Week 10: Monday, March 20th

Not only is there disagreement between different persons, but people can significantly change their beliefs. Someone might convert, say from atheism to a specific theistic religion (or, the reverse). Moreover, sometimes a person might convert (one way or the other) because of some expert testimony (say, a book they’ve read that persuades them). In today’s class we’ll talk about the epistemology of conversion. We’ll also examine the idea that we should defer to (religious) experts when forming our (religious) beliefs. By the end of class, you will:

1. Be able to use concepts from Epistemology to describe the disagreement (if it obtains) between your current (religious) beliefs and your past (religious) beliefs.

2. Be able to appreciate and describe some of the epistemic significances of conversion experience(s) – whether religious or non-religious.

3. Begin to assess what you think is the correct epistemic norm, among those that we discuss in class, regarding deference to religious expertise.

READ THIS:

Philosophical Text: Helen De Cruz, Religious Disagreement, ch. 3 (Conversion and Disagreement with Former Selves) [access ch. 3 through Moodle], and ch. 5 (Religious Expertise and Disagreement)

Application Text: Raksha Kumar, “The Politics of Religious Conversion in Jharkhand” (NY Times)

WATCH THIS:

AND WATCH THIS:

DO THIS:

Consider the following questions, write your responses in your journal, and talk about them with a friend:

1. Have you ever formed a belief on the basis of an expert’s testimony? Do you think that makes your belief more likely to be true? Why?

2. What epistemic rule(s) / norm(s) should you follow if you learned that experts disagreed with each other regarding what you believe?