a little, in figuring out how to understand this disagreement. In today’s class we will learn concepts from Epistemology that address epistemic disagreement in general, and religious disagreement in particular. By the end of class, you will:
1. Be better prepared to know how to respond to disagreement you have with someone else, including religious disagreement.
2. Begin to think about which epistemic rules / norms you should follow, in order to address the disagreement.
3. Be able to talk, in a constructive manner, about how you and someone else should interpret the epistemic significance of your disagreement.
Consider the following questions, write your responses in your journal, and talk about them with a friend:
1. What’s the biggest disagreement that you’ve had with someone else? What was at stake? Which ‘epistemic rules/norms’ were used during the disagreement? How did those epistemic norms affect that disagreement?
2. Do you think there is any way to resolve a disagreement, including a religious disagreement? Which intellectual virtues would help two people to make progress toward resolving their disagreement with each other? Why those intellectual virtues?
3. How might understanding epistemic rules or norms for an epistemic disagreement help you to become more intellectually virtuous?