Religious Studies 2LL3 (Fall 2013): Skepticism, Atheism, and Faith

SYLLABUS-IN-PROGRESS

Religious Studies 2LL3 (Fall 2013): Skepticism, Atheism, and Religious Faith

This syllabus is posted at http://socserv.mcmaster.ca/danahol/2LL3 and is also accessible by way of my home page (see below) and the Dept. of Religious Studies website. It will be updated periodically, and students in the class should consult it regularly during the semester.

CLASS MEETINGS: Wednesdays, 8-10 p.m., BSB 104

TUTORIALS: Wednesdays, 7-8 p.m., BSB 104

INSTRUCTOR: Dana Hollander, Department of Religious Studies,** University Hall 104.

(905) 525-9140, ext. 24759* danahol@mcmaster.ca* http://univmail.cis.mcmaster.ca/~danahol/

*in your phone and e-mail messages, please let me know how I can reach you by phone

Office Hours: Mondays, 5-6 p.m., or by appointment.

TEACHING ASSISTANT: Michael Worden, Department of Religious Studies,** University Hall B125 (in the basement).

wordenmj@mcmaster.ca

Office Hours: Wednesdays, 6-7 p.m., or by appointment.

**Staff in the office of the Department of Religious Studies will not date-stamp or receive written assignments.

Course Description / Course Readings / Course Requirements | SCHEDULE: September / October / November / December

"I will suppose," Descartes wrote, that "some malicious demon . . . has employed all his energies in order to deceive me."

by Joost Swarte, from the New Yorker (Nov. 20, 2006), used with permission

updated November 21, 2013

Course Description and Objectives

In this course, we will read some key works in modern Western philosophy and religious thought that propose different ways of conceiving God and approaching religion. We will begin with René Descartes (1596-1650) whose philosophy helped establish a tradition in which the task of thinking about God is directly related to the question of what can we know in general - and thus to the problem of "skepticism."

Next we will look at three important challenges to the tradition of seeing God as something we can "know":

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) describes God not as something to be known theoretically, and instead links the idea of God to morality ("practical knowledge")
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) considers what it means for God to be an "illusion" and critically explores the moral function of religion
Martin Buber (1878-1965) views religion as an experience wholly unlike knowledge, but as a "relation" or "dialogue" between an "I" and a "Thou."

We will conclude with an essay by contemporary philosopher Jürgen Habermas (born 1929), which argues that the traditional Western distinction between "faith" and "knowledge" is decisively called into question by the challenges of contemporary politics.

Course Readings

Books available for purchase at the McMaster Campus Store (formerly Titles Bookstore):

René Descartes, Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy, trans. Donald A. Cress (Hackett) [required]
Sigmund Freud, The Future of an Illusion, trans. James Strachey (Norton) [required]
Martin Buber, I and Thou (Simon & Schuster), trans. Walter Kaufmann [required]
Diana Hacker, A Pocket Style Manual, 6th ed. (Bedford/St. Martin's, 2012) [strongly recommended]
Gordon Harvey, Writing with Sources. A Guide for Students, 2nd ed. (Hackett, 2008) [optional]

Please either purchase the Coursepack, or plan to make personal copies of readings contained in the Coursepack from the books on reserve (the less expensive option).

Readings in the coursepack, plus some supplementary readings, are also on Mills Library reserve.

You must have your own paper copy of all the texts to be discussed--in the same edition selected for the class--whether in book or xeroxed form, so that you can mark them as you read and can prepare to refer to specific passages in class and tutorial and when you write the exams.

Course Requirements

One Text Summary (1-1.5 pages) on a selection from the assigned reading for either September 25 or October 2, to be handed in at the end of the class session on those days. Detailed assignments are posted below, and will be distributed in class.

Either one or two* Text Preparations (2-3 pages) - on the assigned readings for Oct. 16, Oct. 23, Nov. 6, Nov. 20, or Nov. 27, to be handed in at the end of the class session on the day we are discussing the selection they are on. Specific assignments to be posted for each week.

Note: Text Summary/Text Preparation assignments are designed to help you prepare the reading assignment for a particular class meeting, in conjunction with your participation in that class meeting. Thus, those assignments may only be submitted by you at the class meetings at which they are due.

*If you choose to hand in two Text Preparations, please be sure to complete Text Preparation 1 or 2 so as to allow time to receive feedback on the first assignment before preparing the second one, from among Text Preparation 3, 4, or 5. (Please contact the instructor or TA if scheduling difficulties arise.)

Midterm Exam and Final Exam will consist of essay questions involving textual analysis. The essay questions will be made known in advance and the exams will be open-book.

