Syllabus

Department of Religion and Classics
Philosophy of Religion
REL 111 | PHL 111
Fall 2008

Prof. Edward Wierenga
Office: Rush Rhees Library 430
Hours: Monday 1:00-2:00, or by appointment
Phone: x59370 (office), x55378 (department)
e-mail: edward.wierenga@rochester.edu

Description

Topics include the existence of God, the nature of God, and the relation of God to the world. We will examine traditional arguments for and against God's existence, we will consider divine attributes such as omnipotence and omniscience, and we will discuss such topics as miracles and evidence for theistic belief. Three lectures per week with opportunity for discussion.

Goals

To introduce students to the major issues in philosophy of religion.
To introduce students to the work of the most important historical and contemporary philosophers who have contributed to the philosophy of religion.
To encourage students to develop a method of thinking seriously about issues, a method that requires clarity of thought and expression, careful attention to distinctions, and reasoned evaluation of the the strength of a claim or argument.

Readings

Philosophy of Religion: An Anthology, Louis Pojman and Michael Rea, eds., Wadsworth, 5th, 0-495-09504-4 (required)
The Nature of God, Edward Wierenga, Cornell University Press, 1989 (pb 2003), available on reserve in RRL (recommended)

Requirements

I expect that you will attend class regularly and that you will prepare for each class session by doing the required reading.

There will be three essay tests according to the following schedule:

Oct. 10: Section I
Nov. 10: Sections II-III
Dec. 10: Sections IV-V

In addition, you will be required to write a short paper (5-6 pages) due on November 21. The tests and the paper will each determine 25% of your final grade. Your grade may be be rounded up if you show serious effort or make dramatic improvement after the first test, but in no case will that happen if your attendance is poor.

Plagiarism

Don't plagiarize: Remember to quote all words that are not your own and to indicate by citation the source of any ideas that are not your own. The University's Academic Honesty Policy may be found at http://www.rochester.edu/College/CCAS/AdviserHandbook/AcadHonesty.html. Violations of academic honesty will be taken very seriously and dealt with according to the terms of this Policy.

Course Web Pages, Lecture Outlines, Paper Topics

The web pages for this course may be found at http://www.courses.rochester.edu/wierenga/REL111/. This syllabus is available there. More material for the course is available on Blackboard, including suggested paper topics and directions for writing the course paper, as well as lecture outlines for each topic of the course. I encourage you to print out a copy of the relevant lecture outline in advance of our class meetings--that way you can spend more of class time thinking and less of it writing. Go my.rochester.edu, login, and click on "Philosophy of Religion 2008".

Topics and Reading Assignments 0. Introduction: Sept. 3, 5, 8: Arguments and Proving God's Existence
	Louis Pojman, "Introduction" (viii)
*I. Arguments for God's Existence*
Sept. 10, 12, 15, 17: The Cosmological Argument
	Thomas Aquinas, "The Five Ways" (12)
Sept. 22, 24, 26: The Teleological Argument (Argument from Design)
	William Paley, "The Watch and the Watchmaker" (54) David Hume, "A Critique of the Design Argument" (56) recommended: Richard Swinburne, "The Argument from Design" (63)
Sept. 26, 29, Oct. 1, 3, 8: The Ontological Argument
	Anselm and Gaunilo, "The Ontological Argument" (3)
*II. An Argument Against God's Existence*
Oct. 13, 15, 17, 20, 22, 24: The Problem of Evil
	David Hume, "The Argument from Evil" (147) J. L. Mackie, "Evil and Omnipotence" (173) Alvin Plantinga, "The Free Will Defense" (181) recommended: Gottfried Leibniz,"Theodicy: A Defense of Theism" (152) Fyodor Dostoevsky, "Rebellion" (158) John Hick, "Evil and Soul-Making" (165)
*III. Some Divine Attributes*
Oct. 27, 29, 31: Omnipotence
	Thomas Aquinas, "Is God's Power Limited?" (265) George Mavrodes, "Some Puzzles Concerning Omnipotence" (267) Harry Frankfurt,"The Logic of Omnipotence" (269) recommended: Wierenga, The Nature of God, Chapter 1
Nov. 3, 5, 7: Omniscience
	Augustine, "Divine Foreknowledge and Human Free Will" (247) recommended: Nelson Pike, "Divine Foreknowledge and Human Free Will" (249) Alvin Plantinga, "God's Foreknowledge and Human Free Will Are Compatible" (260) Wierenga, The Nature of God, Chapters 3-4
*IV. Miracles*
Nov. 12, 14, 17, 19: Miracles and Evidence
	David Hume,"Against Miracles" (261) Richard Swinburne,"For the Possibility of Miracles" (269) J. L. Mackie, "Miracles and Testimony" (276) recommended Peter van Inwagen, "Of 'Of Miracles'" (285)
*Quodlibetal Questions* Nov. 21 *V. Faith and Reason*
Nov. 24, Dec. 1, 3, 5, 8: Religion and Rationality
	W. K. Clifford, "The Ethics of Belief" (363) William James, "The Will to Believe" (468) Alvin Plantinga, "Religious Belief without Evidence" (414) Michael Martin, "A Critique of Plantinga's Religious Epistemology" (429)