Department of Religion and Classics
Philosophy of Religion
REL 111 | PHL 111
From this page you can find visual aids for all of the topics we will discuss in class this semester. You may want to print a copy in advance of the lecture and use the outline as an aid for taking notes and following the lecture. In addition. if you miss a class, say, because you have been held hostage by armed thugs or because you were hospitalized and were unable to check out while in a deep coma or for a similarly legitimate reason, you will find it helpful to consult the relevant outline when you attempt to decipher someone else's notes. The outlines might be updated as the semester progresses, so anything you print out in the first week of the semester could change later. I will announce in class if the outlines change, and you can check the date of last revision.
What does it take to prove something? What is a good argument?
Aquinas' "Third Way"
Necessity and Possibility
The Argument from Design
"There is no doubt that there exists a being, than which nothing greater can be conceived, and it exists both in the understanding and in reality. St. Anselm.
An attempt to prove that God does not exist.
What does it mean to say that a being is "all-powerful"? If God is omnipotent, can he create a stone that God cannot lift?
What does it mean to say that a being knows everything? If God has foreknowledge of what people will do, does it follow that they do not act freely?
What is a miracle? Is Hume right when he says that it is never rational to believe on the basis of testimonial evidence that a miracle has occurred?
Is it always wrong for anyone to believe a proposition on insufficient evidence (Clifford), or is it permissible in certain circumstances to "will to believe" a proposition for which there is not compelling evidence (James)?
How is the demand for evidence related to foundationalism? Is this a good objection to belief in God?
Last updated September 2007
by Edward Wierenga
Copyright © 2007 Edward Wierenga