PHIL 327
Philosophy of Religion
Please note: this is archived course information from 2019 for PHIL 327.
Description
Under what conditions, if at all, is it justifiable to hold religious beliefs? Do religious beliefs have to be "reasonable"? Can it be justifiable to hold and act on beliefs "by faith", and, if so, under what conditions?
The course focuses on "theist" religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) and investigates the theist concept of God. The course considers both arguments for God’s existence (e.g., cosmological, “design" and ontological arguments) and arguments for God’s non-existence (the Argument from Evil and the Argument from Divine Hiddenness).
The course then proceeds to consider the thesis of the "evidential ambiguity" of God’s existence, and investigates attempts to respond to the ambiguity, for example: by emphasising subjectivity (Kierkegaard), by appeal to "properly basic" beliefs (Reformed Epistemology) and according to the modest fideism proposed by William James in his famous lecture, The Will to Believe.
Availability 2019
Semester 1
Lecturer(s)
Coordinator(s) Professor John Bishop
Recommended Reading
Brian Davies, An Introduction to The Philosophy of Religion (Oxford University Press, 2004)
Assessment
Coursework + exam
Points
PHIL 327: 15 points
Prerequisites
30 points at Stage II in Philosophy
Restrictions
PHIL 207