Study-Unit Description

Study-Unit Description


CODE PHI5021

 
TITLE Pluralism in Post-Secular Social Geographies

 
UM LEVEL 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course

 
MQF LEVEL 7

 
ECTS CREDITS 5

 
DEPARTMENT Philosophy

 
DESCRIPTION This study-unit will explore highly-contested themes such as the secular, the post-secular, pluralism, multiculturalism, and religion. It will engage with a very contemporary discussion across different cultures and forms of government on which kind of society, laws, human rights - or even nation-state - should we be thinking about. The study-unit will discuss the roles of religious communities and other philosophical viewpoints in the light of the concrete possibilities of dialogue, dialectic, and solidarity in our contemporary political and social communities. It will also explore possible avenues for the quest of the underpinnings of our contemporary societies and for the possible quilting points for vital concepts, such as human rights, which are both agreed upon and contested.

Study-Unit Aims:

This study-unit aims at a close reading of key texts - in particular, those by Jürgen Habermas, Charles Taylor, and John Rawls - exploring and understanding the role and place of secular social imaginaries within multicultural and pluralist contexts in contemporary public spheres. This study-unit will seek to explore different forms of the 'secular' state and investigate the possible function and role of religious communities within such a state and will seek answers to the question as to whether a completely neutral state is possible or even desirable. This study-unit will also examine whether our overlapping consensus on the sources and breadth of human rights is sufficient and whether the conversation can be developed in some manner.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Knowledge & Understanding:

By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

- illustrate key contested concepts of multiculturalism, pluralism, secularism and post-secularism;
- discuss main proposals in the contemporary literature regarding the role of religions in the public sphere;
- define the historical threads behind the discussion of such key concepts and proposals.

2. Skills:

By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

- Contribute intelligently to a discussion on what kind of society and government should we be advocating;
- Listen to different stances on contested issues linked to multiculturalism, freedom of religion, and freedom of conscience while understanding what underlies such different stances;
- Take up a personal position on questions relating to the foundations of the nation-state and on questions regarding the roles of religion(s) therein.

Main Text/s and any supplementary readings:

Main Texts:

- Habermas, Jürgen. 2010. An Awareness of What Is Missing: Faith and Reason in a Post-Secular Age. Cambridge and Malden: Polity.
- Habermas, Jürgen, Joseph Ratzinger and Florian Schuller. 2006. The Dialectics of Secularization: On Reason and Religion. San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
- Taylor, Charles. 2007. A Secular Age. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
- Rawls, John, Political Liberalism. New York: Columbia University Press, 1996

Supplementary Readings:

