This is the webpage for an old course, Philosophy 670: Philosophy of Religion, from Fall 2010. For a list of courses I have taught or will teach in the future, look here.
Precise Due Dates
The paper is due on Thursday of finals week. Let’s say that it is due at midnight of Thursday of finals week.
If you are a graduating senior, you will need to get your paper in by midnight of Wednesday of finals week, so I can submit your grade by midnight on Thursday.
Where to Put It
You can turn it in to my box in the department office. The department office closes around 5 pm. Or you can email it to me. If you email it to me, please:
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include “670” in the subject
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send the paper as a PDF file or cut and paste the content of the paper into the body of your email message.
Opening and printing ~20 papers in Word takes significantly longer than opening and printing ~20 PDF files.
SEIs
A friendly reminder that they need to be filled out by this Sunday. Thanks.
Please remember to fill out online SEIs if you have not already. Thanks.
I want a 5-7 page paper (roughly 1500-2100 words). It is due on Thursday of finals week. Usual formatting guidelines apply: 1 inch margins, double-spaced, 12 pt font. →
Leftow, Brian. 2002. “The Eternal Present.” In God and Time: Essays on the Divine Nature, Oxford University Press, p. 21–48.
Zimmerman, Dean. 2002. “God inside time and before creation” (revised version). Originally in Ganssle GE, Woodruff DM, (eds), God and time: essays on the divine nature. Oxford University Press.
Not that funny, but topical.
Read
For November 16th, read Pike, Adams and Fischer.
Briefly answer each of the following questions. You may discuss the questions with each other, but your answers must be your own.
Due in class on Tuesday, November 23rd. Double-spaced, 12 pt font, margins of at least 1 inch on all sides. →
We will finish discussing Molina and Molinism on Tuesday. Read Adams, and reread Freddoso’s last section, in which he considers and replies to objections.
Click through to see the grade scale for the first homework assignment.→
This is the (lightly edited) email exchange I had with Steven about Omnipotence and Impeccability. Comments appreciated.→
Let’s plan on next Tuesday to begin with Molinism. (Yes, I want to short-shrift Geach. Let it be that Geachism is on the table, to be considered further in the context of other options.) So: →
Geach, Peter. 1977. “Omniscience and the Future.” Chapter 3 of his Providence and Evil. Cambridge University Press.
We will aim to work through this material over three weeks. Who knows if we will make it. We’ll see how it goes and what catches our interest.→
I spent a moment tweaking the javascript that enables or disables off-campus links (i.e., links via OSU’s ezproxy server) to library-subscribed readings. The script now stores its setting in a cookie, so your choice should be persistent. And I’ve moved the button for toggling between direct links and off-campus links to the top right hand corner of every 670 page.
For Tuesday, I want to concentrate on Conee. But one more question about Flint and Freddoso:
- What is the point of their 5th condition (p. 98)?
Come to class with your best answer to that question, and ready to discuss Conee.
Here.
We will plan to discuss Flint and Freddoso. Also read, if you have not already, the article by Conee.
Briefly answer each of the following questions. You may discuss the questions with each other, but your answers must be your own.
Due in class on Tuesday, October 19th. Double-spaced, 12 pt font, margins of at least 1 inch on all sides. →
No new readings. Our discussion will focus on Rosencrantz and Hoffman, and Flint and Freddoso. Please try to have those two papers “on the top of your head” for next class. It would also be helpful to have Geach’s “Omnipotence” in mind. These three papers are all closely related.
There is no new reading for October 7th. We will be discussing the readings on Omnipotence and Impeccability.
The relevant article is:
For next Tuesday, read the three pieces under “Omnipotence and Impeccability”: Aquinas, Pike, and Adams. If you have time, also read Geach, “Omnipotence”, as I hope to get to that by next Thursday.
Follow the link for a corrected version of the handout that was passed out in class today.→
Haley suggested that there might be an important different between powers and abilities, and wondered which of the two was relevant to omnipotence. In response, I mentioned two distinctions→
In class on Sep 28, we considered the Paradox of the Stone, which I represented as follows→
For tomorrow, finish the readings in the section titled “Omnipotence and Impossible Tasks”.
For next Tuesday, start working through the readings in the section entitled “Omnipotence and Impossible Tasks”→
We will aim to work through this material over three weeks. That may be an impossible task. We’ll see how it goes and what catches our interest.→
Traditional western theism tells us that God is maximally great or perfect along at least three dimensions.→
The aim of this course is to explore various philosophical issues concerning God and his relation to the temporal world.→