I was going to look at your suggestions and then post your assignment for next time. No suggestion, though -- and therefore, no assignment yet. Post your brief responses to Silver, and your suggestions/thoughts for a possible assignment as comments to this post...
12 comments:
So far, Challenging Nature has been a novel that talks about things that most people aren't comfortable with. Silver challenges religious ideas and beliefs and tries to explain them scientifically. Being a Catholic, I don't exactly agree with the way he looks at things like spirit and heaven, but he brings up several ghood points that you can really think about.
Assignment:
Which aspect of Silvers arguments do you agree with most inlvolving the spirit and give specific examples of of why you can understand his argument. If you completely disagree, convince the reader why you should not think like Silver does and give reasoning to support your argument.
I have never really read anything quite like Challenging Nature because it is quite opinionated but at the same time kind of insulting to some people. Silver doesn't sugar coat or hold back at all when he critisizes some people for not wanting certain aspects of science to be progressing. It is pretty much his way or the highway in this book.
As for an assignment I think we should write about what exactly Silver is trying to tell readers and why or why not we agree with what he is trying to say and also with his style of getting his point across.
For an assignment I think we should consider Silvers main point, the link between science and religion and whether or not the two concepts can progress at the same time.
Advances in the understandings of science have placed doubts on many religious beliefs. I think we should discuss if further knowledge of science will eventually eliminate the belief of an existence of a higher power. Can spirituallity survive?
Personally I agree with Silvers opinion of the dampening effect of mainstream religion upon scientific and individual through. He makes allusions to his family which at first seem extraneous to me, until I realized than some who read might consider him less than human.
Silver has the difficult job of calling those with different opinions that himself ignorant in a polite way. I think our assignment should involve Silver's transitions between personal anecdotes and his interpretation of them in a wider sense.
Challenging Nature has been interesting so far because it is non-fiction, but it takes into consideration a variety of theories and beliefs. He questions religious beliefs, and some parts are hard to read because it goes against your own beliefs.
For the assignment, i think we should write about our concepts of heaven, and whether or it is a physical place, or more of a state of mind.
Challenging Nature is definitely a controversial novel. I'm not a very religious person, so I tend to agree with the more scientific outlook on things. I like how Silver educates the reader about both the religious and scientific view.
I like the assignment Nick proposed. But to add to it, I think it would be interesting if group 1 wrote an argument supporting their opinion on the topic and then when group 2 writes, they create a counterargument for one of the papers written by group 1.
I like and dislike the way Silver talks about the different says of religion. He puts science into religion which really shouldn't be done. I think it is an interesting book though all together.
Assignment- Should people put science and religion together? The many different religions that Silver talk about all have his little bits of science in it. How do you think religion should be talked about.
Choose a biotechnology (e.g. genetically modified crops) mentioned by Silver in part one and explain how people's different spirituality would affect the development of this biotechnology.
Challenging Nature has intrigued me in several ways. Firstly it examines the issues through both religous points of views and scientific ones. I thought it was interesting that the book would show examples of where a miracle actually did happen.
Assignment:
I think we should write about if science can co-exist with religion.
Challenging nature has been pretty decent due to it real life tellings of encounters from the author. It is pretty straight forward and his point of view on the different religions and their rituals are interesting.
I might be to late to create an assignment for group 1, but I think a good paper would be to compare at least two of the religions, their ideas of spirits and heavens, taking into consideration the link between these ideas and science, and create an argument about why/why not in your own opinion this is plausible and how, or implausible and why.
Challenging Nature discusses the relationship between religion and science and whether they are linked together and/or can co-exist. I find Silver's personal anecdotes interesting because he has gathered his information from all over the world and from various sources.
I think the assignment should be to compare and contrast what your personal religion says about heaven and spirits and how this is similar or different from your own personal ideas, using Silver’s reasoning and many examples.
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