180089 PS Metaphysical Arguments for/against the existence of God (2015S)
Continuous assessment of course work
Labels
Is God dead, or was he never alive in the first place? Or is there perhaps a God who prefers fideism over rational presentation? The asking of such questions is in itself an endeavor and meaning that demands justification and legitimacy. From Aquinas impossible Beneficial order without intelligence, to Anselms nothing greater to be conceived, there is a rich intertwining history between metaphysics and such questions of God. Yet, the existence of God was not itself a common question for philosophy before Descartes. Attention in this course will be paid to the many attempts to argue for and against the existence of God, from Aquinas to Nietzsche, often with an eye towards how such existence/non-existence plays into the ultimate nature of reality -- metaphysics. The course will also venture into 20th century arguments posed by Antony Flew, Bertrand Russell, and Jean-Luc Marion.
Registration/Deregistration
Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).
- Registration is open from Sa 14.02.2015 09:00 to Fr 27.02.2015 09:00
- Registration is open from Sa 28.02.2015 09:00 to Th 05.03.2015 18:00
- Deregistration possible until Tu 31.03.2015 23:59
Details
max. 45 participants
Language: English
Lecturers
Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N
Thursday
19.03.
13:15 - 14:45
Hörsaal 2G, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. II/2.Stock, 1010 Wien
Thursday
26.03.
13:15 - 14:45
Hörsaal 2G, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. II/2.Stock, 1010 Wien
Thursday
16.04.
13:15 - 14:45
Hörsaal 2G, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. II/2.Stock, 1010 Wien
Thursday
23.04.
13:15 - 14:45
Hörsaal 2G, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. II/2.Stock, 1010 Wien
Thursday
30.04.
13:15 - 14:45
Hörsaal 2G, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. II/2.Stock, 1010 Wien
Thursday
07.05.
13:15 - 14:45
Hörsaal 2G, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. II/2.Stock, 1010 Wien
Thursday
21.05.
13:15 - 14:45
Hörsaal 2G, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. II/2.Stock, 1010 Wien
Thursday
28.05.
13:15 - 14:45
Hörsaal 2G, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. II/2.Stock, 1010 Wien
Thursday
11.06.
13:15 - 14:45
Hörsaal 2G, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. II/2.Stock, 1010 Wien
Thursday
18.06.
13:15 - 14:45
Hörsaal 2G, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. II/2.Stock, 1010 Wien
Thursday
25.06.
13:15 - 14:45
Hörsaal 2G, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. II/2.Stock, 1010 Wien
Information
Aims, contents and method of the course
English
Assessment and permitted materials
1. Weekly questions --15%
2. Final Project (presentation or paper)--35%
3. 2 Quizzes 25%
4. General class participation/discussion/attendance --25%
2. Final Project (presentation or paper)--35%
3. 2 Quizzes 25%
4. General class participation/discussion/attendance --25%
Minimum requirements and assessment criteria
The course aims to familiarize the student with some of the central issues in the existence/nonexistence of God in order for the student to be better able to critically create his or her own construction of how such metaphysical arguments matter for philosophical thinking. Is the existence of the world convincing enough to imply a necessary cause or being (Cosmological argument)? Has the complex design of evolution displaced the need for a creator (Anti-ontological argument)? Or does intelligence in design of the world imply an intelligent creator (Teleological argument)? If we can answer these questions, it is still necessary to address the problem of evil, suffering, and the supposed fallacy of composition.
Examination topics
Course Requirements
1. Regular class attendance and active participation.
2. Reading of all the material assigned for the class sessions.
3. Completion of all agreed upon assignments on assigned dates.
4. Participation in organized in-class discussions.Though there may be more than one reading per week, the readings are short, and usually coincide with one another nicely. However, the course discussions each week will generally center on only one thinker, while occasionally bringing other thinkers/essays into that specific context. While it is important for students to read the essays, the lecturer will usually give students one essay to focus on, so as to aid and supplement the overall seminar and conversation throughout.
1. Regular class attendance and active participation.
2. Reading of all the material assigned for the class sessions.
3. Completion of all agreed upon assignments on assigned dates.
4. Participation in organized in-class discussions.Though there may be more than one reading per week, the readings are short, and usually coincide with one another nicely. However, the course discussions each week will generally center on only one thinker, while occasionally bringing other thinkers/essays into that specific context. While it is important for students to read the essays, the lecturer will usually give students one essay to focus on, so as to aid and supplement the overall seminar and conversation throughout.
