Philosophy of Religion (107) Andrew Stephenson Trinity College Philosophy of Religion (107)
Andrew Stephenson, Trinity College
Tutorials
• All tutorials will take place in my office in Trinity (last door on the right in the Academic Corridor, opposite the President's Secretary). Times will be arranged by email.
• Email me you essays to me and your tutorial partner by 1pm the day before we meet. Please put your name at the top of your essay.
• You should always read your partner’s essay before the tutorial and please make time to meet up with your partner before the tutorial to discuss the topic and make a list of points you’d like to discuss.
• Always spell-check your essays and read it aloud before emailing it – a good way to catch unclear or mistaken passages.
• Always bring hardcopies of the essays, not just your laptops.
• Please be on time. If you’re late, we’ll still finish at the normal time.
• Please notify me and your tutorial partner by email as soon as possible if you will not be able to complete an essay or attend a tutorial, explaining why, and also when you will be able to complete the essay. Occasionally, it will be possible to reschedule a tutorial so long as there is a good reason and good advance warning is given, but this isn’t guaranteed.
• When you have an appointment with me, please knock on my office door and wait.
• Turn off your mobile phones before coming to the tutorial!
Also:
• Tutorials are an opportunity to clarify your understanding of the issues. The tutorial should be driven by your questions and your attempts to come to grips with the fundamental issues that the questions we are discussing raise. So this means that you must talk. You should come to tutorials prepared with questions and comments on that week’s readings and/or on your partner’s essays.
• The tutorial is not assessed formally, and is a non-judgemental environment, so you should not feel afraid to ask what you may regard as ‘silly’ questions. There is a simple rule to follow when formulating questions: if it will help your understanding to have a question answered, then ask it.
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Philosophy of Religion (107) Andrew Stephenson Trinity College
Useful Recent Anthologies/Introductions
• Stump, E. & Murray, M. Philosophy of Religion: the Big Questions (Blackwell, 1998)
• Wainwright, W., ed., The Oxford Handbook to Philosophy of Religion (OUP 2005)
• Mackie, J.L. The Miracle of Theism (Clarendon, 1982)
• Swinburne, R. The Existence of God 2nd edition (OUP, 1991); see also the easier version of this: Is There a God? (OUP, 1996)
Readings
The readings for each week are divided into ‘essential’ and ‘further’ readings. You should read all the essential readings before writing your essay. You probably won’t have time to read many of the further readings during term, but you may wish to explore them later for the topics you are particularly interested in and also for revision / during exam preparation.
For further readings, both general collections and on specific topics, see also Professor Leftow’s Faculty Reading List (available from the faculty website). Finally, you are encouraged to do your own research and you should feel free to make use of literature you have discovered yourself.
1. The Ontological Argument
Essay Question: What is the most convincing form of the ontological argument? Is it convincing, or does it still have problems? If it has problems, what are they?
Essential Reading The following classic texts are available in many collections, for example Alvin Plantinga (ed.), The Ontological Argument (Macmillan, 1968), John Hick and Arthur McGill (eds.), The Many-Faced Argument (Macmillan, 1968), or John Hick (ed.) The Existence of God (Macmillan, 1964):
• Anselm, Saint, Proslogion chapters 2-4 • Gaunilo, In Behalf of the Fool • Anselm, Saint, Reply to Gaunilo • Descartes, René, Meditations V • Kant, Immanuel, “The Impossibility of an Ontological Proof of the Existence of God”, in The Critique of Pure Reason, Transcendental Dialectic, Book II, Chapter III, Section 4. • Plantinga’s version of the argument is in his The Nature of Necessity (OUP, 1974), chapter 10, or God, Freedom and Evil (George Allen & Unwin, 1975), pp 85-112. Also: • Oppy, Graham, "Ontological Arguments", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2011 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL =
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Philosophy of Religion (107) Andrew Stephenson Trinity College
• Leftow, B. “The Ontological Argument”, in The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Religion, edited by William Wainwright (OUP: 2004). • Mackie, J. L. 1982. The Miracle of Theism: Arguments for and Against the Existence of God. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Ch.3.
