This is either complete or mostly complete for Prof. Shipman's classes.

Prof. Jordan used handouts instead of overheads for his classes (as did Prof. Shipman in the two classes on Artificial Intelligence, which were taught during Prof. Jordan's section of the course). A complete set of these handouts is available in 24 Kent Way.

DISCLAIMER: I believe that this is a complete set of overheads. It may be missing a day or two. If it is missing a day or two, students are nevertheless responsible for the material which was covered that day - according to normal University policy.

9/5/02

• Introduction to the course; introduction of the two faculty



• Mini-review of the syllabus



• Introduction to the Universe: Powers of Ten Video



• The Big Bang Cosmology, and evidence for it



• Group work: Theological Issues Raised by the Big Bang

The Big Bang Cosmology

Key points:

• Creation of everything that we presently see in the Universe at a definite time in the past, 14 billion years ago
• A continuous logical sequence of events, not completely understood, leading from the Big Bang to us.

Evidence for the Big Bang (see readings for details):

• the primeval fireball, "microwave background," a Big Bang fossil
• the cosmic abundance of helium
• the expansion of the Universe

Group work: What science/religion questions are prompted by the Big Bang cosmology?

Science and Religion 9/10/02

• Group work yom 1: Sharing your mini weekly papers



• Age of the Universe



• The notion of contingency in Western religions (mention nature of this course)



• Group work yom 2: Can one legitimately combine the concept of contingency and the Big Bang cosmology to "unify" science and religion?



• "Minute Paper"

Age of the Universe

+ evidence from geology

+ radioactive dating (24 different radioactive chains, thousands of papers...)

See http://www.asa3.org/ASA/resources/Wiens.html

+ the expansion of the Universe

+ ages of the oldest star clusters

The "6 days of creation"

+ "yom" does not necessarily

mean 24 hours

+ days cannot be defined before there is a sun

+ evidence from geology

+ radioactive dating

+ the expansion of the Universe

Contingency

Something is contingent if it doesn't have to be the way that it is (Haught p. 115).

Contingency in cosmology: the Universe is interdependent, orderly, beautiful, and comprehensible.

Contingency in the Judeo-Christian religion: world is dependent on God (God the Creator, not just God the lawgiver)

Some characteristics of God as seen in the three monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam)

• "God is sovereign, free, transcendent, and characterized by purpose and will."
• God is omnipotent, omnibenevolent, and omniscient

Science and Religion 9/12/02

• Reflections on Carl Sagan and Stephen Jay Gould



• Responses to your minute papers and group work



• Fine Tuning (see Haught ch 6, Gingerich in God21)



• what Fine Tuning could mean: Van Till



• an example of a bad argument: God of the Gaps (see Van Till, God21 p. 26)

"For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance, he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries."

Robert Jastrow, God and the Astronomers

Quoted in many many books on science and religion, in Haught p 108.

Fine-tuning examples in Haught

• nuclear physics and the existence of carbon (see also Gingerich, in God21)

• expansion rate and age of the Universe (p. 123)



• electron/proton mass ratio allows for chemistry (p. 123)



• gravity (p. 124)



• nuclear physics and the age of the Sun (Dyson)



• number of dimensions of space

See, e.g., Martin Rees, Just Six Numbers

Science and Religion 9/17/02

Turn your papers in on the front table now.

• Housekeeping: Haught book problem



• Jigsaw activity

Purpose: share the ideas of three closely related readings (Dyson, Gingerich, and Polkinghorne)

• Different rational interpretations of fine tuning:

- just random chance (Steven Weinberg)

- multiverse theory (Martin Rees)

- Dyson

- Polkinghorne

- Gingerich

Jigsaw Exercise

Yom 1: folks who read each author gather in corners of the room and talk in groups about what that person's main ideas is.

Yom 2: Gather in a second group, perhaps the people you regularly sit with, to share the different writers' main ideas and decide who is to be invited to campus.

Yom 3: Assemble as a whole class for the groups to report out.

For next time: Hume's argument on design (Read Davis's chapter on Hume)

PHIL 344/ SCEN 344 9/19/02

• News on Books



• Next time: we will wrap up the fine-tuning issue. Required reading is Gingerich; Dyson is optional.



• Lecturette on Hume's Critique of the Design Argument.



• Group work: Hume's critique and Fine Tuning.

Where we're going: we finish fine tuning next Tues., do a class on the similarities/distinctions between religion and science on Thursday, and then turn to Miracles a week from Tues.

9/19/02

Hume's major critiques of the Design Argument

1: We cannot make a comparison of the Universe that we see to other hypothetical possibilities.

