Summer 2009 (Session I)

May 12 - June 16, 2009

Week 1: Introduction, and Arguments for the Existence of God

5/12: Course introduction. No readings.
5/13: Logic, Attributes of God. Reading: Some Logic (handout). Suggested reading: Western Concepts of God (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
5/14: The Cosmological Argument. Readings: Aquinas' Summa Theologica.
5/15: The Cosmological Argument (continued). Readings: The Cosmological Argument (handout).

Week 2: Arguments for the Existence of God (continued)

5/18: The Cosmological Argument (continued); The Teleological Argument. Hume's Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, in particular Part II (the rest is optional).
5/19: The Teleological Argument (continued). Readings: Hume (continued).
5/20: The Teleological Argument (continued). Readings: The Teleological Argument (handout).
5/21: The Ontological Argument (continued). Readings: Anselm's Proslogium, Chapter II and Chapter III.
5/22: The Ontological Argument (continued); Review. Readings: The Ontological Argument (handout).

Week 3: Arguments for the Existence of God (continued), and Faith and Reason

5/25: ---NO CLASS!!---
5/26: TBA and Review
5/27: MIDTERM I. No reading assignment. 
5/28:  Pragmatic Justification of Religious Belief. Readings: Pensees (esp. #233), William James, "The Will to Believe", Clifford, "The Ethics of Belief".
5/29:  Pragmatic Justification of Religious Belief. Readings: Pragmatic Considerations (handout), Theology and Falsification, The Dragon in My Garage.

Week 4: Arguments Against God: The Problem of Evil, Religion and Morality

6/1:  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!
6/2:  The Problem of Evil (continued). Readings: The Problem of Evil (handout).
6/3:  Free Will. Discussion in class. Free Will (handout)
6/4:  Few Will (continued; Fideism: Faith Without/Against Reason. Readings: "Science Discredits Religion" (pdf).
6/5:  Divine Command Theory. Readings: "Divine Commands are the Foundation of Morality". The Euthyphro Problem. Readings: Plato, Euthyphro (on-line), The Euthyphro Problem (handout).

Week 5: Religion, Morality, and the Menaing of Life

6/8: Nietzsche. Readings: On the Genealogy of Morals (the juicy bits!).
6/9: Nietzsche (continued). Readings: Nietzsche: On the Genealogy of Morals (handout), and Review for Midterm II.
6/10: MIDTERM II. No reading assignment.
6/11: Religion and the Meaning of Life. Readings: Plato's Apology.
6/12: Last day of class; course wrap-up. No reading assignment.

6/15: FINAL EXAM 11:30-2:30 Caldwell 105

---