Further Reading • Hick, J.H. Arguments for the Existence of God (Macmillan, 1970) chs 5-6 • Malcolm, N. 1960. ‘Anselm’s Ontological Arguments’. Philosophical Review 69: 41- 62. Reprinted in Alvin Plantinga, ed., The Ontological Argument: From St. Anselm to Contemporary Philosophers. New York: Anchor Books, 1965. • Barnes, Jonathan. 1972. The Ontological Argument. London: Macmillan. • van Inwagen, P. 1993. Metaphysics. Boulder: Westview Press. Ch. 5. • Davis, S. T. 1997. God, Reason and Theistic Proofs. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Chs. 2 and 4. • Millican, P. “The One Fatal Flaw in Anselm’s Argument”, Mind 113 (2004), pp. 437- 76. • Oppy, G. The Ontological Argument (Cambridge 1995). • Stephenson, A. ‘David Lewis’s Neglected Challenge: It’s Me or God’, Perspectives 3 (2010): http://www.ucd.ie/philosophy/perspectives/resources/issue3/Perspectives_volumeIII_ DLewisNeglectedChallenge.pdf
2. The Cosmological Argument
Essay Question: Is the cosmological argument convincing? Can we explain the existence of the universe without God, and even if not, does that provide good reason to believe that God exists?
Essential Reading • Aquinas, Summa Theologica, First Part, Question 2, “The Existence of God”. • Leibniz, G. “On the Ultimate Origination of Things”, in Leibniz: Philosophical Essays, translated by Ariew, and Garber (Hacker, 1989). • Mackie, J. L. The Miracle of Theism (Clarendon, 1982) chapter 5. • Rowe, William. “The Cosmological Argument” Noûs, vol. 5, no. 1 (1971) pp. 49-61.
Further Reading • Reichenbach, Bruce, "Cosmological Argument", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2010 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL =
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Philosophy of Religion (107) Andrew Stephenson Trinity College
• Swinburne, R. 1991. The Existence of God. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Ch. 7. • Leslie, John. 1989. Universes. London: Routledge. • D. Burrill, ed., The Cosmological Argument • Craig, W. L. The Kalām Cosmological Argument. London: MacMillan. 1979. • Craig, W. L. The Cosmological Argument from Plato to Leibniz. London: MacMillan. 1980. • Le Poidevin, R. Arguing for Atheism (Routledge,1996), chapters 1-3
3. The Design Argument
Essay Question: Is any form of the design argument still viable?
Essential Reading • Hume, David. Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion. • Swinburne, R. Is There a God? (OUP, 1996) chapters 1-4. • Mackie, J. L. The Miracle of Theism (Clarendon, 1982) chapter 8. • Leslie, J. Anthropic Principle, World Ensemble, Design in American Philosophical Quarterly vol 19 (1982), pp 141-152.
Further Reading • Swinburne, R. The Existence of God (OUP, second edition 1991), chapters 1-6 and 8, Appendix B on the Fine Tuning Argument • Ratzsch, Del, "Teleological Arguments for God's Existence", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2012 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL =
4. The Logical Problem of Evil
Essay Question: What is the logical problem of evil? Can it be resolved?
Essential Reading • Adams, R. M. and Adams, M. M., ‘Introduction’ to their classic collection The Problem of Evil (OUP, 1990) – this will provide you with a very good overview of the issues that we will discuss this week and next. • Hume’s Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, Parts X and XI • Plantinga, A. God, Freedom and Evil (George Allen & Unwin, 1975) pp. 7-59.
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Philosophy of Religion (107) Andrew Stephenson Trinity College
• Mackie, J. L. ‘Evil and Omnipotence’, reprinted as chapter 1 of Adams and Adams (above) or originally in Mind, 64 (1955), pp.200-12.
Further Reading • Swinburne, R. Providence and the Problem of Evil (Clarendon, 1998) • Augustine, On the Freedom of Choice, Bks.2 and 3. • Aquinas, On Evil and Commentary on the Book of Job. • Leibniz, Theodicy. • Chapters 2-6 of Adams, M. M., and R. M. Adams, eds. 1990. The Problem of Evil. Oxford: Oxford University Press. • Fischer, John Martin. “Recent Work on God and Freedom”, American Philosophical Quarterly, vol. 29, No. 2 (1992), pp. 91-109. • Tracy, T.M. “Victimization and the Problem of Evil‟ in Faith and Philosophy vol 9 (1992), pp 301-324. • Tooley, Michael, "The Problem of Evil", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2010 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL =
5. The Evidential Problem of Evil
Essay Question: What is the evidential problem of evil and what does it seek to establish? Is it convincing?
