Philosophy of Religion
Philosophy 3600
Summer
2009
Syllabus
Description
We will be
concerned with religious faith – its content, source, and justification
(if any). Here are a few of the specific questions we'll be dealing with.
á
What
are we to make of the diversity of apparently conflicting religious
world-views? Should we conclude
that none of them contains much truth?
á
Are
there any good arguments for believing that God exists?
á
What's
the relation between God and moral standards?
á
Is God,
as represented in the Bible, always perfectly good?
á
If God
exists and is perfectly good, all-powerful, and all-knowing, why is there so
much evil in the world?
á
If God
exists and wants to bring us all into a perfect relationship with himself, why
isn't this made obvious to everyone?
á
If the
evidence of God's existence is inconclusive, should we make a leap of faith?
Instructor
Wes
Morriston
Hellems 280
Office
hours: Mon. and Wed. at 3:00-5:00.
Tel.:
303-492-8297
Wes.Morriston@Colorado.EDU
Textbook
Kevin
Timpe, ed., Arguing About Religion (New York
and London: Routledge, 2009)
Several
readings will available online. In a couple of cases, a username and password
will be required. These will be given to you in class.
Requirements
15%:
Frequent pop quizzes. Some will be on the reading for the day, some on what
you've just heard in class. I'll drop your three lowest scores; that should
take care of all excused absences. If you have to miss more classes that that,
you shouldn't be taking this class!
25%
each: Two four to six page papers on a choice of assigned topics. Due at the end of the second and fourth weeks of class,
respectively.
35%:
Final examination on the last day of class (July 2).
Topics and Reading
Assignments
(All
page references are to the first page of an article in the Kevin Timpe anthology.)
RELIGIOUS RESPONSES TO ANXIETY ABOUT LIFE AND DEATH
1.
First day stuff, and we'll get started on a discussion of
Tolstoy's spiritual crisis and conversion in the reading for the next day.
2.
Tu., June 2:
Read Tolstoy,
selection from My Confession:
http://www.colorado.edu/philosophy/wes/confession.html
You'll watch The Footprint of the
Buddha, narrated by Ronald Eyre.
Ask
yourselves what the Buddhists interviewed in the movie would have to say about
the spiritual crisis depicted in Tolstoy's My Confession.
WHAT SHOULD WE MAKE OF APPARENTLY CONFLICTING RELIGIOUS WORLDVIEWS?
2.
Wed., June 3:
John Hick, "Religious
Pluralism and Salvation" (p. 57)
Timothy
O'Connor, "Religious Pluralism" (p. 81)
SOME ARGUMENTS FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
3.
Peter
Van Inwagen, "The Ontological Argument" (p.
101)
4.
Alexander
Pruss, "Some Recent Progress in the Cosmological
Argument" (p. 121)
5.
Wes
Morriston, "A Critical Examination of the Kalam
Cosmological Argument" (p. 132)
6.
Elliot
Sober, "The Design Argument" (p. 179)
IS NATURALISM SELF-DEFEATING?
7.
Alvin
Plantinga vs. Paul Draper
http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/alvin_plantinga/conflict.html
http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/paul_draper/naturalism.html
http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/alvin_plantinga/against-naturalism.html
THEISM AND THE FOUNDATIONS OF MORALITY
8.
Robert
Adams, "Moral Argument for the Existence of God"
http://www.colorado.edu/philosophy/wes/lad/adams4dct.html
Wes
Morriston, "What if God Commanded Something Terrible?"
http://www.colorado.edu/philosophy/wes/lad/What-If-God.pdf
9.
C.
Stephen Layman, "God and the Moral Order" (p. 189)
GOD AND EVIL
10. We'll view and discuss a BBC move, God on
Trial.
For more information about the move, see:
http://spot.colorado.edu/~morristo/God-on-Trial.html
11. TBA.
But we'll read selected papers on the moral character of God as
portrayed in various parts of the Bible.
12. Peter Van Inwagen,
"The Argument from Evil" (p. 209)
Richard
Swinburne, "Natural Evil and the Possibility of Knowledge." (p. 236)
13. William P. Alston, "The
Inductive
Argument from Evil and the Human Cognitive Limitations" (p.
255)
HEAVEN AND HELL
14. James F. Sennett, "Is There Freedom in
Heaven?" (p. 511)
15. Thomas Talbott,
"The Doctrine of Everlasting Punishment" (p. 482)
16. Eleonore Stump, "Dante's Hell, Aquinas's Moral
theory, and The Love of God" (p. 500)
THE HIDDENNESS OF GOD
17. Peter van Inwagen,
"The Hiddenness of God" (p. 269)
18. Michael J. Murray, "Coercion and the Hiddenness of God" (p. 282)
Robert
P. Lovering, "Divine Hiddenness
and Inculpable Ignorance" (p. 295)
19. We'll view and discuss Ingmar Bergman's
classic movie The Seventh Seal.
You
can find the screenplay here:
http://www.mymoviescripts.com/thescript.php?url=http://themovieguy.110mb.com/7thult.pdf
WAGERING ON GOD
20. Pascal's Wager (selection from the PensŽes and commentary)
http://www.colorado.edu/philosophy/wes/pascal.assignment.pdf
THE END
21. CATCHUP AND REVIEW
22. CATCHUP AND REVIEW
23. Thurs., July 2: FINAL EXAMINATION: