Office Hours, Spring 2006: Mondays and Wednesdays,
2:30-5:00; or make an appointment before or after class
Class Assignments and Notes
Week 1: Introduction to the Course
Assignment for Thursday,
January 12
Week 2:
Assignment for Tuesday,
January 17
Assignment
for Thursday, January 19
Week 3:
Assignment for Tuesday,
January 24: Reading Questions on Ibn Rushd
Assignment for Thursday, January 26: Reading questions on Pascal's
Wager
*QUIZ #1 on Thursday covering readings and lectures so far
Week 4: Assignment for Tuesday,
January 31: Reading from Kierkegaard
Assignment for Thursday, February 2:
Reading from William Clifford
'Answers to questions to be
typed up and handed in at the end of class
Week 5: Assignment for Tuesday,
February 7: Reading from William James
Class
lecture notes
Thursday, February 9: Further discussion of the debate between
Clifford and
James; Essay topics will be handed out and discussed
*Quiz #2 on
Thursday covering Pascal, Kierkegaard, James and Clifford
ESSAY TOPICS
AND INSTRUCTIONS FOR ESSAY DUE FEB. 23
Week 6: Assignment for Tuesday, February 14: We will discuss the
first Part of David
essay "Of Miracles" available above to the left left of the painting
by Raphael
as
David Hume's complete essay "Of Miracles"
(it is 11 pages long; but only
the last part of the essay appears at PR 417-26). Bring the first
part to class
on Tuesday; here are NOTES AND
QUESTIONS to help you think about it.
Your first priority this week should be to write a draft essay. I
would
be pleased to
meet with any of you who have done that next
week, to
discuss your drafts.
Assignment for Thursday, February 16: Read the second part of
Hume's essay
"Of Miracles", PR, pp.418-36. 1) Explain each of the four
circumstances
which Hume thinks should convince us that no historical testimony
regarding miracles has ever amounted to a proof (or even
probability)
that a miracle has really occurred. 2) What is the point of view on faith
that Hume puts forward in the last two paragraphs of his essay? (See
the
website [130-31]; the final paragraph of the essay is not printed in
our
text.)
Week 7: Assignment for Tuesday, February 21: Read the
Introduction to the Section on "Di-
vine Attributes" on pp. 111-12, the selection by St. Thomas on "God
is Omni-
potent", pp. 124-26, and George Mavrodes, "Some Puzzles concerning
Omni-
potence, pp. 127-29 --all with the help of
these notes and questions.
Thursday, February 23: Essays are due in typed
hard copy in class, and electronically
at www.turnitin.com before
5:00 p.m. No late submissions will
be accepted.
Discussion of Boethius, "God is Timeless", pp. 126-39
guided by these
questions.
Week 8: Assignment for Tuesday, February, 28: God of the
Philosophers and the God of the
Bible: Read Boethius, "God is Timeless" (as above) and
Nicolas Wolterstorff,
"God is Everlasting" with the help of
these questions.
Review for
Thursday's quiz.
Thursday, March 2: Quiz #3 on Hume's essay "Of
Miracles", St. Thomas and
George Mavrodes on God's Omnipotence, and Boethius and Wolterstorf on the
question
of whether God is timeless or in time.
Introduction to the "Problem of Evil" and "Theodicy", the
attempt to solve it (PR,
pp. 249-50): Questions to be
discussed.
March Break: No Classes March 7 and March 9.
Week 9: Tuesday, March 14: St. Augustine on "Evil is Privation of
Good", PR, pp. 251-55:
READING
QUESTIONS
Class notes on St. Augustine
Thursday, March 16:
Two Enlightenment Theodicies: Pope and Leibniz
Week 10: Tuesday, March 21:
Voltaire's answers to Pope and
Leibniz:
"Poem on the Lisbon
Earthquake" and Candide
Thursday, March 23: Voltaire's Candide
A 'pop' quiz on the characters in Candide
Week 11: Tuesday, March 28: John Mackie, "Evil and Omnipotence"
Quiz 4 covering all material on the problem of
evil studied since March 2 excluding
Mackie
Thursday, March 30:
Class notes on Mackie's "Evil and Omnipotence"
ESSAY TOPICS AND INSTRUCTIONS FOR ESSAY DUE
APRIL 13
Week 12: Tuesday, April 4:
John Hick,
"Soul-Making Theodicy", PR, pp. 301-15; Reading
Questions
Class notes on Hick
Thursday, April 6: Proofs for the Existence of God: Read, PR,
pp. 163-4
C.S. Lewis, "The Moral Argument", PR,
pp. 241-46; Reading Questions
Answers to the Reading questions on
Lewis and Nielsen
Week 13: Tuesday, April 11: The
Ontological Argument for God's Existence, PR, pp. 165-70:
Outline
Thursday, April 13: Traditional Cosmological Argument for the
Existence of God:
Outline of
St. Thomas's argument;
Richard Taylor, "A Contemporary Version of the
Cosmological
Argument": Reading Questions
Second Essay Due
Week 14: Tuesday, April 18: Read J.P. Moreland "The Kalam
Cosmological Argument",
pp. 197-209: Outline of the article
Quiz 5 covering Mackie, Hick, Lewis, the
Ontological Argument; &
St. Thomas' version of the Cosmological argument
Thursday, April 20: The argument from Design (the teleological
argument):
Class Handout: Selections from Hume
Analysis of Hume's arguments
Week 15: Tuesday, April 25: Preparation for the Final Examination Week 16:
Final Exam: Anspach 12:30 Class: Thursday, May
4, 12:00-1:50
Pearce 2:00 Class: Tuesday, May 2, 2:00-3:50
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