2. The Design Argument is based on an analogy. Analogies can be weak.

3. If we say that a Universe requires a Designer, the same logic then says that the Designer also has a Designer (of the Designer), and so on. The argument becomes an infinite regress.

4. Now even if some way is found to get around arguments 1-3, the DA is an argument for a Creator, not necessarily for the God of Theism.

SCEN 344/PHIL 344 9/24/02

Turn in your papers on the front table now. Reminder: photos next time.

• Group work, yom 1: Are Hume's arguments still viable?



• Bayesian thinking (Davis pp. 116-117); assessment of new evidence rests on prior knowledge



• Answering your questions. Important issues:

Testing fine tuning (John Leslie)

God of the gaps

Separating fine tuning from its interpretation

• Group work, yom 2: issues which are mostly science, mostly religion, and a mixture of the two

Bayesian Thinking (Davis pp. 116,117); we will return to this in the section on miracles

P(e/h,k)

P(h/e,k) = -------------- × P(h/k)

P(e/k)

significance prior acceptance

of evidence e of hypothesis h

h: hypothesis being argued

k: prior background knowledge or

inclination

e: evidence

If h is "God exists," then a design argument (or other argument for theism or deism) adds probability, or builds on, your prior knowledge k.

SCEN 344/PHIL344 9/26/02

• Review lecturette on Big Bang cosmology



• Activity: using a model to predict when you will finish eating an apple



• Processing the activity: what makes an argument more like science and what makes an argument more like religion?



• Group work yom 2: your mini-weekly papers.

SCEN344/PHIL344

11/26/02

Focus question for today: Is evolution a "disputed theory"?

• Unpacking evolution: 3 lecturettes



• evidence for changing ecosystems over time



• evidence for the relatedness of all organisms (Ayala; DNA; Ayala, relatedness of hands in humans, dogs, whales, and birds, among others)



• importance of natural selection (Ayala, cytochrome c evidence)



• More extended group work

SCEN344/PHIL344 12/5/02

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

• Evidence for evolution: a summary. A large number of biologists would agree that evolution explains a lot* of the diversity of life that we see on Earth.

* actually many biologists would say "all." But when I confront them, they admit that the evidence only points to "a lot."

• Diversity of positions on evolution (see handout)



• Group work on your projects

Diversity of positions on evolution:

Earlier ideas from this course that are relevant:

Detecting Design (Jordan handout 10/4)

Divine Providence (handout 10/8)**

Chance

Reductionism (11/6)

Scientism

Diversity of positions on evolution:

This table is based on one originally presented by Eugenie Scott and presented somewhere on the website for the National Center for Science Education. The specific theological positions, however, are from the website of a rather different organization, the American Scientific Affiliation, at

http://www.asa3.org/ASA/topics/Evolution/commission_on_creation.html#Commission on Creation.

Extracts from this document:

2. Evolutionary processes* are not antithetical to God's creative action. Furthermore, nothing in scripture provides a theological basis for rejecting the descent of all living beings from a common ancestor, including humans.

Areas of theological diversity among Christians holding an evolutionary* view:

1. How does God direct the creation to His desired ends? Various models for God's action have been proposed, of which some follow. These are not mutually exclusive, so individuals may hold more than one.

a. God is actively directing ALL natural processes ALL the time so that

all physical events are specifically willed by Him.

b. God gave, and continues to give, being to a creation gifted with all the

capabilities to bring forth all the forms, processes, and events, willed by

Him.

c. Creation responds to God's will as our bodies respond to ours.

However, God's being is not embodied in creation but is transcendent

over it.

d. God acts to determine the inherent indeterminacies of physical events,

at the micro level of quantum phenomena and at the macro level of

chaotic systems. The physical universe is not deterministic, but rather is an

inherently open causal system.

SCEN344/PHIL344 12/10/02

• Review session tomorrow 8:30 Gore 117; final exam Fri Dec 13 @ 1 P.M. in this room. HS' hotline is open Thursday night but NOT Friday AM.



• any burning questions from you that you would like to see us answer?



• Group reports I: "Impersonal and unsupervised..."



• Group reports II: "a disputed theory which supposedly describes..."



• Summary of the Case of the NABT Evolution Statement



• Summary of Course (first H.S., then J.J.)



• Course evaluation
• Skating video

Harry Shipman's next local performances

Christmas show at The Pond, Saturday Dec. 21, 5-7 PM

Synchronized Skating Exhibition, The Pond, Saturday Jan. 11, 2003; I believe 4-6 PM (both with the Delaware Dazzle Synchronized Skating Team and, most likely, as a solo performance)