Science, Faith, and Superstition
-Fall seminar-
The University of Belgrade's Faculty of Philosophy is pleased to announce an upcoming Fall seminar presented by the Science, Faith, and Superstition Project. This seminar will delve into the history and philosophy of science, religion, and superstition, focusing on the Late Antiquity and Early Modern periods in Europe. Lectures will be conducted via Zoom and are open to the public.
Lecture I - Ljiljana Radenović
September 19, 2023.
Science, Faith, and Superstition: An introduction
In this introductory lecture I open some of the questions that this series of lectures hopes to address both philosophically and historically such as: What is our common view of science and religion? What is superstition? Is religion nothing but a superstition? What are the origins of our contemporary views? More specifically, when did religio and scientia stop being virtues? When and why did they turn into set of beliefs as opposed to the ways of perfecting our souls? What is the official story of the scientific progress? Where does that story leave religion and humanities? Do we want to accomodate religion to the scientific worldview the way Wittgenstein attempted? Or should we look for the ways to challenge such worldview?
Professor Ljiljana Radenović is a leader of SciFaS project and a Full Professor at the Department of Philosophy, University of Belgrade. She has extensive international scholarly experience. At the moment, her research interests lie at the intersection between history, psychology, and religion.
Meeting ID: 881 6063 9095
Date: September 19, 2023.
Time: 16.00 CEST
Zoom info: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88160639095
Lecture II – Steve Fuller
September 29, 2023.
The Scientific Revolution as Augustinian Modernism
September 29, 2023.
The Scientific Revolution as Augustinian Modernism
Steve Fuller is Auguste Comte Professor of Social Epistemology at the University of Warwick, UK. Originally trained in history, philosophy and sociology of science, Fuller is best known for his foundational work in the field of ‘social epistemology’, which is the name of a quarterly journal he founded in 1987 as well as the first of his twenty-six books. His most recent research has focused on what he calls ‘Humanity 2.0’, which concerns the sustainability of ‘humanity’ as a concept in light of emerging ‘trans’ and ‘post-human’ tendencies in politics, society and culture.
Meeting ID: 814 2913 1859
Date: September 29, 2023.
Time: 16.00 CEST
Zoom info: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81429131859?pwd=Gf5OutiIjnyHKk693Dwyv3nktsBZe9.1
Meeting ID: 814 2913 1859
Date: September 29, 2023.
Time: 16.00 CEST
Zoom info: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81429131859?pwd=Gf5OutiIjnyHKk693Dwyv3nktsBZe9.1
Lecture III – David Lloyd Dusenbury
October 05, 2023.
The Limits of Punishment: Plato, Galen, and Reincarnation in Nemesius of Emesa’s On Human Nature
October 05, 2023.
The Limits of Punishment: Plato, Galen, and Reincarnation in Nemesius of Emesa’s On Human Nature
‘The wisest of the Hellenes believe in re-embodiment’, writes Nemesius of Emesa in the final chapter of his (unfinished) text On Human Nature. Of course, for this late-fourth-century bishop, ‘the wisest of the Hellenes’ are the Platonists. And the myth of reincarnation is a recurring concern for Nemesius because he shares with late-antique Platonists – he cites Cronius, Iamblichus, and Theodorus of Asine on this topic – a belief in the afterlife of human souls, and in ‘the punishments of souls’. Reincarnation is a Platonic (and Manichaean) myth of divine justice, and Nemesius is a Christian believer in divine justice. However, Nemesius holds that it is precisely a Christian desire for post-mortem justice which conflicts with the ‘pagan’ (and Manichaean) myth of reincarnation. Citing the medical philosopher Galen, Nemesius claims that it would violate the limits of punishment for the Demiurge to unite an intellectual soul to an inhuman body. This contribution shows how a Syrian philosopher-bishop who belongs to the Platonic-Galenic tradition uses a Galenic thesis to critique – and, ultimately, to dogmatically reject – the Platonic (and Manichaean) myth of reincarnation.
