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Information
| Unit | INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES |
| PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGIOUS STUDIES (MASTER) (WITH THESIS) | |
| Code | FDB1702 |
| Name | Religious Epistemology |
| Term | 2026-2027 Academic Year |
| Term | Spring |
| Duration (T+A) | 3-0 (T-A) (17 Week) |
| ECTS | 6 ECTS |
| National Credit | 3 National Credit |
| Teaching Language | Türkçe |
| Level | Belirsiz |
| Type | Normal |
| Mode of study | Yüz Yüze Öğretim |
| Catalog Information Coordinator | Dr. Öğr. Üyesi Emine GÖÇER |
| Course Instructor |
The current term course schedule has not been prepared yet.
|
Course Goal / Objective
This course aims to enable students to conceptually analyze the relationship between religious belief, faith, and knowledge by examining the epistemic status of religious belief, justification models, and rationality debates within the framework of analytic epistemology. Students will acquire the skill to evaluate debates ranging from classical epistemic models to contemporary theories of faith using critical, consistent, and analytical arguments.
Course Content
The course systematically addresses epistemological topics such as knowledge, justification, types of belief, foundationalism, externalism, religious experience, miracles, the problem of evil, skepticism, epistemic morality, and testimony within the context of religious belief. Furthermore, current debates in religious epistemology are comprehensively evaluated by examining contemporary models of faith, including epistemic faith, person-centered faith, non-doxastic faith, and various types of fideism.
Course Precondition
There are no prerequisites for this course.
Resources
1. Başdemir, Hasan Yücel. Epistemoloji Temel Metinler, Çorum: Hitit Yayınevi, 2011. 2. Mehdiyev, Nebi. Bir Bilme Teorisi. İstanbul: Dergâh Yayınları, 2019. 3. Mehdiyev, Nebi. Dinî Epistemolojiye Giriş: Tanrı İnancının Rasyonelliği. İstanbul: İSAM Yayınları, 2022. 4. Reçber, Mehmet Sait. Tanrı’yı Bilmenin İmkânı ve Mahiyeti, Ankara: Kitabiyat Yayınları, 2004. 5. Uslu, Ferit, Felsefi Açıdan İmanı Temellendirme, Ankara: Ankara Okulu Yayınları, 2017. 6. Yanık, Musa. Dinî Epistemoloji Nedir? Reform ve Erdem Epistemolojisi Açısından İslam İnancı. İstanbul: Düşün Yayınları, 2022. 7. Alston, William P. Perceiving God: The Epistemology of Religious Experience. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1991. 8. Audi, Robert. Epistemology: A Contemporary Introduction to the Theory of Knowledge. 3rd ed. London: Routledge, 2010. 9. Bishop, John. Believing by Faith: An Essay in the Epistemology and Ethics of Religious Belief. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. 10. Chisholm, Roderick. Theory of Knowledge. 3rd ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1989. 11. Conee, Earl, and Richard Feldman. Evidentialism: Essays in Epistemology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. 12. Dougherty, Trent, and Chris Tweedt, eds. The Epistemology of Faith. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021. 13. Greco, John. Putting Skeptics in Their Place: The Nature of Skeptical Arguments and Their Role in Philosophical Inquiry. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. 14. James, William. The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy. New York: Longmans, Green, 1897. 15. Kierkegaard, Søren. Fear and Trembling. Translated by Alastair Hannay. London: Penguin, 1985.
Notes
1. McDowell, John. Mind and World. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1994. 2. Plantinga, Alvin, and Nicholas Wolterstorff, eds. Faith and Rationality: Reason and Belief in God. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1983. 3. Plantinga, Alvin. Warranted Christian Belief. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. 4. Pritchard, Duncan. Epistemic Luck. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. 5. Swinburne, Richard. Faith and Reason. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.
Course Learning Outcomes
| Order | Course Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|
| LO01 | Analyzes debates on the possibility of religious knowledge by explaining the fundamental problems, concepts, and methodological frameworks of religious epistemology. |
| LO02 | Conceptually analyzes the distinctions between knowledge, justification, truth, and types of belief (doxastic, practical, existential, propositional). |
| LO03 | Compares classical epistemic models such as foundationalism, coherentism, and reliabilism within the context of religious belief. |
| LO04 | Evaluates Plantinga’s reformed epistemology (properly basic belief, warrant, sensus divinitatis) and discusses the externalist justification of religious beliefs. |
| LO05 | Interprets the epistemic status of religious claims such as religious experience, miracles, revelation, and testimony in terms of evidence, probability, and perceptual models. |
| LO06 | Analyzes contemporary models of the faith–reason relationship by examining epistemic faith, person-centered faith, non-doxastic faith, and various types of fideism (moderate, radical, Wittgensteinian, skeptical, pragmatic). |
