91TV

Instructor: Jon Miller

This course looks at religion from a philosophical perspective.  Its goal is not to convert anyone to a particular religious belief but rather to submit religious concepts to careful philosophical analysis.  The course will progress from basic concepts to more rarified ones.

It will start with questions about God himself/herself/itself.  What are the different ways of thinking about God?  Is there a right way to think about God? How can we compare different conceptions of God?

Once we have fixed our concept of God, we will then turn to the big question:  Does God exist?  What reasons do we have to believe that God does exist?  How do the causal factors at play on us affect our thinking about God? What is the difference between reasons and causes, anyway?

After we have studied various arguments for the existence of God, we will proceed to consider arguments againstthe existence of God.  Some of these will be directed at religion while others will target God directly. How can God exist when there is so much evil in the world?

Next we will address some properties of God.  Here we will start with divine simplicity.  It may not be apparent right now why this is important but we will learn that the notion of divine simplicity is deeply embedded in theistic belief.  Once we have concluded our study of simplicity, we will engage with omnipotence and omniscience.

Those last two properties lead us to a new topic, which is free will.  If God is all-powerful and all-knowing, what agency can we humans possess? If we lack all agency, then how can we be at all responsible for our actions?  These questions raise many fascinating issues for morality, which we will discuss.

Finally, we will conclude with some narrow but really interesting topics.  We will talk about prayer:  what it is and whether it makes any sense.  We may reflect on miracles.  And we will think about the afterlife.  If we do survive life here on earth, what part of ourselves remains?  If we do survive life on earth, where do we go in the afterlife?  Two common answers are heaven and hell.  What can we make of those notions, anyway?