David Lloyd Dusenbury is a philosopher, historian of ideas, and senior fellow at Budapest's Danube Institute. He is also visiting professor at Eötvös Loránd University, and the author of Nemesius of Emesa on Human Nature, The Innocence of Pontius Pilate, and I Judge No One (all published by Oxford University Press). Last year, he held the Chair for Jewish-Christian Relations at the University of Antwerp.
Meeting ID: 825 4479 9658
Date: October 05, 2023.
Time: 18.30 CEST
Zoom info:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82544799658?pwd=KbzFazn9ikHiGavyzobGuhiZTqaWQC.1
David Lloyd Dusenbury is a philosopher, historian of ideas, and senior fellow at Budapest's Danube Institute. He is also visiting professor at Eötvös Loránd University, and the author of Nemesius of Emesa on Human Nature, The Innocence of Pontius Pilate, and I Judge No One (all published by Oxford University Press). Last year, he held the Chair for Jewish-Christian Relations at the University of Antwerp.
Meeting ID: 825 4479 9658
Date: October 05, 2023.
Time: 18.30 CEST
Zoom info:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82544799658?pwd=KbzFazn9ikHiGavyzobGuhiZTqaWQC.1
Lecture IV – Jonathan Greig
November 21, 2023.
Reason, Revelation, and Epistemic Authority in Byzantium: From the Early Christians to the Twilight Years
November 21, 2023.
Reason, Revelation, and Epistemic Authority in Byzantium: From the Early Christians to the Twilight Years
In my presentation I will talk about the question of epistemic authority and certainty in the Byzantine philosophical and theological traditions. Across the majority of Byzantine thinkers, one finds a consensus on the supremacy of Christian revelation over knowledge gained by reason (in juxtaposition to, for instance, Islamic philosophers like Al-Farabi and Avicenna who prioritize demonstrative knowledge through reason over revelation). Yet given this, there are two dispositions that one can trace throughout the tradition: [1] reason, by its own means, partially grasps certain truth, although subordinated to revelation; and [2] reason grasps no certain truth apart from revelation. In my talk I will look at Clement of Alexandria and Gregory Nazianzen (3rd/4th cent.’s AD) as case examples of [1] and [2] (respectively), and trace this tendency between [1] and [2] pairs of later Byzantine thinkers: namely Michael Psellos and Nicholas of Methone (11th/12th cent.’s AD), Barlaam of Calabria and Gregory Palamas (14th cent. AD), and Gregorios Scholarios and Gemistos Plethon (15th cent. AD).
Jonathan Greig is a senior postdoctoral fellow at KU Leuven, supported by the Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO), working on a project on the relation of substance (ousia) and sensible particulars in 4th- to 8th-century Byzantine Christian thinkers and the influence of pagan Neoplatonism in this relation (grant # 3H210442 . Jonathan completed his PhD on the first cause in late Neoplatonism (esp. Proclus and Damascius) at the LMU Munich in 2018, recently published as a monograph with Brill. He has since worked on topics related to metaphysics/logic, epistemology, and philosophy of religion in Neoplatonists and Byzantine theological/philosophical authors.
Meeting ID: 827 3253 9825
Date: November 21, 2023.
Time: 18.30 CET
Zoom info: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82732539825
Jonathan Greig is a senior postdoctoral fellow at KU Leuven, supported by the Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO), working on a project on the relation of substance (ousia) and sensible particulars in 4th- to 8th-century Byzantine Christian thinkers and the influence of pagan Neoplatonism in this relation (grant # 3H210442 . Jonathan completed his PhD on the first cause in late Neoplatonism (esp. Proclus and Damascius) at the LMU Munich in 2018, recently published as a monograph with Brill. He has since worked on topics related to metaphysics/logic, epistemology, and philosophy of religion in Neoplatonists and Byzantine theological/philosophical authors.
Meeting ID: 827 3253 9825
Date: November 21, 2023.
