Engage students in dialogue on questions on knowing and beliving and doubt. Raise questions on relations between science, religion and philosophy and their impact on our daily lives and our planet and environment. Discuss notion of responsibility and how we change the world on daily basis based on our decisions and judgement.
Course outline
Knowledge and Belief
In what relation do scientific notion of knowledge, religious notion of belief and ethical concept of doubt stand and how they influence our society and decision making represents an interesting debate for ethics classes. Students can here question those relations and better understand their influence and functioning, especially if approached through examples and stories from practice.
| Author / creator | Curator | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Zoran Kojčić | Zoran Kojčić | 10/2019 |
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Aims and objectives
Content
Start with a class talk on what is the epistemological difference between knowing and beliving. Raise the question on scientific responsibility and their influence on decision making. Explain Descartes and his views on evil demon, as well as his method of comming to truth.
Learning activities
Discussion and questioning will introduce students with different abilities to critically think about the subject. One can assign students with short excercises in thinking or thought experiments with brain in a jar, related to Descartes and epistemology, while the connection between science and religion can be implemented.
Location
This workshop was done as part of Ethics curriculum in high schools in Croatia. The workshop was done in high schools in Vukovar and Dalj with students age 14 - 18.
Time
This workshop can be done in a 45 minutes long class, as they are in Croatia. However, depending on teacher as facilitator, it could be prolonged to 90 minutes, given that many new materials or questions could be presented. The time will always depend on the facilitator and their own judgement which parts of the workshop are most important and the dinamic of the group.
Teacher role
Teacher should explain who Descartes was and what was his theory of doubt as well as his method of comming to truth. Other than that, teachers should engage students into debate using Socratic method of questioning and providing them with the right logical tools to draw their own conclusion and examine their own ideas on the subject.