PRELIMINARY COURSE DESCRIPTION
SCIENCE AND THE SOUL: SCIENCE, RELIGION & LITERATURE IN GERMANY AFTER DARWIN

HSP 131    CRN 8413
Dr. Perry Myers
Time: 11:10 - Noon

Office: Vulagmore 115 Where: TBA
Office Hours: TBA
Tel.: 629-0357 pmyers@albion.edu

Since the German Enlightenment changes in the way we understand human life and how we evaluate that knowledge have created a breach in “empirical” views of human kind and “religious” modes of assessing the human being and human behavior. This course will explore, through secondary and original texts, how science has confronted traditional religious views of human beings, and literary portrayals of these conflicts that arose. By combining historical texts, scientific and literary texts in excerpt, we will seek a more in-depth look at how the conflicts between science and religion have been negotiated in Germany throughout the nineteenth century and up to World War II. The course is designed specifically for the student interested in the history of science, the history of religious thought or literature. The student will learn 1) how science and religion come into conflict in modern times; 2) how to approach interdisciplinary reading in cultural history, science, theology and philosophy; 3) and how literature interprets the conflicts between science and religion. No prior knowledge of these areas is necessary.

Course Outline (Texts are in excerpt unless indicated as Full Text):

1. Introduction: Albert Einstein – “Science and Religion.” Out of My Later Years (1937/1941)

2. Background: Immanuel Kant – Critique of Pure Reason (1783)
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe – “Outline for a General Introduction to Comparative Anatomy, Commencing with Osteology” (1790); Selected Poetry
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe – Faust I (1808) (Full Text)

3. Development of Science: Materialism vs. Transformism
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck – Zoological Philosophy (1809)
Charles Darwin – Origin of Species (1859)
Ernst Haeckel – The Evolution of Man (1868)
Theodor Storm – The White Horse Rider (1888) (Full Text)
Gerhart Hauptmann – The Weavers (1892) (Full Text)

4. Parallel Trends in Germany – Scientific Method Encroaching on Theology
Friedrich Nietzsche – “The Uses and Disadvantages of History” (1874)
Ludwig Feuerbach – Essence of Christianity (1841)
David Friedrich Strauß – The Life of Jesus (1835)
Gottfried Keller – “From Seven Legends” (1872)

5. Theology: The Traditions and new Alternatives
a. Adolf Harnack – Essence of Christianity (1899/1900)
Ernst Troeltsch – The Absoluteness of Christianity and the History of Religions (1901)

b. Ernst Haeckel – The Riddle of the Universe (1898)
Rudolf Steiner – An Outline of Occult Science (1910)
Stefan George – Selected Poetry
Thomas Mann – Death in Venice (1913) (Full Text)

6. Science, Philosophy and Art Under the Nazis
John Cornwell - Hitler’s Scientists
Friedrich Sander – “German Psychology and the National Socialist Weltanschauung” (1937)
Johannes Stark – Letters to Nature (1934)
Martin Heidegger- “The Self-Determination of the German Universities” (“Rektoratsrede”) (1933)
Film - Mephisto

7. Science and Responsibility
Alfred Einstein – “The Menace of Mass Destruction” (1947); “The War is Won But Peace is Not” (1945). Out of My Later Years
Bertolt Brecht – Galileo (1943) (Full Text)

Assignments: 1) 8 Précis (1-page writing assignments) 2) Abstract (2 pages) 3); Paper (8-10 pages);

Class Participation: This incorporates attendance, engagement in the classroom, and preparedness. Reading assignments are to be read before class. Attendance: After 3 unexcused absences this portion of the grade will be reduced by 10 %. Engagement and Preparedness go hand in hand. If you have done the reading and prepared daily assignments you should be able to participate and contribute to every class discussion. Daily multi-sentence and/or conversational exchanges will earn an A, single sentence contributions a B, irregular oral contributions a C, and anything less than this is unsatisfactory.