- al-Azami, Usaama. 2019. ‘Abdullāh Bin Bayyah and the Arab Revolutions: Counter-revolutionary Neo-traditionalism’s Ideological Struggle against Islamism. The Muslim World 109: 343–61.
- Al-Jazeera. 2019. Pope Francis Holds First Papal Mass in Abu Dhabi. Doha: Al-Jazeera.
- Asad, Talal. 2003. Formations of the Secular: Christianity, Islam, Modernity. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
- Barbato, Mariano. 2012. Postsecular Revolution: Religion After the End of History. Review of International Studies 38: 1079–97.
- Barbato, Mariano, Sinja Hantscher, and Markus Lederer. 2016. Imagining Jihad. Global Affairs 2: 419–29.
- Barbato, Mariano, and Friedrich Kratochwil. 2009. Towards a Post-Secular Political Order? European Political Science Review 1: 317–40.
- Barbato, Mariano P. 2019. Papal Dialogue with Islam: A Long Way to Abu Dhabi, a Long Way to Peace. Bristol: E-International Relations.
- Berger, Peter L., ed. 1999. The Desecularization of the World: Resurgent Religion and World Politics. Washington, DC: Eerdmans.
- Brown, Nathan J., and Amr Hamzawy. 2010. Between Religion and Politics. Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
- Butler, Judith, Jürgen Habermas, and Charles Taylor. 2011. The Power of Religion in the Public Sphere. Edited by Eduardo Mendieta and Jonathan VanAntwerpen. New York: Columbia University Press.
- Calhoun, Craig J., Eduardo Mendieta, and Jonathan Van Antwerpen, eds. 2013. Habermas and Religion. Cambridge: Polity Press.
- Casanova, José. 1994. Public Religions in the Modern World. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
- Cesari, Jocelyne. 2014. The Awakening of Muslim Democracy: Religion, Modernity, and the State. New York: Cambridge University Press.
- Chadwick, Owen. 1990. The Secularization of the European Mind in the Nineteenth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Chambers, Simone. 2007. How Religion Speaks to the Agnostic: Habermas on the Persistent Value of Religion. Constellations 14: 210–23.
- Connolly, William E. 1999. Why I Am Not a Secularist. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
- Cooke, Maeve. 2007. A Secular State for a Postsecular Society? Postmetaphysical Political Theory and the Place of Religion. Constellations 14: 224–38.
- Davidson, Christopher M. 2019. The UAE, Qatar, and the Question of Political Islam. In Divided Gulf: Contemporary Gulf Studies. Edited by Andreas Krieg. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 71–90.
- Deitelhoff, Nicole. 2009. The Discursive Process of Legalization: Charting Islands of Persuasion in the ICC Case. International Organization 63: 33–65.
- El Sisi, Abdel Fattah Said. 2006. Democracy in the Middle East. Carlisle, PA, USA: U.S. Army War College. [
- Francis, and Ahmad al-Tayyib. 2019. Document on ‘Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together’. Available online: http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/travels/2019/outside/documents/papa-francesco_20190204_documento-fratellanza-umana.html (accessed on 28 February 2020).
- Gagliarducci, Andrea. 2019. Here Is Why Pope Francis’ Trip to the UAE Is Benedict XVI’s Vindication. Monday Vatican. Available online: http://www.mondayvatican.com/vatican/here-is-why-pope-francis-trip-to-the-uae-is-benedict-xvis-vindication (accessed on 11 February 2019).
- Habermas, Jürgen. 2006. The Future of Human Nature. Reprinted. Cambridge: Polity Press.
- Habermas, Jürgen. 2008. Notes on Post-Secular Society. New Perspectives Quarterly 25: 17–29.
- Hegghammer, Thomas. 2010. Jihad in Saudi Arabia: Violence and Pan-Islamism since 1979. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.
- Kaltsas, Spyridon. 2019. Habermas, Taylor, and Connolly on Secularism, Pluralism, and the Post-Secular Public Sphere. Religions 10: 46
- Kirkpatrick, David D., and Thomas Merna. 2015. Egyptian Leader Visits Coptic Christmas Eve Service. New York Times, June 7.
- Mahmood, Saba. 2016. Religious Difference in a Secular Age: A Minority Report. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
- Marrakesh Declaration. 2016. Available online: http://www.marrakeshdeclaration.org/ (accessed on 25 February 2020).
- Mavelli, Luca, and Fabio Petito, eds. 2014. Towards a Postsecular International Politics: New Forms of Vommunity, Identity, and Power. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Muslim Council of Elders. 2020. Available online: https://www.muslim-elders.com/en (accessed on 25 February 2020).
- Norris, Pippa, and Ronald Inglehart. 2011. Sacred and Secular: Religion and Politics Worldwide, 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Reuters. 2019. Egypt’s Sisi Opens Mega-Mosque and Middle East’s Largest Cathedral in New Capital. Available online: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-religion/egypts-sisi-opens-mega-mosque-and-middle-easts-largest-cathedral-in-new-capital-idUSKCN1P00L9 (accessed on 7 January 2019).
- Rosenstock-Huessy, Eugen. 2013. Out of Revolution: Autobiography of Western Man. Eugene: Wipf and Stock Publishers.
- Sabra, George. 2006. Two Ways of Being a Christian in the Muslim Context of the Middle East. Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations 17: 43–53.
- Tamimi, Azzam, and John L. Esposito, eds. 2000. Islam and Secularism in the Middle East. New York: New York University Press.
- The Economist. 2020. EIU Democracy Index 2019—World Democracy Report. Available online: https://www.eiu.com/topic/democracy-index (accessed on 28 February 2020).
- The Higher Committee of Human Fraternity. 2020. Abrahamic Family House. For Human Fraternity. Available online: https://www.forhumanfraternity.org (accessed on 28 February 2020).
- Wood, Graeme. 2019. The Vatican and the Gulf Have a Common Enemy. The Atlantic, March 1.
- World Council|Religions for Peace International. 2020. Available online: https://rfp.org/about/leadership/world-council-2/ (accessed on 25 February 2020).

 
STUDY-UNIT TYPE Lecture and Tutorial

 
METHOD OF ASSESSMENT
Assessment Component/s Assessment Due Sept. Asst Session Weighting
Assignment SEM2 Yes 100%

 
LECTURER/S Mark Sultana

 

 
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It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2024/5. It may be subject to change in subsequent years.

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