Time: 18.30 CET
Zoom info: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82732539825
Lecture V – Jane Cooper
November 27, 2023.
Baptising Epicurus in the Early Enlightenment: Christian Atomism and the Royal Society
November 27, 2023.
Baptising Epicurus in the Early Enlightenment: Christian Atomism and the Royal Society
I will discuss the Christian Atomism of the natural philosophers Walter Charleton, Robert Boyle, and Pierre Gassendi, who sought to fuse the Christian view of the providential God with the mechanical philosophy of the 17th century, in the context of burgeoning reception of the Epicurus in Europe. I will investigate the scientific as well as ethical arguments of the Christian atomists, looking in particular at Boyle's corpuscularianism and Charleton's influential treatise Epicurus' Morals (1656). In a time of great suspicion surrounding the Epicurean philosophy, which was frequently vulgarised by its opponents in the Church in England, Christian atomism characterised the fusion - often highly experimental - of scientific and religious ideas in the early Enlightenment.
Jane Cooper is an Examination Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford and a DPhil candidate at the University of Oxford in English. Her thesis focuses on sublime poetics and natural philosophy in England, 1650-1740. Her research interests include satire, heresy, and the reception of Lucretius in early modern Europe.
Meeting ID: 859 2483 7814
Passcode: 577046
Date: November 27, 2023.
Time: 18.30 CET
Zoom info: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85924837814?pwd=j3FIw7R5EaVNdXk3xbsnMy8GmjqNFB.1
Jane Cooper is an Examination Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford and a DPhil candidate at the University of Oxford in English. Her thesis focuses on sublime poetics and natural philosophy in England, 1650-1740. Her research interests include satire, heresy, and the reception of Lucretius in early modern Europe.
Meeting ID: 859 2483 7814
Passcode: 577046
Date: November 27, 2023.
Time: 18.30 CET
Zoom info: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85924837814?pwd=j3FIw7R5EaVNdXk3xbsnMy8GmjqNFB.1
Lecture VI – Marcela Andokova
December 5, 2023.
Cum caput tibi dolet, euangelium ad caput pone. Did Augustine tolerate superstitious practices in his community?
December 5, 2023.
Cum caput tibi dolet, euangelium ad caput pone. Did Augustine tolerate superstitious practices in his community?
“When you have a headache, we praise you if you have put the book of the gospels to your head instead of having recourse to an amulet!” This citation taken from Augustine’s Tractate 7 on John’s Gospel is the point of departure of this presentation. At first sight, it might appear slightly confusing because on the one hand the bishop of Hippo clearly rejects in his homily magical and superstitious practices still widely spread across his religious community and, on the other hand, he admits that using the book of Gospels for healing purposes can be an acceptable practice. In addition, it surprises us even more when we realize that in the second book of his treatise On Christian doctrine, written shortly after his episcopal ordination (years 396-397), Augustine offers us his own theory of magic (especially in chapters II,20,30 – 24,37) where he openly condemns all supersitious and magical practices of his contemporaries as the means of communication with the demonic powers. At the same time, in the first chapters of book IV of his Confessions we learn that at his early age as an adherent to the Manichaean sect Augustine himself was a keen astrologer and, moreover, throughout his works we find various mentions about his interest in contemporary medical practices. Therefore, one can assume that later as a Christian teacher and preacher he was competent enough to distinguish between religion, science and superstition. In fact, Late Antique thinkers distinguished between two basic types of magic which can be, in spite of several objections on the side of modern scholars, defined as follows: the first theory perceives magic as a practice dependent on a cosmology of world harmony and thus can be viewed as a “branch of physics”, while the second considers magic as a practice dependent on cooperation with demons. For Augustine the bishop obviously only the latter direction was taken into consideration. Thus in this presentation I will try to put in harmony Augustine’s theoretical views of magic and his pastoral practice.
