PHI 1010 - PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION

PHI 1010 - PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION SECTION  

MAJOR SOURCES FOR THE PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION PART OF PHI 1010

General Sources

• Popkin, R. H. and A. Stroll, 1989. Philosophy Made Simple. Oxford, Heinemann. -- Chapter 4
• Warburton, N., 1999. Philosophy: The Basics. Third Edition. New York, Routledge.
• PHI 1010 Course Batch available from through your course representative.

1.0 What is Philosophy of Religion?

• What does Philosophy of Religion seek to Address?
• Is There a God?
• If There is a God, then What is He Like?
• What Does that Mean for Us?

2.0 Forms of Religious Belief and Attributes of God

• Theism, Monotheism, Polytheism, Pantheism, Deism, Atheism, Agnosticism
• Traditional Attributes of God

3.0 Existence of God

3.1 Pascal's Wager Argument (Blaise Pascal - 1623-1662)
3.2 Cosmological Argument
3.3 Ontological Argument
3.4 Teleological Argument (argument from design)
3.5 Other arguments for the existence of God include those from religious experience, from miracles, from morality. But these are beyond the scope of this course.

4.0 The Problem of Evil

• Why should an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God not remove evil in the world?
• Maybe evil exists but human beings are limited to understand why even when God exists.
• Maybe God does not exist at all.
• Maybe this world is the most perfect of all worlds. 
• The "Free Will" Defence