PHI 3704: Honors Philosophy of Religion
Dr. White: dwhite@fau.edu
See my Web page for all Syllabi: http://wise.fau.edu/~dwhite
(Please note: this syllabus is subject to regular updates; you should
check this online version weekly.)
Office: HC 146; telephone x-6-8651
OFFICE HOURS: T & R 11:30-12:30; 2:00-4:400 PM, or by appointment
Course
Objectives: This
course fulfills the CIV Honors College Core requirement for the S “speculative”
or V “values” component of the Philosophy Concentration. It is
designed to develop a critical understanding of key questions in the
philosophy of religion through reading of key texts, writing of critical
essays, and class discussion. The questions will be framed in terms of
historical and critical perspectives on religious documents and ideas. Ideas
studied will include the nature of religion as a historical and anthropological
phenomenon; the nature of religious experience; the concept of god; arguments
for the existence of god; arguments against the existence of god; ontological,
teleological, and moral dimensions of religions thinking; theistic, atheistic,
and agnostic points of view; religious language; gender and religion; science
and religion. Key European and selected perspectives from world philosophical
traditions will be studied in translation. Different material may be selected
in different semesters to provide diverse views of world discourses in
philosophy of religion.
Grades:
Grades
will be determined by performance on the following assignments:
1) A series of written responses: 400
words minimum each = 50% of final
grade;
2) 1 final essay
1,500 word final draft = 25% of final grade
3) 1 or more
class presentation(s) and participation = 15% of final grade; you will give at least one presentation
introducing and discussing a thinker covered in the class; you should provide a
handout summarizing key ideas and generating discussion on the topic of the
day; your introduction should be 15-20 minutes, leading to class discussion.
4) Attendance and
quality of participation: 10% of
final grade; unexcused absences will
result in a reduction in the average of the final grade dedicated to ‘class
presentations and participation’ (see above; if you must miss class, please
request permission from me in advance).
5) Assignments must
be completed on time:
late work may be downgraded at my discretion.
Gordon
Rule Writing (WAC) Requirement: 5,000 words minimum
5,000 words of
writing
will be done in and out of class: eight (500 word minimum responses) and a
final (1,000 word minimum) essay: each of these assignments will be graded
rigorously for content and composition (including organization, argumentation,
grammar, mechanics, and style). A style guide is required appropriate to each
student’s discipline (MLA & Chicago styles are the most common); also see Dr. Weisser’s Online Writing Handbook: http://wise.fau.edu/~weisser/handbook.htm.
The final essay will be written in two
drafts, the first of which will be evaluated by me before the second draft is
written.
Students
enrolled in this course agree to abide by the Honors College Honor Code: http://www.fau.edu/divdept/honcol/academics_honor_code.htm.
Required
Texts:
Muhammad Ali Khalidi, Medieval
Islamic Philosophical Writings
Augustine,
Confessions (Oxford World's Classics)
Aquinas,
A Summary of Philosophy
Martin
Buber, I
and Thou
Descartes,
Meditations
on First Philosophy
Stephen
J. Gould, Rocks of Ages: Science and Religion in the Fullness of
Life
David
Hume, Dialogues
Concerning Natural Religion (Second Edition)
Immanuel
Kant, Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason
Shunryu Suzuki, Zen
Mind, Beginner's Mind
Supplementary
Online & Reserve Readings:
al-Farabi, Abu Nasr (c.870-950)
Augustine, Teaching
Christianity (in FAU Library
Past Masters electronic collection).
Dawkins:
"Is Science a Religion?"
Augustine's Confessions: electronic edition
E O Wilson:
"Bridging Science and Religion" NPR
Terry Eagleton: Lunging,
Flailing, Mispunching (a critical review of Dawkins)
Dawkins:
"The Improbability of God"
Tanner Edis: "Where Science and Religion Disagree"
Barbara
Forest: "The Wedge at Work"
John
Hick, from The Metaphor of God Incarnate: Christology in a Pluralistic Age,
Stephen Jay
Gould, "Nonoverlapping Magisteria,"
1997
Habermas and
Ratzinger on Religion and the Public Sphere
Kierkegaard,
from Concluding
Unscientific Postscript online
Philosophy
of Religion by Philip A. Pecorino online text
Pascal's Wager
[Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy]
Porphyry,
Sententiae or Aphormai
(Sentences--English)
Porphyry:
Αφορμαί προς τα
νοητά (Sentences regarding
the Intelligibles—Greek)
Rev. Kirk,
A Leader of Aid for the Poor at Emmaus House, Harlem
Spinoza:
two views of God:.html
Arguments
for and Against God’s Existence
Teleological
Arguments for God's Existence (Stanford Encyclopedia ...)
