The Philosophy of Religion
PHIL 263-01 | ID 30348 | MTWR 8:00-10:00 | Room: Alger 106 | Summer I 2012
Course Syllabus
Instructor: Dr. Aaron Smuts | asmuts@ric.edu | office hours: 219 Alger Hall, after class
Description
Is there a God? Does the amount of evil in the world give us reason to think that God doesn't exist? Millions of children suffer from painful diseases and malnutrition. Does this give us reason to think that God must not love humanity after all? Or, perhaps, that God isn't all powerful? If God is all powerful, can he create a stone so heavy that he cannot move it? If God knows everything, he knows everything that we will do. But how can we be morally responsible for our actions if God knows what we will do before we do it? Does morality depend on God? If God doesn't exist, is everything permitted? If there is no afterlife, do we have reason to be moral? Is immortality even conceivable? Can you survive the death of your body? It likely depends on what is it that makes you, you. Are you a soul or just a sack of meat and bones? Is immortality the greatest reward, or would we become hopelessly bored in heaven? What is the meaning of life? Does a meaningful existence require God?
These are some of the questions we will explore in this class. Rather than study the variety of religions found across the globe, in the philosophy of religion we ask questions about important religious claims. Our principal concerns are neither sociological nor historical, they are philosophical. This course explores a broad array of important issues including the nature of morality, personal identity, immortality, free will, and the meaning of life.
Texts
There are five required texts for this course:
Sophocles. Theban Plays. Peter Meineck and Paul Woodruff (trans). Hackett, 2003. ISBN-10: 0872205851. [TP]
The Epic of Gilgamesh. Trans. Andrew George. Penguin Classics, 2003. ISBN 0140449191. [EG]
Plato. The Trial and Death of Socrates, 3rd edition. Trans. G.M.A. Grube. Rev. John M. Cooper. Hackett, 2000. ISBN 0872205541. [TDS]
John Perry. A Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality. Hackett, 1978. ISBN: 0915144530. [DPII]
David Hume. Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, (Second Edition). Hackett, 1998. ISBN-10: 0872204022. [DCNR]
There is one optional book:
Andrew Lawrence Roberts. The Thinking Student's Guide to College: 75 Tips for Getting a Better Education. University Of Chicago Press, 2010. ISBN-10: 0226721159.
The bulk of the readings will be posted on Blackboard. [BB]
Coursework
There will be two different forms of coursework: (best 20 out of 23) daily quizzes and three take-home examinations. I will give a short quiz at the beginning of each class that will require one or two sentence answers. The quizzes are closed-book, but open-note. The bulk of your grade comes from the take-home exams. All assignments must be completed to pass the course.
Warm up paper (5) + quizzes (10) + first exam (30) + late-term exam (30) + final exam (30) = 105.
*All of the exams are already posted on Blackboard. I suggest that you start working on them as we go.
Attendance Policy
If you miss 4 or more classes, you will receive a 0 for your quiz grade. If you miss 8 or more classes, you will receive an F for the course. (There are no excused or unexcused absences. But please talk to me if something major comes up that dramatically effect your attendance.)
Academic Honesty
Plagiarism—claiming someone else’s ideas or written work as your own—will not be tolerated. The tests are not collaborative. All sources must be cited. Outside research is not forbidden, but none of the assignments ask for sources outside the assigned readings. Anyone caught cheating will be given a failing grade in the course. I will also report you to the disciplinary committee.
Class Schedule
(There will be a quiz every class on the required reading for that day, except for the first class.)
*The readings for each class are listed under the date. For the first class, you should read Rowe.
