Priest's religious knowledge - do they believe in God?
Today's post can be used as an RLS for The Core Theme Knowledge & The Knower, and as RLS for AoK Human Sciences, and the Optional Theme Knowledge and Religion. It's about Priests who don't believe in God, and was the most popular post on my old ToK Blog (ToKTrump). There are obvious links with the role of Religious Knowledge in this research.
The Core Theme: Knowledge and The Knower is a very broad unit encompassing a wide range of knowledge questions. It can be a little unwieldy if not focussed onto some key knowledge questions, or a set of themes. I have slowly developed a sense that my student's most illuminating learning in this unit is firstly that knowledge is constructed rather than give, secondly that that process of construction is highly contextualised, and finally that it is not experienced as contextualised by the knower.
It's difficult to find the original study today, however I did find:
A review in The Atheist's Quarterly on JSTOR linked.
A summary on the website Why Evolution is True linked.
The world view of the knower is not experienced as contextualised, but is their "known world". We can draw upon Husserl's view of "Lebenswelt" or lived world here.
Why is The Priests who don't believe in God pertinent to ToK ?
Unstructured interviews of 5 non-believing priests carried out by Dennett & LaScola (2010) are a fascinating, and rare, insight into people who hold one set of beliefs, and yet live their lives by another set of beliefs. This dissonant state gives rise to a compelling set of insights for ToK. Whilst this example may not be 'typical' for most knowers, arguably it is in this somewhat extreme, contrast that we can uncover some of the processes of knowing that are experienced by all of us as knowers. Some of these implications include:
We can hold contradictory knowledge (and beliefs) at the same time.
Performativity of knowledge is both evidential and significant ( a behavioural element of knowledge).
Internal ethical justification of knowledge occurs when the knower is presented with contradictory or inimical knowledge/beliefs/values.
Even deeply held beliefs and values can change when the knower is challenged with opposing arguments/beliefs/values.
When deeply held beliefs/values are changed the knower may not change their public behaviours according to the newly held beliefs.
Beliefs & values (as forms of knowledge) can be known in many different ways by different knowers.
How to use this in ToK:
Core Theme: Knowledge & The Knower.
A quick skim through the KQs of the Core theme Knowledge & The Knower we can immediately see links to many KQs, particularly those dealing with the knower's knowledge in relation to others through interactions. I have allocated KQs to groups of students and asked them to use the research to explore their allocated KQ.
AoK Human Sciences.
The study can be relevant to all of the Hum Sci Knowledge Framework. Of particular interest to me is the link to perspectives and research methods. Specifically the validity vs reliability debate, and the value of extrapolation from a small (& we assume unrepresentative) sample.
Optional Theme - Knowledge & Religion.
Obviously there are a range of interesting KQs which could be explored using the Dennett & La Scola study. Of particular interest is the link between faith & religious beliefs, the role of culture's influence on religious beliefs, the relationship between reason and religious beliefs, etc.
For more ToK Lesson content for Knowledge and the Knower try this link.
For more ToK Lesson content on AoK Human Sciences try this link.
Conclusion.
The Dennett & LaScola research focuses on an atypical and unusual situation in knowledge. However, maybe it is in the strong contrasts found in the unusual cases that we can better understanding the framework and underlying processes of the knowledge held in all other cases.
If you would like more content like this (focussing on useful RLS), or have suggestions for further content please don't hesitate to contact me - Daniel@TokToday.com
Wishing you a great day!
Daniel, Lisbon, Jan 2023
Bibliography & References.
“Atheists Anonymous.” The Wilson Quarterly (1976-), vol. 34, no. 3, 2010, pp. 77–78. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41000971. Accessed 11 Jan. 2023.
whyevolutionistrue. “Dennett and LaScola Study of Nonbelieving Clergy.” Why Evolution Is True, 18 Mar. 2010, whyevolutionistrue.com/2010/03/18/dennett-and-lascola-study-on-nonbelieving-clergy/. Accessed 11 Jan. 2023.