Philosophy of Religion

Catalog description

Three lecture. Philosophical readings, discussion, and analysis of Eastern Buddhist and Western monotheist religious traditions including concepts of ‘God’, arguments for and against God’s existence, the Buddhist concept of the self and the nature of ‘nirvana’. Students will be able to: analyze significant religious concepts such as omnipotence, omniscience, goodness, evil, free-will, pre-determination, eternality, nirvana, and selflessness; critically engage versions of the ontological, cosmological, and design arguments for God’s existence; explain the difference between a “no-self” view of personhood common in religions such as Buddhism and the “substantial and eternal self” view of personhood common in religions such as Christianity and Islam; comprehend how religious teachings affects and is affected by culture in regards to gender roles, responses to oppression, and artistic expression; critically engage attempts of Eastern and Western thinkers to account for the suffering and evil present in the world by examining atheistic arguments from evil against ultimate meaning in life.