Philip
Quinn, A
Companion to Philosophy of Religion (Blackwell)
Why I
Am Agnostic by Robert
G. Ingersoll
J. L. Mackie, from The
Miracle of Theism (
Augustine's "Si fallor sum" & Descartes' "Cogito Ergo
Sum"
Sequence
of Assignments:
Week 1: Aug. 24-26
Augustine
(354-430 CE); Life & Work
T: Confessions
Book
I (English)
R: Confessions
Books II-III.
Week 2: Aug. 31-Sept. 2
T: Augustine, Confessions
Books IV-VI; a feminist perspective on Augustine: “Adam,
Eve, & the Serpent,” an interview with Elaine Pagels;
a critical anthropological/feminist view of early Christianity, Elaine Pagels frin The
Gnostic Gospels and The
Gospel of Judas.
Week
3: Sept. 7-9 Response 1
Due T
R: Medieval
Islamic Philosophical Writings: Ibn Tufayl, Hayy
ibn Yaqdhan
Week
4 Sept. 14-16
T: Al-Ghazali: The Rescuer
from Error; study abroad in Morocco at Al Akhawayn University?
R: Al-Ghazali, The Rescuer from
Error; Revelation in
Islam by Mustafa Abu-Sway
Week 5: Sept. 21-23 Response 2
Due T
T: A Summary of Philosophy, Introduction, pp. xiii-xxix: sec. 1, God;
R: Summary, sec. 2 Creation and
Governance; sec. 3: The Soul, to p. 69.
Week
6 Sept. 28-30;
T: Aquinas: Summary, sec. 4: The Ultimate End: Happiness; Response 3, Aquinas, In class
R: Descartes (1596-1650); Introduction:
vii-xxii; Meditation 1.
Week
7 Oct. 5-7
T: Descartes, Meditations, 2-3; Descartes' Meditations: A
Trilingual Edition [Sacha]
R: Descartes: Meditations 4-6 ; discussion.
Week
8 Oct. 12-14 Response 4 , Descartes, Due T
T: Hume (1711-1776): Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, sec., I-VI ; [Jaclyn]
R: “Dialogues, sec. VI-XII; Unpublished
Essays: “Of the Immortality of the Soul”; “Of Suicide”; “Of Miracles.”
Week
9 Oct. 19-21
T: Kant (1724-1804) Introduction,” Religion within the Bounds of Mere Reason (RBMR)
vii—xxxii; [Meridith]
R: Kant, “What does it Mean to Orient Oneself in
Thinking?”, RBMR 3-14l [Lauren]
Week
10 Oct. 26-28
T: Kant, RBMR, Prefaces and Part 1, 33-73; [Michael]; Response 5 In-Class.
R:
Kant, RBMR, Part 2, 77-102; Part 3, 105-147;
Week
11 Nov. 2-4 :Reponse 6 on Hume & Kant due R
T:
Kant, RBMR
Part 4: 151-191; “The end of all things,” RBMR 195-205;
R: A
Critical Counterpoint: Nietzsche
(1844-1900), The Madman
from The Gay [Joyous]
Science; Nietzsche
: The Antichrist, sections 24-31.
[Nicholas][Adrian]
Week
12 Nov. 9-11 Response 7
Nietzsche, Due T
T: Martin Buber (1878-1965),
Religion in the second person singular, I
and Thou (ich und du); [Alex & Sarah]
R: Holiday
Week
13 Nov. 16-18 Response 8,
Buber, Due R
T: Shunryu Suzuki Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind [Zeke]
R: Shunryu Suzuki Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind [Matt]
Week
14 Nov. 23-25; Response 9, Zen Buddhism, Due T
(Thanksgiving Recess Nov. 27)
Science,
Religion, Agnosticism, Atheism: NOVA
| Intelligent Design on Trial | PBS;
T: Stephen J. Gould, Rocks
of Ages: Science and Religion in the Fullness of Life; [Rita]
R:
Thanksgiving Holiday
Week
15: Nov. 30-Dec. 2
T: Gould Rocks
of Ages: Science and Religion in the Fullness of Life; E O Wilson, "Bridging
Science and Religion", an interview;
Dawkins, "Is Science a Religion?"; Response
10, Science & Religion.
R: Exam Week.
Week
16: Exam Week FINAL ESSAY
QUESTION DUE Tuesday, Dec. 7th at 4:00 PM; Exam Period
4:00-6:30: Discussion of final papers.