Reading list
Semester Schedule19 March: Introduction to the Course: What does it mean to argue about the existence/non-existence of God?26 March: Introduction to the Classical Background
READING in Helms Faith and Reason:
The Form of the Good / Plato
Creation / Plato
The Existence of the Gods / Plato***
The Everlastingness of Motion / Aristotle
The Unmoved Mover / Aristotle
Divine Thought / Aristotle2 April: The Medieval Period and Ontological Arguments for Gods Existence
READING in Helms Faith and Reason:
The Ontological Argument / Anselm ***
Proofs for God / Duns Scotus
Can it be Proven that there is Only One God? / William of Ockham9 April: Aquinas and The Cosmological Arguments the Existence of God
READING in Helms Faith and Reason:
Faith and Reason / Thomas Aquinas
The Inner Act of Faith / Thomas Aquinas
The Beginning / Thomas Aquinas
A Kalam Cosmological Argument / Al-Kindi ***16 April: Renaissance and Reformation: Questions of Freedom
READING The Freedom of the Will / Desiderius Erasmus
The Bondage of the Will / Martin Luther
Faith in the Justice of God / Martin Luther
The Sensus Divinitatis / John Calvin ****
The Testimony of the Spirit / John Calvin
QUIZ 1 TODAY23 April: Descartes Ontological Argument
READING in Helms Faith and Reason:
The Existence of God / Rene Descartes ***
Reason and Scripture / Benedict Spinoza30 April: Teleological Argument from Design
READING in Helms Faith and Reason:
Faith beyond Reason / Blaise Pascal
The Provinces of Faith and Reason / John Locke
The Argument from Design / William Paley ***7 May: Against Miracles David Hume
READING in Helms Faith and Reason:
Analogies and Disanalogies / David Hume ***
Additional Handout on Humes, Miracles, Treatise on Human Nature14 May: Moral Argument & Fideism
READING in Helms Faith and Reason:
Denying Knowledge to Make Room for Faith / Immanuel Kant ***
Faith as Feeling / Friedrich Schleiermacher
Faith is More than Feeling / Hegel
The Conformity of Faith with Reason / Gottfried Leibniz21 May: Existentialism and God
READING in Helms Faith and Reason:
Is God Dead?: Nietzsche
Selections from Søren Kierkegaard Concept of Anxiety & Philosophical Fragments and Practice in Christianity28 May: God cannot be Inferred as a Cause: Bertrand Russell vs. Frederick Coppleston
READING John Hick, Russell, Coppleston, The Existence of God
McCloskey, H.J. On Being an Atheist, Question 1 (February 1968): 51-54.
QUIZ 2 TODAY4 June: Problem: Metaphysics is Theology
READING Heidegger, On the Onto-theological Constitution of Metaphysics & Philosophy and Theology (on moodle/sent by professor)11 June: Existence vs. Essence Must God be?
READING: Jean-Luc Marion God without Being18 June: Neither Atheism nor Theism
READING: Jean-Luc Nancy Atheism and Monotheism & On a Divine Wink in The Deconstruction of Christianity25 June: Final Discussion about the course, and any additional student presentations
READING in Helms Faith and Reason:
The Form of the Good / Plato
Creation / Plato
The Existence of the Gods / Plato***
The Everlastingness of Motion / Aristotle
The Unmoved Mover / Aristotle
Divine Thought / Aristotle2 April: The Medieval Period and Ontological Arguments for Gods Existence
READING in Helms Faith and Reason:
The Ontological Argument / Anselm ***
Proofs for God / Duns Scotus
Can it be Proven that there is Only One God? / William of Ockham9 April: Aquinas and The Cosmological Arguments the Existence of God
READING in Helms Faith and Reason:
Faith and Reason / Thomas Aquinas
The Inner Act of Faith / Thomas Aquinas
The Beginning / Thomas Aquinas
A Kalam Cosmological Argument / Al-Kindi ***16 April: Renaissance and Reformation: Questions of Freedom
READING The Freedom of the Will / Desiderius Erasmus
The Bondage of the Will / Martin Luther
Faith in the Justice of God / Martin Luther
The Sensus Divinitatis / John Calvin ****
The Testimony of the Spirit / John Calvin
QUIZ 1 TODAY23 April: Descartes Ontological Argument
READING in Helms Faith and Reason:
The Existence of God / Rene Descartes ***
Reason and Scripture / Benedict Spinoza30 April: Teleological Argument from Design
READING in Helms Faith and Reason:
Faith beyond Reason / Blaise Pascal
The Provinces of Faith and Reason / John Locke
The Argument from Design / William Paley ***7 May: Against Miracles David Hume
READING in Helms Faith and Reason:
Analogies and Disanalogies / David Hume ***
Additional Handout on Humes, Miracles, Treatise on Human Nature14 May: Moral Argument & Fideism
READING in Helms Faith and Reason:
Denying Knowledge to Make Room for Faith / Immanuel Kant ***
Faith as Feeling / Friedrich Schleiermacher
Faith is More than Feeling / Hegel
The Conformity of Faith with Reason / Gottfried Leibniz21 May: Existentialism and God
READING in Helms Faith and Reason:
Is God Dead?: Nietzsche
Selections from Søren Kierkegaard Concept of Anxiety & Philosophical Fragments and Practice in Christianity28 May: God cannot be Inferred as a Cause: Bertrand Russell vs. Frederick Coppleston
READING John Hick, Russell, Coppleston, The Existence of God
McCloskey, H.J. On Being an Atheist, Question 1 (February 1968): 51-54.
QUIZ 2 TODAY4 June: Problem: Metaphysics is Theology
READING Heidegger, On the Onto-theological Constitution of Metaphysics & Philosophy and Theology (on moodle/sent by professor)11 June: Existence vs. Essence Must God be?
READING: Jean-Luc Marion God without Being18 June: Neither Atheism nor Theism
READING: Jean-Luc Nancy Atheism and Monotheism & On a Divine Wink in The Deconstruction of Christianity25 June: Final Discussion about the course, and any additional student presentations
Association in the course directory
BA M 5.1, PP 57.3.2
Last modified: Mo 07.09.2020 15:36