Department of Religion and
Classics
Topics in Philosophical Theology: The Problem of Evil
REL 291 | PHL 260/460
Office: Rush Rhees Library 430
Hours: Wednesday, 1:00-2:00, or by appointment
Phone: x5-9370 (office), x5-5378 (secretary)
E-mail: edwd@troi.cc.rochester.edu
Topics for Spring 2006:
This seminar takes up a different set of topics each time it is offered. Thus, students are permitted to take this course more than once, and they will receive academic credit for it each time. For spring 2007 we will look at the problem of evil, beginning with an examination of some of the main issues in the philosophical literature and concluding with a close reading of a recent set of Gifford Lectures on the topic. (For a list of topics in prior years, click here.)
Requirements:
Members of the class are expected to be prepared to contribute to the discussion of the seminar. To facilitate this discussion, you will be required to write eight (8) 2-page papers. Each of these short papers will be on the assigned reading for the week. These short papers will be due by 5:00 p.m. on the Friday preceding class if you place a printed copy in my mailbox (next to RRL 430), or by 7:00 p.m. on the day before class if you email it to me (either as the text of a message or as an attachment in virus-free MS-Word, WordPerfect, *.rtf, or *.pdf file) at edwd@troi.cc.rochester.edu. You may choose which weeks to submit a short paper.
In addition, you will be required to write a course paper of 8-10 pages due on May 7. Your final paper may be based on one or more of your short papers.
The amount of writing and re-writing required in this course satisfies the requirements for an upper-level-writing course. If you would like to earn upper-level-writing credit, please register for REL 291W or PHL 260W.
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.
Academic Honesty:
Academic honesty is required by the open and honest trust in communication that is part of the academic enterprise. Violations of academic honesty include plagiarism, misuse of library materials, obtaining an advance copy of an examination, or using or providing unauthorized help in taking an examination. A full statement of the University's policy on academic honesty may be found here. Of particular importance in this course, with its emphasis of writing papers as a contribution to the collective work of the seminar, is that students avoid plagiarism. Cases of suspected plagiarism will be sent to the College Board on Academic Honesty for adjudication.
Textbooks:
Daniel Howard-Snyder, ed., The Evidential Problem from Evil (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996). [H-S]
Peter van Inwagen, The Problem of Evil (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006). [PvI]
Tentative Course Outline
January 22: Introduction
January 29: The Logical Problem of Evil
February 5: The Free Will Defense
February 12: The "Inductive" Problem of Evil
February 19: No Class
February 26: The Distribution of Pain and Pleasure
March 5: The Skeptical Theist and Defenseless
March 12: No Class--Spring Break
March 19: Some Difficulties and Some Replies
March 26: Theodicy
April 2: The Problem, the Nature of God, and Arguments
April 9: The Global Argument from Evil
April 16: The Local Problem of Evil and Animal Suffering
April 23: The Hiddenness of God
April 30: Wrap-up and conclusions
Requirements for graduate students:
Graduate students who enroll in the course will have their work graded by standards appropriate for graduate work. In addition, such students are encouraged to become familiar with other recent literature on these topics.
Last updated 26 March 2007 by Edward Wierenga
© Edward Wierenga 2007