God, Science and Morality

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

The study of morality has been judged “one of the hottest topics in the life sciences.” Scholars working in fields like evolutionary biology, paleoanthropology, primatology, evolutionary psychology, child psychology, social psychology, social neuroscience, and biomathematical modeling now routinely release accounts of the biological “origin” or “basis” of morality. Many authors of such studies claim that their findings either invalidate or make obsolete religious views of morality. This course will provide you an occasion to investigate the work of several scientists who advocate “biologizing” the study of morality as a way of de-theologizing the subject. I will equip you to place this endeavor in historical context, to evaluate its empirical and philosophical warrants, and to incorporate its valid aspects in moral theology. This course therefore promotes Notre Dame’s mission of exploring how Christian thought “may intersect with all the forms of knowledge,” including the sciences.