PHL 327
Contemporary Christian Philosophy
Prof. R. Koons -- Spring 2004
TTH 12:30-2:00 PM, UTC 3.102
Unique number 39195
We will examine
recent work in philosophy that is written from a Christian point of view or
that examines philosophical questions that arise within the framework of the
Christian faith. The issues to be covered include the relationship between
faith and reason, the possibility of demonstrating the existence of God, the
problem of evil, the problem of reconciling divine foreknowledge and
sovereignty with human responsibility, and the relation of God to time. Special
emphasis will be placed on the relevance of Christian philosophy to foundational
questions concerning reality, knowledge and ethics. We will look at some of the
seminal figures (like Chesterton, Lewis, and Schaeffer), the neo-Thomism of the
middle period of this century, and the renaissance of Christian philosophy in
analytic circles in the last thirty years, led by Alvin Plantinga, Robert M.
Adams, Alasdair McIntyre and others, as well as some critics of that movement,
including J. L. Mackie and William Rowe.
Prerequisites: no prior work in philosophy is expected. Non-majors are
encouraged to enroll.
Texts:
- G. K.
Chesterton, St. Thomas Aquinas
- C. S.
Lewis, The Abolition of Man
- Josef
Pieper, Leisure: The Basis of Culture
- Etienne
Gilson, Methodical Realism
[available at Longhorn Copies, 26th and Guadalupe]
- Francis
A. Schaeffer, He is There and He is not SilentThe God Who is There
- Kelly
James Clark, Return to Reason
- Alasdair
McIntyre, After Virtue
- Articles
and selections by J. L. Mackie, Robert M. Adams, Richard Swinburne, Austin
Farrer, Alvin Plantinga, and others.
Some papers of Prof. Koons's that are available on the web (in Adobe Acrobat
PDF format -- you need the free Adobe Acrobat
Reader to read these pages):
- The Incompatibility of Naturalism and Scientific Realism.
in Naturalism: A Critical Appraisal,
edited by J. P. Moreland and William Lane Craig (Routledge, UK, 2000).
- Post-Agnostic Science: How Physics is Reviving the
Argument from Design.
- A New Look at the Cosmological Argument, American
Philosophical Quarterly 34
(1997):193-212.
- Defeasible Reasoning, Special Pleading and the
Cosmological Argument (Paper accepted for the Gifford Conference,
University of Aberdeen, May 25-29, 2000)
- Are Probabilities Indispensable to the Design
Argument, in Models of Design Inference, edited by Timothy McGrew (forthcoming).
Study Guides
Weekly Discussion Questions
Week 3: Lewis and Plantinga
on Naturalism.
Week 4: Chesterton and
Pieper on Christian Philosophy.
Week 5: Gilson on Realism.
Week 6: MacIntyre on the
Enlightenment Project
Week 7: C. S. Lewis on
Objective Value
Week 8: Schaeffer, Mackie
and Adams on Objective Value
Week 9: Arguments for
God’Äôs Existence
Week 10: Religious
Epistemology
Week 11: Middle Knowledge
and Divine Providence
Week 13: Problem of Evil,
Preliminaries
Week 14: Free Will Defense
Week 15: Last Words on the
Problem of Evil
Evaluation:
- Three
exams (combination of essay and multiple choice): 25% each . There will be
an optional, comprehensive final that can be counted for 25% of the course
grade, permitting a student to drop the lowest test grade.
- Short
papers (eight 2-page responses to the readings): 10%. Short papers are to
be turned in at the beginning of class on Tuesday, responding to the
coming week's reading.
- Class
and section participation: 15%
- Optional
term paper: due Thursday, May 6th. 2500-3000 words on a topic pre-approved
by the instructor. The term paper may be used to drop a low midterm
grade, or in place of the
third exam, at the student's discretion.
Instructor:
Prof. Rob Koons.
Phone: 471-5530.
rkoons@mail’Ķ
Office: WAG 405.
Office hours: Tues. 3:30-4:30. Wed. 3-4..
Last updated May 13,
2004
Created by: Robert C. Koons
Send comments to: rkoons at mail
Philosophy
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Koons | UT Austin Web Central