First-Year Studies: The Problem of Evil

Catalog description

People often talk about the problem of evil, but what do they mean? In its religious version, evil is the problem: If there is a good and all-powerful God, why does He allow evil? In its nonreligious version, the problem is: Why are humans evil? And can evil be overcome? We will track the problem of evil from the death camps to the notion of sin and of a cosmic struggle between good and evil. Students will be expected to bring a written question on the reading to each class and to write a paper analyzing a topic or reading; students may also be asked to do short, in-class presentations. Our focus in group conference will be on rhetoric. We will learn about the design of oratory in the ancient world. We will do this partly for practical reasons, to help us think about how to write anything designed to persuade and, partly, to help us think about the purposes and possible misuse of persuasion. Biweekly in fall, students will alternate between individual conferences with the instructor and group conferences. Biweekly in spring, students will meet with the instructor for individual conferences. First-Year Studies: Women Philosophers in the 20th and 21st Centuries