Philosophy 297: Syllabus

The readings are drawn from Reason and Responsibility, 11th edition, edited by Joel Feinberg and Russ Shafer-Landau. This text is now available at Shaman Drum. A few other readings will be made available in class.

Note: the following syllabus is meant to give only rough idea of the content of the class. It is subject to change and supplementation. The later weeks have been left open to allow for catching up, and for the study of topics chosen by students.

I. Arguments for and against the existence of God

a) Rational Theology: two traditional arguments for the existence of God

September 3: Introductory meeting: no readings. [Handout: the divine attributes]
September 5: William Paley: The Argument from Design (pp. 40-45)
September 8: The Ontological argument. Anselm and Guanilo and parts I & II of Rowe; (pp. 6-15).
September 10: The Ontological argument continued. Parts III and IV of Rowe (pp. 15-21). (Be sure also to review the readings from the last meeting)

b) Two arguments against the existence of God

September 12: Are the divine attributes consistent? Is God possible? [Readings will be made available in class.
September 15: Consistency of the divine attributes (continued).
September 17: The Problem of Evil Posed: Dostoevsky (pp.89-94) and Mackie (pp. 100-107)
September 19: The Problem of Evil Addressed: Peter Van Inwagen (pp. 108-120)

c) Pragmatic justifications of faith

September 22: Clifford (pp. 121-124); Pascal (pp. 134-6)
September 24: William James (125-133)

II. Free will

a) Determinism: Hard and Soft

September 26: Introduction, Holbach (pp. 456-467)
September 29: Honderich (pp. 467-480)
October 1: A. J. Ayer (pp. 481-486)
October 3: Walter T. Stace (pp. 486-499)
October 6: [Overspill class for catching up]

b) Libertarianism

October 8: Chisolm (pp. 492-493)

c) Free will and moral responsibility

October 10: Harry Frankfurt (pp. 523-529)
October 13: Thomas Nagel (pp. 529-537)

III. Ethics: theory and applications

a) Theory

October 15: Joel Feinberg: Psychogical Egoism (pp. 547-558)
October 17: James Rachels: Ethical Egoism: (pp. 559-566)
October 20: James Rachels: The Challenge of Cultural Relativism (pp. 616-623)
October 22: Immanuel Kant (pp. 679-93)
October 24: John Stuart Mill (pp. 694-707)

b) Applications

October 27: [Overspill class for catching up]
October 29: Abortion I: Judith Jarvis Thomson (pp. 739-750)
October 31: Abortion II: Don Marquis (pp. 750-761)
November 3:[No class: out of town for a conference]
November 5:Famine: Peter Singer (pp. 708-715)
November 7:Euthanasia I: John Harris (pp. 722-727) and James Rachels (pp. 727-731)
November 10:Euthanasia II: Tom L. Beauchamp (pp. 731-739)
November 12: Harris: The Survival Lottery (pp. 722-726)
November 14: Peter Singer: All Animals are Equal (pp. 761-774)
November 17-26: [Open: topics to be selected depending on progress and class interest]
November 28: [No class: Thanksgiving]
December 1-3: [Open: topics to be selected depending on progress and class interest]
December 5: In-class writing exercise
December 8: Wrap up
December 10: Classes end