Topic I: The Nature of God
Week 1
C1 (M: 5/21) Introduction
Rowe, "The Idea of God" [BB]
C2 (T: 5/22) Puzzles Concerning Omnipotence
Aquinas, "Is God's Power Limited" [BB]
Mavrodes, Some Puzzles Concerning Omnipotence" [BB]
{Optional: Frankfurt, "The Logic of Omnipotence" [BB]}
Topic II: Fate and Divine Foreknowledge
C3 (W: 5/23) The Free Will Problem
Kane, "The Free Will Problem" [BB]
{Start reading: Sophocles, Oedipus Tyrannus, start to 3rd chorus (pp. 62-97) [TP]}
C4 (R: 5/24) Fate
Sophocles, Oedipus Tyrannus, 3rd chorus to end (pp. 97-124) [TP]
{Optional: Lucian, "Zeus Cross Examined" [BB]}
Week 2
XX (M: 5/28) NO CLASS: Memorial Day
C5 (T: 5/29) Divine Foreknowledge
Augustine, "Divine Foreknowledge, Evil, and the Free" [BB]
Kane, "Divine Foreknowledge, and Free Will" [BB]
*Pike, "Divine Omniscience and Voluntary Action" [BB]
{Optional: Taylor, "Fate" [BB]}
Topic III: Morality and Religion
C6 (W: 5/30) Divine Command Theory
Plato, "Euthyphro" [TDS]
C7 (R: 5/31) The Karamozov Thesis
Wielenberg, "God and Morality" [BB]
Topic IV: Arguments for the Existence of God
Week 3
C8 (M: 6/4) The Ontological Argument
Anselm, "The Ontological Argument" [BB]
Kant, "A Critique of the Ontological Argument" [BB]
*DUE: FIRST EXAM
C9 (T: 6/5) The Cosmological Argument
Aquinas, "The Five Ways" [BB]
Rowe, "An Examination of the Cosmological Argument" [BB]
C10 (W: 6/5) The Teleological Argument
Hume, Dialogues (parts I-V, pp.1-38) [DCNR] (*part V)
Hume, Dialogues (parts VI-IX, pp.39-57) [DCNR]
{Optional: Collins, "A Scientific Argument for the Existence of God" [BB]}
Topic V: The Problem of Evil
C11 (R: 6/6) Divine Perfection and Evil
Hume, Dialogues (parts X-XII, pp.58-87) [DCNR]
Week 4
C12 (M: 6/11) The Problem of Evil
Mackie, "Evil and Omnipotence" [BB]
C13 (T: 6/12) The Problem of Evil
Plantinga, "The Free Will Defense" [BB]
{Optional: Hick, "Evil and Soulmaking" [BB]}
Topic VI: Immortality and Personal Identity
C14 (W: 6/13) Soul Theory
Perry, A Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality (night 1) [DPII]
C15 (R: 6/14) Personality Theory
Perry, A Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality (night 2) [DPII]
Week 5
C16 (M: 6/18) Body Theory
Perry, A Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality (night 3) [DPII]
*DUE: SECOND EXAM
C17 (T: 6/19) The Desirability of Immortality
Williams, "The Makropulos Case: Reflections on the Tedium of Immortality" [BB]
{Optional: Borges, "The Immortal" [BB]}
{Optional: Smuts, "Immortality and Significance" [BB]}
C18 (W: 6/20) The Desirability of Immortality
Fischer, "Why Immortality is Not So Bad" [BB]
{Optional: Fischer, "Contribution on Martha Nussbaum's The Therapy of Desire" [BB]}
Topic VII: The Meaning of Life
C19 (R: 6/21) Death and The Meaning of life
The Epic of Gilgamesh, tablets I-VI (pp. 1-54) [EG]
Week 6
C20 (M: 6/25) Death and The Meaning of life
The Epic of Gilgamesh, tablets VII-XII (pp. 54-100) [EG]
Freud, "Our Attitude Towards Death" (p.289) [BB]
C21 (T: 6/26) The Meaning of life
Taylor, "The Meaning of Life" [BB]
C22 (W: 6/27) God and the Meaning of life
Craig, "The Absurdity of Life Without God" [BB]
{Optional: Nagel, "The Absurd" [BB]}
C23 (R: 6/28) The Meaning of life
Wielenberg, "God and the Meaning of Life" [BB]
{Optional: Smuts, "The Good Cause Account of the Meaning of Life" [BB]}
*M: 7/2/2012 – DUE: FINAL EXAM