Assoc.-prof. Dr. Marcela Andoková works at the Department of Classical and Semitic Philology, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia. Her research activities include classical and ancient Christian literature as well as ancient and contemporary rhetoric with the emphasis on political discourse in nowadays society. She is the author of several scholarly works and studies overlapping classical languages and patristic or biblical studies. At the same time, she has a long-term interest in the history of Latin education in the context of European schooling, especially issues related to bilingualism and the use of direct method in Latin language teaching. Her teaching activities focus on classical Latin and Medieval philology, as well as on the ancient Greek and Roman religion and civilization.
Meeting ID: 813 7006 7008
Passcode: 481512
Date: December 5, 2023.
Time: 18.30 CET
Zoom info:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81370067008?pwd=VQ66N3lExaj4V0TQzbljv13oWaTq9m.1
Assoc.-prof. Dr. Marcela Andoková works at the Department of Classical and Semitic Philology, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia. Her research activities include classical and ancient Christian literature as well as ancient and contemporary rhetoric with the emphasis on political discourse in nowadays society. She is the author of several scholarly works and studies overlapping classical languages and patristic or biblical studies. At the same time, she has a long-term interest in the history of Latin education in the context of European schooling, especially issues related to bilingualism and the use of direct method in Latin language teaching. Her teaching activities focus on classical Latin and Medieval philology, as well as on the ancient Greek and Roman religion and civilization.
Meeting ID: 813 7006 7008
Passcode: 481512
Date: December 5, 2023.
Time: 18.30 CET
Zoom info:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81370067008?pwd=VQ66N3lExaj4V0TQzbljv13oWaTq9m.1
Lecture VII – David Ellis
December 12, 2023.
Hume and Wittgenstein on Faith and Reason in Religious Belief
December 12, 2023.
Hume and Wittgenstein on Faith and Reason in Religious Belief
In this paper I explore the authority of faith over reason in the context of Hume’s Of Miracles and Wittgenstein’s later philosophical works. In Of Miracles, David Hume claims to have discovered an ‘everlasting check to all kinds of superstitious delusions’ and includes miracles (especially when evidenced by testimony) within that category. The problem is obvious: if Christianity is based on the belief that Christ proved his divine mission through performing miracles as accounted in the testimony of the apostles, then Christianity is based on superstitious delusions. But surprisingly, Hume concludes that he is satisfied by his approach because it defends – and not attacks – Christianity. This is because Christianity is built on faith, and those who try to exchange its foundations for reason are either ‘disguised enemies or dangerous friends’ and its them who Hume addresses. Wittgenstein raises similar objections and goes as far as to say that ‘the point is that if there were evidence, this would in fact destroy the whole business’; that life, not facts, educate one to belief in God; and that it would all be superstitious if religion was based upon evidence. This paper closely examines the role of evidence, reason and faith for Hume’s and Wittgenstein’s views about religion, and we will observe two areas of agreement: that religion is not in the business of needing reasonable evidence, and that that is its strength.
Dr. David Ellis is a lecturer of Philosophy, Ethics and Religion at Leeds Trinity University, and researches the overlap of religious language, belief and life from a Wittgensteinian perspective. He also has research interests in Linguistic Relativity and the role of philosophy in scientific research.
Meeting ID: 883 7870 6410
Passcode: 754282
Date: December 12, 2023.
Time: 18.30 CET
Zoom info:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88378706410?pwd=y9dNPbehmsbgBJmr1cyvL6GOhqdJgL.1
Dr. David Ellis is a lecturer of Philosophy, Ethics and Religion at Leeds Trinity University, and researches the overlap of religious language, belief and life from a Wittgensteinian perspective. He also has research interests in Linguistic Relativity and the role of philosophy in scientific research.
Meeting ID: 883 7870 6410
Passcode: 754282
Date: December 12, 2023.
Time: 18.30 CET
Zoom info:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88378706410?pwd=y9dNPbehmsbgBJmr1cyvL6GOhqdJgL.1