Course syllabus

PHIL 743: Philosophy of Religion 2

SEMESTER 2, 2018

15 points

 
Course Director : John Bishop

Teacher:John Bishop

Course delivery format:

One 2-hour Seminar per week

(Timetable and room details can be viewed on Student Services Online)

 Summary of Course Description:              

The focus of this course is on the epistemology of religious belief and the nature of faith. Can religious belief be justifiable even if it turns out that the truth of its factual claims is not adequately supported by our total available evidence in accordance with our established practices for settling factual questions? Where factual evidence falls short, might an ethical evaluation of religious beliefs, or of the consequences of holding them, provide justification for (certain forms of) religious commitment?

We will consider the current state of the debate between evidentialists and fideists over the justifiability of religious belief, and recent work on faith, including an emerging tendency to defend ‘non-doxastic’ accounts of faith (that is, accounts which hold that there could be, for example, authentic Christian faith without any actual belief that central Christian doctrines are true). A good place to start is with the papers collected in Laura Frances Callahan and Timothy O’Connor, eds, Religious Faith and Intellectual Virtue, Oxford University Press, 2014.

 Assessment Summary:

 One 6,000 word essay, topic to be negotiated with the Course supervisor.

 Workload and deadlines for submission of coursework:           

The University of Auckland's expectation is that students spend 10 hours per week on a 15-point course, including time in class and personal study. Students should manage their academic workload and other commitments accordingly. Deadlines for coursework are set by course convenors and will be advertised in course material. You should submit your work on time. In extreme circumstances, such as illness, you may seek an extension but you may be required to provide supporting information before the assignment is due. Late assignments without a pre-approved extension may be penalised by loss of marks – check course information for details.