PHIL 207

Philosophy of Religion


Please note: this is archived course information from 2019 for PHIL 207.

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.

View the course syllabus

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 207: 15 points

Prerequisites

30 points in Philosophy

Restrictions

PHIL 327