The Existence and Nature of God.
Howard Robinson
Winter term, 2020-21
2 Credits
Office hours; TBA
We will look at some of the major arguments for the existence of God, in both their historical forms, and in the more modern versions. This will include especially the ontological argument, the first cause argument, and the argument from design. Then we will move on to consider some of the properties traditionally attributed to God, and problems that follow therefrom. For example we shall consider His supposed simplicity, His timelessness, His omniscience (and its consequences for human freedom) and how one reconciles His goodness – or not – with the existence of evil.
The goal of the course is to draw the students into a sophisticated discussion of the topics just mentioned. After a period during which these issues were ignored by analytic philosophy, concern with them has revived on a large scale, and respect for the traditional scholastic approaches is back in fashion.
The outcome should be that the students are able to participate in professional-level discussion of the topics mentioned and will have formed their own view about the soundness of the arguments under discussion. They will be able to form their own opinion about whether modern science and cosmology reinforces the traditional arguments and whether understanding the logic of the concept of existence can validate Anselm’s intuitions. They will also be able to form a view on whether the notion of an absolutely simple but divinely perfect being makes sense, whether His omniscience is compatible with human freedom, and whether the existence of evil is compatible with His goodness.
Some suggested reading:
Philosophy of Religion: a guide and anthology, ed. Brian Davies, Oxford, 2000.
Philosophy of Religion: the big questions, edd. Stump and Murray, Blackwell, 1999.
New Essays in Philosophical Theology, edd. A. Flew and A. MacIntyre, SCM Press, 1955/72.
The Concept of God, ed. Thomas V. Morris, 'Oxford readings', 1987.
The Nature of God, Gerard J. Hughes, Routledge, 1995. Arguing for Atheism, Robin le Poidevin, Routledge, 1997.
Divine and Human Action, ed. Thomas V. Morris, Cornell, 1988.
Divine Nature and Human Language, William P. Alston, Cornell, 1989.
The Problem of Evil, edd. M. McC. and R. M. Adams, 'Oxford Readings' 1990.
The Philosophy of Religion, ed. Basil Mitchell, 'Oxford Readings', 1971.
Death and Immortality, D. Z. Phillips, Macmillan, 1971.
Religion and Understanding, ed. D. Z. Phillips, Blackwell, 1967.
The Coherence of Theism, Richard Swinburne, Oxford.
The Existence of God, Richard Swinburne, Oxford.
The Christian God, Richard Swinburne.
Atheism and Theism, J. J. C. Smart and J. J. Haldane, Blackwell, 1996.
The Miracle of Theism, J. L. Mackie, Oxford.
God, Freedom and Evil, Alvin Plantinga
An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion, Brian Davies, Oxford.
The Thought of St Thomas Aquinas, Brian Davies, Oxford.
God and Goodness, Hugh Rice, Oxford, 2000.
Schedule
Week 1. The Ontological Argument in the history of philosophy Reading: Anselm’s Proslogion J. Barnes; ‘Existence and Predication’ from his The Ontological Argument.
Week 2. Contemporary versions of the ontological argument. Reading; A. Plantinga, ‘God and necessity’ in his The Nature of Necessity H. Robinson, 'Varieties of the ontological argument', European Journal of the Philosophy of Religion, 2012 , 41-64.
Week 3. S. Thomas’s ‘Five Ways’. Reading; Aquinas’s Summa Theologica, first part, qu. 2. Anthony Kenny, The Five Ways.
Week 4 Temporal First Cause arguments. Reading; Craig, W. L. and Smith, Q., Theism, Atheism and Big-Bang Cosmology, Chs 1 and 2.
Week 5. The argument from design in its traditional form. Reading; Paley’s ‘watch’ argument N. Shanks, ‘The biological case for intelligent design’ in his God, the Devil and Darwin.
Week 6. ‘Fine Tuning’ and the argument from design Reading; J. Leslie, Universes,. Ch. 1
Week 7. Laws of nature and God. Reading; J. Foster, The Divine Lawmaker, lectures 3 and 9.
Week 8. Divine Simplicity Reading; Brian Davies, ‘What God is not’, from his Thought of Thomas Aquinas. H. Robinson, ‘Can we make sense of the idea that God’s existence is identical to His essence?’ In Reason, Faith and History: Essays for Paul Helm, ed. Martin Stone, Ashgate. 2008.
Week 9. Divine Timelessness. Reading; P. Helm, Eternal God.
Week 10. God’s omniscience and human freedom Reading; R. Swinburne, The Coherence of Theism, ch. 10. A. Plantinga, ‘On Ockham’s way out’, in Morris’s The Concept of God. P. Helm, Eternal God, Ch. 6
Week 11. God and evil. Reading; R. Swinburne, The Existence of God, ch. 11 M. M. Adams, ‘Horrendous evils and the goodness of God’, in The Problem of Evil, eds Adams and Adams.
Week 12. Revision/completion of unfinished business.
Final evaluation will be based on an essay of 2,000 words. The crude American marking system we employ (A, A-, B+, B, B-, etc) is insufficiently sensitive. I shall mark essays according to a finer grain, but adjust to a permitted mark on the basis of contribution in class. For example, if I think and essay is worth B+?+ and the writer said little in class, he or she will receive a B+, but if they have shone in class, it will be an A-.