Greetings.   This is the course homepage for PHIL 4303, Philosophy of Religion. I'll try to keep this page reasonably current and include course reading assignments, announcements, writing assignments, etc..  I'll also put course handouts here at least for now.  If I notice that class attendance is dwindling, I'll stop posting them and make you come to class to get them.

Announcements:

The bottom line on the paper assignment is that you are to write an essay of 6-8 pages in length (with a 12 point font and standard margins). Your paper should be a philosophical response to an article that you read outside of the standard course readings. You should spend approximately half of your paper laying out the argument or position that you will be responding to.  Make sure that you are clear and charitable in your interpretation. The second half of your paper will be your philosophical interaction with the paper you've been discussing.   You should offer a philosophical evaluation of its argument. Is it valid?  Are the premises plausible?  How could one or more of them be made dubious or shown to be false?   What might the defender of the argument say to your criticisms? Are there plausible objections to the argument that you believe can be shown not to work?   There are a lot of different ways these papers can go. The goal is to write a paper that fairly, clearly, and accurately presents the argument/position of the paper you’ve chosen, and that discusses that argument/position philosophically.

Below are two websites that each contains a great variety of papers on topics relevant to our course. My intention is that you write on a paper found on one of these sites. However, not all the papers on either site are appropriate. Some of them are about topics beyond the scope of the philosophy of religion (for instance, any paper on the reliability of the Bible would fall into this category). So here’s what I want you to do.  Peruse the papers on one or both websites. Find an essay that you think is relevant to our course and that interests you, and send me the link to the paper.  I’ll have a look at it and tell you if it’s all right to write on.

On the first site you will find papers that are mostly critical of religion in general, and of theism in particular; the second website contains papers that are favorably disposed toward religious claims. I mention this because it is easier to take on an article that argues for a conclusion that you think is false.

You must have an approved paper to write about by the Thanksgiving break. Since I might disallow a given paper as being appropriate, I strongly recommend that you not wait until the Monday before the break to look at the papers and email your request to me.  You may send me the link to the paper you’d like to respond to anytime after you get this email.  I ask only that you send me one request at a time; I’ll give you a thumbs up or thumbs down within 24 hours.  If you later decide to change your topic that is fine so long as it is prior to the Thanksgiving break and you get your new topic cleared with me.

Your paper is due on the last day of class.  Please turn in both a hard copy of your paper and a hard copy of the essay you are responding to.

One more thing: I'm happy to let you write on something not found on either of these websites, but you must get my permission  to do so. And if you write do on something not found on these sites without receiving my permission, your paper will not be accepted.

http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/theism/arguments.html

 
http://www.leaderu.com/offices/billcraig/menus/articles.html

Syllabus

Here are the reading assignments that I've assigned thus far.  All readings and page numbers refer to our primary text, Philosophy of Religion: An Anthology, fifth edition (Wadsworth), edited by Louis P. Pojman and Michael Rea, except where otherwise noted.  Some readings not in the text can be found at the Mullins Library Reserve site here.

The Cosmological Argument
I.B.5 "The Kalam Cosmological Argument" by William Lane Craig and J.P. Moreland  (for Tuesday, September 2nd)
I.B.6 "A Critique of the Kalam Cosmological Argument" by Paul Draper  (for Tuesday, September 2nd)
I.B.4 "An Examination of the Cosmological Argument" by William Rowe (for Thursday, September 4th read up to the "The Truthof the PSR" section)

The Teleological Argument
I C  "The Teleological Argument for the Existence of God" (optional for Tuessday, September 16th)
I.C.1. "The Watch and the Watchmaker" by William Paley (for Tuesday, September 16th)
I.C.2  "A Critique of the Design Argument" by David Hume (for Tuesday, September 16th)
I.C.3  "The Argument from Design" by Richard Swinburne (for Thursday, September 18th)
I.C.4.  "A Scientific Argument for the Existence of God" by Robin Collins (for Tuesday, September 23rd)

The Ontological Argument
I.A.1 "The Ontological Argument" by St. Anselm (for Thursday, September 25th)
IA.2. "A Critique of the Ontological Argument" by Immanuel Kant (for Thursday, September 25th)

Freud and the Problem of Evil
II.3 "The Future of an Illusion" by Sigmund Freud (for Tuesday, September 30th)
III.3 "Rebellion" by Fyodor Dostoevsky (for Tuesday, September 30th)
III.6 "Evil and Omnipotence" by J.L. Mackie (for Tuesday, October 7th)
III.7 "The Free Will Defense" by Alvin Plantinga (OPTIONAL for undergrads,  for Tuesday, October 7th)
"An Exchange on the Problem of Evil" by Daniel Howard-Snyder, Michael  Bergmann, and William L. Rowe (available online at  the UA Mullins Library Reserve site, for Thursday, October 9th)

The Attiributes of God
IVA.1  "Temporal Eternity" by Stephen Davis (for Tuesday, October 21rd)
IVA.2 "The God Beyonod Time" by Hugh McCann (for Thursday, October 23rd)
"Omniscience and the Problem of Foreknowledge and Freedom"by Thomas Senor (for Thursday October 30th)
"Omnipotence: A Primer" by Thiomas Senor (for Thursday, November 6th)
IV.C.1 "Is God's Power Limited?" by St. Thomas Aquinas (for Thursday , November 6th)
IV.C.2 "Some Puzzles Concerning Omnipotence" by George Mavrodes (for Thursday, November 6th)
IV.C.3. "The Logic of Omnipotence" by Harry Frankfrut (for Thursday, November 6th)
"On Privileging God's Goodness" by Eric Funkhouser (for Tuesday, November 11th)
"God's Goodness Needs No Privilege" by Thomas Senor (for Tuesday, November 11th)

Plantinga's Epistemology of Religious Belief
VII.B.1 "Religious Belief Without Evidence" by Alvin Plantinga (for Tuesday, November 18th)
VII.B.2 "A Critique of Plantinga's Religious Epistemology" by Michael Martin (for Tuesday, November 18th)

William Rowe: Can God Be Free?
Chapters 1 & 2 (for Tuesday, November 25th)
Chapters  2 & 3 (for Tuesday, December 2nd)
Chapters  4&5 (for Thursday, December 4th)
Chapter 6 (for Tuesday, December 9th)
Optional Reading: "Defending Divine Freedom" by Thomas Senor

Handouts: