The Course Paper

"The world of research has gone berserk
Too much paperwork"

-- Bob Dylan, "Nettie Moore"

Philosophy of Religion
Rel/Phl 111

Suggested Length: 5-6 pages

Due Date: Wednesday, November 28
 
 

Content: I am not so much interested in your writing a research paper as I am in your writing a paper in which you employ the analytical methods we are developing in class. Thus, you might focus on a particular claim or thesis and show how that claim can be established, refuted, or defended against objections.

No Plagiarism: Remember to quote all words that are not your own and to indicate by citation the source of any ideas that are not your own. The University's Academic Honesty Policy may be found at http://www.rochester.edu/College/CCAS/AdviserHandbook/AcadHonesty.html. Violations of academic honesty will be taken very seriously and dealt with according to the terms of this Policy.. Violations of academic honesty will be taken very seriously and dealt with according to the terms of this Policy.

Niceties: Please staple your papers in the upper left hand corner. Number the pages. Don't use plastic binders.
 
Guide to writing philosophy papers: Professor James Pryor of NYU has written an excellent guide for writing papers in philosophy. You can find a copy of it here.  I highly recommend it.

Some suggested topics follow:

  1. Richard Swinburne, in "The Argument from Design" (pp. 63-74) claims "to show that none of the formal objections made...[by Hume]...have any validity against a carefully articulated argument" from design. Critically evaluate Swinburne's discussion.

    2.  
  2. William Rowe concedes that the logical problem of evil does not succeed in refuting God's existence, but he argues, in "The Inductive Argument from Evil Against the Existence of God" (pp. 200-207), "that the existence of evil provides rational grounds for atheism." Critically evaluate Rowe's discussion.

    3.  
  3. Stephen Davis claims that facts about God's action and his knowledge can be used to show that he is not timeless (pp. 223-230), and Hugh McCann defends the doctrine of divine timelessness (pp. 230-245).  Write an essay in which you examinine one or both of these papers, explaining what the issue is, and defending a position on it.

    4.  
  4. Pick some selection(s) in the textbook that interest(s) you and write a paper discussing some claim or argument presented in it (them).

    5.  
  5. Some of you have noticed that there are no women authors included in our textbook. That's lamentable, especially since there are some incredibly talented women philosophers of religion. Follow the link to Women in Philosophy of Religion for a list of important papers that you may choose to write on. Many of the papers on the list are directly available online.
     

     
     


    Last updated 12 November 2007 by Edward Wierenga
    Copyright © 2007 Edward Wierenga