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851-0352-00L 3 Credits DS D-GESS
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Introductory Course in Philosophy of Religion (University of Zurich)

Grundkurs Religionsphilosophie (Universität Zürich)

No enrolment to this course at ETH Zurich. Book the corresponding module directly at UZH as an incoming student. UZH Module Code: 23LB006 Mind the enrolment deadlines at UZH:
VVZ CR n/a

Last Updated: 2026-02-05 15:47:51

Abstract

The course offers an introduction to analytical, phenomenological and hermeneutic philosophy of religion. Influential positions, vital questions and significant developments will be discussed and critically reflected.

Objective

Special emphasis will be placed on the relationship between religious and scientific discourse in the 20th century. To get a better grasp of the complexity of this relationship, different narratives will be examined as to how the modern ideal of modelling all cognitive values on scientific ones came to exert supreme authority in Western societies. The still prevalent, mainstream view has deep roots in 19th century positivism, which assumed a necessary historical progress from religion to metaphysics to science. In this perspective, scientific knowledge uncovers “objective” reality by displacing superstition and more “primitive”, mythical or metaphysical accounts of human and cosmic origins. On the other hand, there is the more recent, “heterodox” view advanced by philosophers and historians of science like S. Gaukroger, that the success of science in the West in the early-modern era might be related to its close association with theology rather than attempts to emancipate itself from it. The question here arises: What traditional ideas of God and religious faith contributed to the modern ideal of knowledge and truth – an ideal which, in a strange twist of historical irony, finally led to the seeming exclusion of all religious discourse from the properly scientific quest for real knowledge and truth in present-day secular societies?

General Information

Language
German
Levels
DS

Examination

Type
graded semester performance
Anmeldemodalitäten, Datum und Ort dieser Leistungskontrolle werden ausschliesslich von der UZH festgelegt.

Course Components

Type Title Time & Place Hours
seminar Grundkurs Religionsphilosophie (Universität Zürich)
**Kurs an der Universität Zürich**
  • Thu 12:15-13:45
  • Thu None-None
2 h weekly

Offered In

  • GESS Science in Perspective (Only the topics listed in this paragraph can be chosen as GESS Science in Perspective. Further below you will find the "type B courses Reflections about subject specific methods and content" as well as the language courses. 6 ECTS need to be acquired during the BA and 2 ECTS during the MA Students who already took a course within their main study program are NOT allowed to take the course again.)