REL 302
Philosophy of Religion Spring 2014
Division II Writing Skills
Cross-listed PHIL 281
This is not the current course catalog

Class Details

Our goal in this course will be to try to determine how far reason can justify belief in God. We will spend at least half of the semester examining the best-known philosophical arguments for and against the existence of God (including the ontological argument, the cosmological argument, the teleological argument, the argument from religious experience, the argument from evil, and the argument from religious disagreement). For each one, we will first look at historically important formulations of the argument and then turn to contemporary reformulations. Our aim will be to identify and then evaluate the strongest version of each argument. After working through these arguments, we will reflect more generally on the proper roles of reason and faith in justifying religious belief. In the final section of the course, we will examine the relationship between god and morality. Authors will include Plato, Anselm, Aquinas, Pascal, Paley, Hume, Kant, Kierkegaard, Freud, Marx, and several contemporary philosophers.
The Class: Format: tutorial; students meet with instructor in pairs for an hour each week; emphasis will be placed on developing skills in reading, interpretation and oral argument as well as critical reasoning and writing
Limit: 10
Expected: 10
Class#: 3332
Grading: OPG
Requirements/Evaluation: each student will write a 5- to 6-page paper every other week and comment on his or her tutorial partner's paper in alternate weeks
Extra Info: may not be taken on a pass/fail basis
Prerequisites: one PHIL course or permission of the instructor
Enrollment Preferences: current and prospective Philosophy majors
Distributions: Division II Writing Skills
Notes: This course is cross-listed and the prefixes carry the following divisional credit:
REL 302 Division II PHIL 281 Division II
Attributes: PHIL History Courses
REL Body of Theory Courses

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