ANTH GR6173 Exploring the Idea of Secular Reason. 3 points.
Much has been written on secularism as a political solution to intolerance and a necessary condition for promoting equality and democracy. Scholars have also directed our attention to secularity as a sensibility and a mode of reasoning that pervades our age, as identified in literature and in the history of religion. Anthropologists, historians and students of religion have increased our understanding of different “religious” experiences, institutions and cosmologies. And excellent studies of the development of modern science are now available. But more needs to be done on the theme of “secular reason,” especially as it appears to crystalize at once in opposition to and as a modality of a general phenomenon called “religion.” In this seminar we want to investigate several meanings of “secular reason.” We will read and discuss the emergence of theories of probability and the use of numerical techniques to describe, classify and predict the behavior of enemies, citizens and customers, as well as to explain how “natural systems,” including the universe itself, work. We will also read specifically about some transformations of categories from “religious” to “secular” (or what is often translated as: from “subjective” to “objective”) that have made the use of calculative reasoning, and the speed with which it can be conducted, more plausible and more rewarding (literally). Finally, we will also read and discuss recent studies on scientific paradigms that are presented in sharp opposition to religious thinking.
