Topic. This seminar will focus on the following question: does the nature of the world we inhabit give us good reason to believe that God exists, good reason to believe that there is no God, or neither?
We will begin by considering the main argument against the existence of God: the argument that the existence of evil in the world gives us good reason to believe that there is no God. We will read most of Peter van Inwagen's The Problem of Evil, along with a selection of articles and excerpts from other books.
In the second half of the course, we will consider various attempts to provide evidence for the existence of God. We will consider arguments for God's existence from evidence of design in the world, from miracles, and from morality.
A principal aim of the course will be to teach students to recognize and produce good
arguments. We will spend a bit of time at the beginning of the course, and occasionally
throughout, discussing what good arguments are, and why they might be worth
pursuing.
Texts. You will be required to purchase only van Inwagen's The Problem of Evil. All other readings will be made available for download via the links at right.
Assignments. There will be four written assignments. The first will be a short 1-2 page
assignment worth 10% of the grade; the next three will each be 5-7 pages in
length, and worth 25% of the grade. Late papers will be penalized. The remaining 15% of
the grade will be given on the basis of class attendance and participation. In all of their
assignments, students are responsible for compliance with the University’s honor code,
information about which is available here. You should also review the philosophy department guidelines regarding plagiarism. |
Date |
Topic |
Reading |
| Tuesday, January 16 |
Introduction to philosophical arguments |
(none) |
| Thursday, January 18 |
Introduction to the problem of evil |
Hume, Dialogues on Natural Religion §§X-XI
Short reconstruction of Hume argument due |
| Tuesday, January 23 |
Introduction, continued. |
re-read Hume |
| Thursday, January 25 |
The global argument from evil |
van Inwagen, Lecture 4
background reading: van Inwagen, Lecture 2
Second reconstruction of Hume argument + brief discussion of soundness due |
| Tuesday, January 30 |
Compatibilist vs. incompatibilist
views of free will |
van Inwagen, pp. 75-78
van Inwagen, "The powers of rational beings" |
| Thursday, February 1 |
Problems for incompatibilist views of free will |
Sider, "Free will and determinism"
optional: Kane, "Libertarianism, indeterminism, and chance" |
| Tuesday, February 6 |
Free will and foreknowledge |
van Inwagen, pp. 80-83
Kane, "Predestination, divine foreknowledge, and free will"
optional: Edwards, Freedom of the Will (excerpt)
Final version of 1-2 page Hume paper due |
| Thursday, February 8 |
Evil and "soul-making" |
Hick, "Soul-making and suffering" |
| Tuesday, February 13 |
Natural evil |
van Inwagen, pp. 83-112 |
| Thursday, February 15 |
The grand inquisitor |
Dostoevsky,
The Brothers Karamazov
(excerpt)
|
| Tuesday, February 20 |
The hiddenness of God |
van Inwagen, Lecture 8 |
| Thursday, February 22: class cancelled |
| Tuesday, February 27 |
The traditional design argument |
Aquinas, "Is the world governed by providence?"
Hume, Dialogues II & Dialogues V
optional: Paley, Natural Theology (excerpt)
optional: Newton, Principia (excerpt) |
| Thursday, March 1 |
Evolution as an alternative to design |
Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker (excerpt)
optional: Gould, "The panda's thumb" |
| Tuesday, March 6 |
Evolution and human beings |
Stove, Darwinian Fairytales (excerpt)
optional: Stove, "So you think you are a Darwinian?"
optional: Blackburn, "I rather think I am a Darwinian"
optional: Plantinga, "Naturalism defeated" |
| Thursday, March 8 |
Human beings and immaterial souls |
Descartes, Meditation 6, §9
Plantinga, "Against materialism"
First 5-7 page paper due in class |
March 13 & 15
SPRING BREAK |
| Tuesday, March 20 |
Human beings and materialism |
van Inwagen, "Dualism and personal identity" and "I look for the resurrection of the dead"
|
| Thursday, March 22 |
Do persons exist? |
Parfit, "Divided minds and the nature of persons" and Reasons and Persons (excerpt) |
| Tuesday, March 27 |
The fine-tuning of the universe |
Collins, "God, design, and fine-tuning"
optional: van Inwagen, "Design and purpose"
optional: Rees, Just Six Numbers (excerpt)
|
| Thursday, March 29 |
Objections to the fine-tuning argument |
Dawkins,"Why there almost certainly is no God" |
| Tuesday, April 3 |
Religion and science |
Gould & Dawkins on religion and science
Kitcher, "Conflict between science and religion"
|
| Thursday, April 5 |
Hume's argument against miracles |
Hume, "Of miracles", pt. I
Hume, "Of miracles", pt. II
optional: Swinburne, "Miracles"
|
| Tuesday, April 10 |
Religious exclusivism vs. religious inclusivism |
Hick, "Religious pluralism and salvation"
Plantinga, "A defense of religious exclusivism" |
| Thursday, April 12 |
Do the differences between religions matter? |
van Inwagen, "Non est Hick"
Dalai Lama, "Buddism and other religions"
Second 5-7 page paper due
|
| Tuesday, April 17 |
Religious experience & religious belief |
James, Varieties of Religious Experience (excerpt)
Mackie, "Religious experience and natural histories of religion" |
| Thursday, April 19 |
Belief and evidence |
Pascal, Pensees §§227-241
Clifford, "The ethics of belief"
James, "The will to believe" |
| Tuesday, April 24 |
Morality as an argument for the existence of God |
Lewis, Mere Christianity, Book I
Mavrodes, "Religion and the queerness of morality" |
| Thursday, April 26 |
An evolutionary view of morality |
Joyce, The Evolution of Morality (selections) |
| Tuesday, May 1 |
Concluding discussion |
Lewis, "The naturalist and the supernaturalist"
|
| Due date for final paper: Monday, May 7, 5 pm. Final papers should be handed in by email. |
|