Essential Reading
• Rowe, W.L. The Problem of Evil and Some Varieties of Atheism. In American Philosophical Quarterly vol 16 (1979), pp 335-341, reprinted in in Adams and Adams’ The Problem of Evil and in Howard-Snyder’s collection The Evidential Argument from Evil • Wykstra, S.J. ‘The Humean Objection to Evidential Arguments from Suffering: On Avoiding the Evils of Appearance.’ In International Journal for Philosophy of Religion vol 16 (1984), pp 73-94, reprinted in Adams and Adams • Bergmann, M. (2001), ‘Sceptical Theism and Rowe’s New Evidential Argument from Evil’, Nous, 35:2, 278-96 • The debate between Rowe, Bergmann, and Howard-Snyder that forms chapter 1 of Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Religion, Peterson and Vanarragon (eds.) (Blackwell, 2004)
Further Reading • Stephenson, A. ‘The Moderately Sceptical Theist and the Problem of (the Sheer Quantity of) Evil’ in Praxis Vol.2:1 (2009): http://www.castela.net/praxis/vol2issue1/THE%20MODERATELY%20SCEPTICAL %20THEIST%20AND%20THE%20PROBLEM%20OF%20(THE%20SHEER%20Q UANTITY%20OF)%20EVIL.pdf • Plantinga, A. God, Freedom and Evil (George Allen & Unwin, 1975) pp. 59.-64 • Howard-Snyder, D. ed. 1996. The Evidential Argument from Evil. Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press.
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Philosophy of Religion (107) Andrew Stephenson Trinity College
6. Miracles
Essay Question: Could there ever be good evidence for believing that miracles have occurred?
Essential Reading • Hume, ‘Of Miracles’, section X of his Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. • Swinburne, R. G. “Miracles”, The Philosophical Quarterly, vol. 18, no. 73 (1968), pp. 320-328. • Mackie, J. L. The Miracle of Theism (Clarendon: 1982) chapter 1. • Everitt, Nicholas. “The Impossibility of Miracles” Religious Studies, vol. 23, no. 3 • (1987), pp. 347-349.
Further Reading • Hughes, C., and R. M. Adams. 1992. ‘Miracles, Laws of Nature, and Causation’. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 66: 179-205, 207- 224. • Fern. Richard. “Hume's Critique of Miracles: An Irrelevant Triumph”, Religious Studies, vol. 18, no. 3 (1982), pp. 337-354. • Keller, James A. A Moral Argument Against Miracles, Faith and Philosophy (1995) 12(1) pp.54-78 • Swinburne, R. ed Miracles (Macmillan, 1989) • Houston, J. 1994. Reported Miracles: a Critique of Hume. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press • Gaskin, J. Hume’s Philosophy of Religion (Macmillan, second edition, 1988), pp. 135-65. • Swinburne, R. The Concept of Miracle (Macmillan, 1970) • Owen, D. “Hume versus Price on Miracles and Prior Probabilities”, Chapter 12 of Millican’s Reading Hume on Human Understanding
7. Omniscience and Divine Foreknowledge
Essay Question: Can God know today what we will freely do tomorrow?
Essential Reading • Grim, P. Against Omniscience: the Case from Essential Indexicals. Noûs, vol 19 (1985), pp 151-180 • Pike, N. Divine Omniscience and Voluntary Action. In Philosophical Review, vol 74, (1965), pp 27-46 • Leftow, B., "Timelessness and Foreknowledge," Philosophical Studies 63 (1991), 309-25. • Flint, T.P., Divine Providence (Cornell UP, 1998), chs. 1-5 and 7.
Further Reading • Zagzebski, Linda, "Foreknowledge and Free Will", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2011 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL =
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• Wierenga, Edward, "Omniscience", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2010 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL =
8. Moral Goodness and the Will of God
Essay Question: Is what is good independent of God’s will?
Essential Reading • Plato’s Euthyphro, especially 9d-11b. • Adams, R.M. “A modified divine command theory of ethical wrongness” in Divine Commands and Morality, edited by Helm (OUP: 1981), pp. 83-108. • Adams, R.M. “Divine command metaethics as necessary a posteriori” in Divine Commands and Morality, edited by Helm (OUP: 1981), pp. 109-119. • Leibniz, G. Discourse on Metaphysics, sections I and II. • Swinburne, R. The Coherence of Theism, 2nd edition (OUP, 1993) chapter 11.
Further Reading • Murphy, M.C., "Divine Command, Divine Will and Moral Obligation," Faith and Philosophy 1998 • Rachels, J “God and human attitudes‟ in Helm, P. ed Divine Commands and Morality (OUP, 1981), pp 34-48
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