| LO07 | Critically evaluates contemporary debates such as the problem of evil, skepticism, the ethics of belief, epistemic responsibility, and the encounter between the epistemology of science and religion through coherent arguments. |
Relation with Program Learning Outcome
| Order | Type | Program Learning Outcomes | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| PLO01 | Bilgi - Kuramsal, Olgusal | Students learn essential knowledge and approaches in the field. | 5 |
| PLO02 | Bilgi - Kuramsal, Olgusal | Students have extensive knowledge about national and international studies in the field. | |
| PLO03 | Bilgi - Kuramsal, Olgusal | Students perform original researches on the field. | 4 |
| PLO04 | Bilgi - Kuramsal, Olgusal | Gain sufficient knowledge about national and international studies in the field. | 5 |
| PLO05 | Bilgi - Kuramsal, Olgusal | Can do original research in the field. | |
| PLO06 | Bilgi - Kuramsal, Olgusal | Determines a topic from the proposals and develops a report on this issue. | 4 |
| PLO07 | Bilgi - Kuramsal, Olgusal | Discusses and presents the research report. | 5 |
| PLO08 | Bilgi - Kuramsal, Olgusal | Use individual and team work skills in national and international projects | |
| PLO09 | Bilgi - Kuramsal, Olgusal | Recognize the basic sources of the field to use in scientific studies. | 5 |
| PLO10 | Bilgi - Kuramsal, Olgusal | Effective use of a foreign language to follow international literature in the field | |
| PLO11 | Bilgi - Kuramsal, Olgusal | Using higher order thinking skills (critical thinking, problem solving, creative thinking, decision making, reflection) | |
| PLO12 | Bilgi - Kuramsal, Olgusal | They can conduct their work independently and as a member of a team. | 4 |
| PLO13 | Bilgi - Kuramsal, Olgusal | Using scientific research skills in their work | 5 |
| PLO14 | Bilgi - Kuramsal, Olgusal | Follow ethical rules |
Week Plan
| Week | Topic | Preparation | Methods |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction: Scope and Fundamental Questions of Religious Epistemology | Obtaining and Reading Relevant and Recommended Resources | Öğretim Yöntemleri: Anlatım, Soru-Cevap, Tartışma |
| 2 | Classical Epistemology: Knowledge, Justification, Truth | Obtaining and Reading Relevant and Recommended Resources | Öğretim Yöntemleri: Anlatım, Soru-Cevap, Tartışma |
| 3 | Types of Belief: Doxastic, Practical, Existential, and Propositional Faith | Obtaining and Reading Relevant and Recommended Resources | Öğretim Yöntemleri: Anlatım, Soru-Cevap, Tartışma |
| 4 | Classical Foundationalism | Obtaining and Reading Relevant and Recommended Resources | Öğretim Yöntemleri: Anlatım, Soru-Cevap, Tartışma |
| 5 | Reliabilism, Coherentism, and Externalist Epistemology | Obtaining and Reading Relevant and Recommended Resources | Öğretim Yöntemleri: Anlatım, Soru-Cevap, Tartışma |
| 6 | Plantinga’s Reformed Epistemology | Obtaining and Reading Relevant and Recommended Resources | Öğretim Yöntemleri: Anlatım, Soru-Cevap, Tartışma |
| 7 | Religious Experience and Epistemic Value | Obtaining and Reading Relevant and Recommended Resources | Öğretim Yöntemleri: Anlatım, Soru-Cevap, Tartışma |
| 8 | Mid-Term Exam | Exam Preparation | Ölçme Yöntemleri: Yazılı Sınav |
| 9 | Models of Faith: Epistemic Faith, Person-Centered Faith, Non-Doxastic Faith | Obtaining and Reading Relevant and Recommended Resources | Öğretim Yöntemleri: Anlatım, Soru-Cevap, Tartışma |
| 10 | Fideism: Moderate, Radical, Wittgensteinian, Skeptical, and Pragmatic Approaches to Faith | Obtaining and Reading Relevant and Recommended Resources | Öğretim Yöntemleri: Anlatım, Soru-Cevap, Tartışma |
| 11 | Revelation, Evidence, and Epistemic Justification | Obtaining and Reading Relevant and Recommended Resources | Öğretim Yöntemleri: Anlatım, Soru-Cevap, Tartışma |
| 12 | The Problem of Evil: Epistemic and Theistic Responses | Obtaining and Reading Relevant and Recommended Resources | Öğretim Yöntemleri: Anlatım, Soru-Cevap, Tartışma |
| 13 | The Relationship Between Belief and Doubt: Wittgenstein, Moore’s Paradox, Epistemic Coherence | Obtaining and Reading Relevant and Recommended Resources | Öğretim Yöntemleri: Anlatım, Soru-Cevap, Tartışma |
| 14 | Epistemic Ethics: Responsibility in Belief and Normative Epistemology | Obtaining and Reading Relevant and Recommended Resources | Öğretim Yöntemleri: Anlatım, Soru-Cevap, Tartışma |
| 15 | Testimony: The Encounter Between Scientific and Religious Epistemology | Obtaining and Reading Relevant and Recommended Resources | Öğretim Yöntemleri: Anlatım, Soru-Cevap, Tartışma |
| 16 | Term Exams | Exam Preparation | Ölçme Yöntemleri: Yazılı Sınav |
| 17 | Term Exams | Ölçme Yöntemleri: Yazılı Sınav |
Student Workload - ECTS
| Works | Number | Time (Hour) | Workload (Hour) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Course Related Works | |||
| Class Time (Exam weeks are excluded) | 14 | 3 | 42 |
| Out of Class Study (Preliminary Work, Practice) | 14 | 4 | 56 |
| Assesment Related Works | |||
| Homeworks, Projects, Others | 3 | 10 | 30 |
| Mid-term Exams (Written, Oral, etc.) | 1 | 6 | 6 |
| Final Exam | 1 | 16 | 16 |
| Total Workload (Hour) | 150 | ||
| Total Workload / 25 (h) | 6,00 | ||
| ECTS | 6 ECTS | ||