SYLLABUS FOR
PHILOSOPHY 342-FALL 2007
INSTRUCTOR: James A. Keller OFFICE: Daniel 217, ext. 4594.
OFFICE HOURS:
TEXT: Louis Pojman, Philosophy of Religion, 4th ed.
Some xeroxed readings will be distributed from time to time
BASIS OF GRADING:
Two tests --20% each
Final exam --20%
Class participation --20%
Journal entries--20%
Extra credit for online comments (explained below)
Optional extra credit paper (explained below)
AIM OF THE COURSE: This course is built around a close analysis and critical evaluation of a variety of positions on certain important issues in the philosophy of religion. Most of these issues have to do with (1) the existence and nature of God and (2) whether and how religious beliefs are true and/or justified. At the end of this course, you should understand these issues much more thoroughly and be able to discuss them on a fairly sophisticated level; that is, you should be able to summarize important theories on these matters and be able to state the strongest reasons for and against these theories. By synthesizing what you have learned on these positions, you should be able to develop your own position on these issues more thoroughly and to defend it more intelligently.
STRUCTURE OF THE COURSE: I have divided the book into a number of lessons. Generally we will spend one or two days on each lesson, depending on the amount and difficulty of the material and the issues it raises. Because I want to be somewhat flexible on how much time we spend on each lesson, I will not distribute a schedule for the readings, but I will regularly announce rough projections for the next week or so.
We will use the text as the source for most of our readings; in addition, I will from time to time distribute additional material as readings for particular lessons. We will read most, but not all, of the text. Therefore, it is very important that you follow carefully the assigned readings as given at the beginning of the study guide for each lesson. Otherwise, you may fail to read something that is assigned or read something that is not assigned.
The readings for this course are not very long. Moreover, we will be looking at only some of the issues in these readings. The readings generally touch on more issues than we will have time to discuss, and some of these issues are not central to the topics we are considering in this course. So I will give you study guides for each assignment. These will serve several purposes, including (1) indicating the ideas with which you should be familiar in each reading, (2) raising questions about these ideas, and (3) providing you with brief explanations of concepts with which you may not be familiar but which are used in the readings. The study guides and the brevity of the readings are the good news. Now for the bad news. I want you to understand the ideas well and to think about them seriously. In short, our focus is thinking hard about a relatively few ideas that are discussed in short, meaty articles.
Although all of the questions and comments in the Study Guides are important, they serve different purposes. Some questions are intended to call your attention to important concepts and points just to make sure that you understand them; typically they are basic to other points in the article. Other questions focus on topics I will want to discuss in class; I have marked these with an asterisk. Usually it will not be possible to discuss them without understanding the answers to questions with the other purpose, but often I will not explicitly ask about the other questions, though I will answer questions about them if any student asks.
This should not encourage you to skim the readings looking for just the ideas featured in the questions (or even worse, in just the asterisked questions). In order to understand the significance of these ideas, you will need to put them in the context of the essays in which they appear. (For example, the concept of a necessary being appears in several of the essays near the beginning of the text. You must understand what this idea means, but to appreciate its significance you have to see the role it plays in various arguments for the existence of God; to do this, you will have to read the assignments in their entirety.)
CLASS SESSIONS: Class sessions will be devoted to discussing ideas in the readings. Each time we start to discuss new material, I will offer you the opportunity to ask questions about any idea that is unclear to you and to comment (positively or negatively) on anything in any of the readings. At that time I will be glad to (try to) explain further any of the ideas in the readings, but I will do so only if I am asked about it by one or more of you. Moreover, I will feel free to ask any of you, at any time after the question period, to explain or comment on any matter asked about in any of the questions. Thus, it is very important that when you come to class you have done the reading and have thought about it in relation to the questions, so that you know what you understand and what you need to have clarified further and so that you will be able to answer any questions you may be asked. After you have the opportunity to ask questions, I will usually have comments to make on some of the ideas in the readings. My comments will be support for, criticisms of, or extensions of these ideas; they will NOT be expositions or explanations of these ideas.
I believe that this class format is appropriate because this is an advanced course that each of you freely chose to take. So I am assuming that you are interested in the material and want to study it. This course is intended to be a serious study of important issues in the philosophy of religion.
CLASS ATTENDANCE AND PARTICIPATION: An important part of philosophy is the discussion of ideas, a give‑and‑take among participants in a common search for understanding and truth. In this course, you are invited and encouraged to ask questions and to make comments about the material in the readings, about my comments, and about the comments of your fellow students. I will give you a daily class participation grade based on the quality of your participation in that day's class. Any day on which you are absent, for whatever reason, you will receive a 0 for class participation for that day. Before calculating your overall class discussion grade, I will drop your four lowest daily class participation grade; this gives you four cuts without a grade penalty. There is no additional penalty for missing classes, though missing material presented in class may adversely affect the quality of your answers on tests. Moreover, any student who is doing less than C‑level work and who misses four classes will receive a class attendance warning notice; if such a student has any further unexcused absences, that student will be required to withdraw with a WP or WF.
JOURNALS:
For each lesson, you must write a response to the question(s) posted in
the Discussion folder for this course.
Your response can be as long as you wish, but it must be at least 150
words in length. It must contain at
least two references to the readings for that lessonl. These references can be quotes or
paraphrases; they may be something you agree with, something you disagree with,
or something you mention as a possibility you wish to discuss. Each reference must include the page or pages
where the material you are citing or discussing is to be found; just put the
page or pages in parentheses in your response.
The response must be posted in the Discussion folder no later than
I will score each response on a scale of 1-10. Late responses for which you have no adequate justification will incur a penalty of 50%. At the end of the semester I will drop your three lowest scores before assigning a grade for your responses. This grade will count as much as one test.
I have designed the questions so that answering them will help you develop your ideas for the tests.
EXTRA CREDIT: I want to encourage, but not require, you to comment on each other’s journal entries, comment on others’ comments, etc. and thus develop a dialogue about issues in the course. You can earn as much as 10 extra-credit points (the equivalent of a full letter grade) for your comments. The number of extra points will depend on the number and quality of your comments. The best comments will be clear, insightful, and relevant to the material being commented on; and they will be posted soon after the material. In your comments you may draw on and/or cite material from the readings; if you do, you must identify the source by giving the name of the author and the page reference—e.g., as Hume says (p. 32). However, if you refer to material in the readings, do not use it as an authority; if you agree with something in the readings, you must do so because you find it convincing, not because someone says so. (Of course, if the issue is what some author said or meant, you may cite his writings as evidence for what his views are.)
If you take part in this sort of dialogue and you want to my evaluation of your comments, you may ask me to comment on the quality at any time after you have at least three comments posted.
TESTS AND EXAM: There will be three tests; the third will replace the final exam. At the beginning of each third of the course, you will be given the test questions for that part of the course. The tests will require you to formulate your own position on issues discussed in that part of the course and to defend that position in light of the material in the readings and in class discussion. The tests will be graded on the basis of the clarity and cogency of your answers. Good answers will display an awareness of the important issues, accurate presentation of relevant materials from the readings and class discussion, and the marshalling of relevant reasons in defense of the position in the answer. In addition, they will be well organized and display the mechanics of good composition.
CHEATING AND PLAGIARISM: Any cases of suspected cheating or plagiarism will be turned over to the judicial system.
MODIFICATIONS OF SYLLABUS: If it seems advisable to change any features of this syllabus, I will announce these changes in class. You are responsible to know what is said about the course in the syllabus and in class announcements.