Course Reading Schedule
(tentative!)
Philosophy of Religion
Summer Session II
June 21-July 27, 2007
Week
1: Introduction
6/21: Course introduction. No readings.
6/22: Logic, Attributes of God. Readings: A
Little Bit
of Logic (handout).
Week 2: Arguments for the
Existence of God
6/25: The Cosmological Argument. Readings: Aquinas' Summa Theologica.
6/26: The Cosmological Argument (continued). Readings: TBA (link coming
soon), The
Cosmological Argument (handout).
6/27: The Cosmological Argument (continued); The Teleological Argument.
Hume's Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.
6/28: The Teleological Argument (continued). Readings: Hume (continued).
6/29: The Teleological Argument (continued). Readings: The
Teleological Argument (handout).
Week 3: Arguments for the
Existence of God (continued)
7/2: The Ontological Argument (continued). Readings: Anselm's Proslogium, Chapter II
and Chapter
III.
7/3: The Ontological Argument (continued); Review. Readings: The Ontological
Argument (handout).
7/4: ---NO CLASS!---
7/5: TBA and Review.
7/6: MIDTERM. No
reading
assignment.
Week 4: Faith and
Reason, The Problem
of Evil
7/9: Pragmatic Justification of Religious Belief. Readings: Pascal, et. al (pdf).
7/10: Pragmatic Justification of Religious Belief. Readings: Pragmatic Considerations (handout).
7/11: The Problem of Evil (continued). Readings: Mackie's Evil
and Omnipotence (linked through JSTOR). Optional: Excerpts
from Dostoyevsky's The
Brother's Karamozov (pdf)--Highly recommended!
7/12: The Problem of Evil (continued). Readings: The Problem of Evil
(handout).
7/13: Free Will. Discussion in class. Free Will
(handout)
Week 5: Religion and Morality
7/16: Fideism: Faith Without/Against Reason. Readings: "Science
Discredits Religion" (pdf).
7/17: Divine Command Theory. Readings: "Divine
Commands are the Foundation of Morality". The Euthyphro
Problem. Readings: Plato, Euthyphro (on-line),
The
Euthyphro Problem (handout).
7/18: Nietzsche. Readings: On
the Genealogy of Morals (the juicy bits!).
7/19: Nietzsche (continued). Readings: Nietzsche: On the
Genealogy of Morals
(handout)
7/20: Nietzsche (continued). Reading: TBA
Week 6: Religion and the
Meaning of Life
7/23: Religion and the Meaning of Life. Readings: TBA, Plato's Apology.
7/24: Last day of class; course wrap-up. No reading assignment.
7/25: NO CLASS--Reading Day.
7/26: FINAL EXAM! 8:00-11:00AM
Page Last Updated: July
9, 2007
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