Mark Webb (Texas Tec University)
Dia 28/10, quarta-feira, das 11h30 às 13h00. Sala 4, Anfiteatro Glória

Abstract of “Hizmet, Religious Knowledge, and Scientific Education”

The Gülen Hizmet movement is an international movement of volunteers, organizing financial capital and human effort to serve the broader community. In the beginning, the movement populated entirely by Turkish Muslims, and even today, most participants in the movement are motivated by religious faith. One of the values that the movement supports is the value of education, especially in the sciences. But knowledge claims in science and in religion frequently come into conflict with one another. This paper describes the particular problem for the Hizmet movement in terms of doxastic-practice epistemology, and outlines several ways potential conflicts can be dealt with. It closes with a suggestion for a particular method of resolution that respects the knowledge claims of both religion and science, but requires some sacrifice.

Mark Owen Webb is chairman of the Philosophy Department at Texas Tech University.  He received his Ph.D. in Philosophy from Syracuse University in 1991, and a postgraduate diploma in Buddhist Studies from Sunderland University in 2006. Professor Webb is a specialist in philosophy of religion whose articles have appeared in The Journal of Philosophy, Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, and Religious Studies, among others. His book, A Comparative Doxastic-Practice Epistemology of Religious Experience, was published by Springer press. He has published articles and spoken at several international conferences on the Gülen Hizmet Movement, as well as religious tolerance and dialogue in general. He is actively committed to interfaith dialogue activities in his adopted hometown, Lubbock, Texas, and has served as a consultant for the Southwest Dialogue Institute, the Alliance for Shared Values and the Gülen Institute.