ucsd’s guardian just ran an article on religion profs who strive and struggle to maintain objectivity in teaching. in response i wrote the following letter to the editor (link added when published, Oct 12).
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Dear Editor,
I enjoyed Ms. Buchanan’s carefully written Teacher Don’t Preach in Monday’s Guardian; I’d like to encourage more articles on the topic by pointing out two areas to explore. First, the author assumed that objectivity is possible in academics. In reality, this proposition has been actively debated among philosophers for a while. Rutgers philosopher Roy Clouser, in his lively book The Myth of Religious Neutrality (U Notre Dame Press, 2001), finds ‘religious beliefs’ in mathematics and the natural sciences after rigorously defining that phrase. UCSD Prof. Rahimi’s comment on the diversity of his religious beliefs affirms Clouser’s definition: “my religious beliefs range from a humanistic conception of moral conduct to ritually watching ‘Real Time’[…] I never separate my beliefs from my lectures.” Second, and in keeping with this broad understanding of religious conviction, Ms. Buchanan did not explore the extent to which religious beliefs permeate the science and philosophy lecture halls. To put it bluntly, if Daniel Dennett and UCSD Prof. Patricia Churchland don’t have strong religious convictions that influence their lectures and their work, no one does.
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hopefully, churchland won’t blacklist me. (picture credit, kedar reddy/guardian)