Grades will be based on the following:

for students who complete only one Text Preparation assignment: Text Summary (10%), Text Preparation (15%), Midterm Exam (35%), Final Exam (40%).
for those who complete two Text Preparation assignments: Text Summary (10%), Text Preparations (12.5% each), Midterm Exam (30%), Final Exam (35%).

McMaster University has a strict policy concerning Academic Integrity: "You are expected to exhibit honesty and use ethical behaviour in all aspects of the learning process. Academic credentials you earn are rooted in principles of honesty and academic integrity. Academic dishonesty is to knowingly act or fail to act in a way that results or could result in unearned academic credit or advantage. This behaviour can result in serious consequences, e.g. the grade of zero on an assignment, loss of credit with a notation on the transcript (notation reads: “Grade of F assigned for academic dishonesty”), and/or suspension or expulsion from the university.

It is your responsibility to understand what constitutes academic dishonesty. For information on the various types of academic dishonesty please refer to the Academic Integrity Policy, located at www.mcmaster.ca/academicintegrity.

The following illustrates only three forms of academic dishonesty: 1. Plagiarism, e.g., the submission of work that is not one's own or for which other credit has been obtained. 2. Improper collaboration in group work. 3. Copying or using unauthorized aids in tests and examinations."

Please let me know if you have any questions on how this policy applies to your work for this course.

Privacy of Information. Some of the communications among the instructor and the students in this course will be over e-mail and on the course website. Students should be aware that, when they access the electronic components of this course, private information such as first and last names and e-mail addresses may become apparent to all other students in the same course. Continuation in this course will be deemed consent to this disclosure. If you have any questions or concerns about such disclosure please discuss this with the course instructor.

You are advised to retain copies of any written work you submit for this class, and all your research notes, until you have received an official grade.

SCHEDULE

At certain points in the course it may make good sense to modify the schedule outlined below. The instructor reserves the right to modify elements of the course and will notify students accordingly (in class, by e-mail to participants, and by updating this online syllabus).

September 11

INTRODUCTION

No tutorial meeting this week.

September 18

DESCARTES: Skepticism and the Existence of God

René Descartes, Discourse on Method (1637): parts 1-4; Meditations on First Philosophy (1641): Meditation 1

September 25

Descartes, Meditations 1 and 2

Text Summary 1 due in class from students with last names beginning in A-L.

October 2 SPECIAL MEETING TIME: 7-9 p.m. (no tutorial today)

Descartes, Meditations 2 and 3

Text Summary 2 due in class from students who did not complete Text Summary 1.

October 9

Descartes, Meditations 3 and 5

Optional Supplementary Reading: Bernard Williams, chap. 5 ("God") of Descartes: The Project of Pure Enquiry (1978) [book on reserve]

October 16

KANT: Religion and Morality

Immanuel Kant, selection from Critique of Practical Reason (1788), trans. Mary Gregor [included in coursepack; or copy from: Immanuel Kant, Practical Philosophy, on reserve: pp. 236-55]: Read closely Part III ("On the Primacy of Pure Practical Reason") and Part IV ("The Immortality of the Soul as a Postulate of Pure Practical Reason"); begin reading Part V ("The Existence of God as a Postulate of Pure Practical Reason").

Text Preparation 1 due in class from some students.

Additional resources:

Emil Fackenheim, "Kant's Philosophy of Religion" (1985) in The God Within [book on reserve]

German edition of Critique of Practical Reason.

October 23

finish Kant: read closely Part V ("The Existence of God as a Postulate of Pure Practical Reason").

Text Preparation 2 due in class from some students.

Midterm Exam Preparation Sheet distributed in class today.

October 30

No tutorial meeting this week.

MIDTERM EXAM, 7 p.m.

November 6

FREUD: The Value of Religious Ideas

Sigmund Freud, The Future of an Illusion (1927), trans. James Strachey [purchase book]: I, II, III, VI, VII, VIII

Text Preparation 3 due in class from some students.

November 13

conclude discussion of Freud

BUBER: Religion and Dialogue

Martin Buber, I and Thou (1923) [purchase book]: First Part: all (but skim 67-73); Second Part, pp. 100-110

Supplementary: Tamra Wright, "Buber, Martin." Article in Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy (1998) [online and in the Reference Section of Mills Library]

November 20

Buber, I and Thou, Third Part: all (but skim 131-43)

Text Preparation 4 due in class from some students.

November 27

Martin Buber, "Religion and Philosophy" from Eclipse of God (1952) [essay in coursepack / book on reserve]

Text Preparation 5 due in class from some students.

December 4

HABERMAS: Religion and Secularization

Jürgen Habermas, "Faith and Knowledge" (2001), trans. H. Beister and W. Rehy [essay in coursepack, or print out your own copy from E. Mendieta (ed.), The Frankfurt School on Religion: pp. 327-39]

Final Exam Preparation Sheet to be distributed in class today

FINAL EXAM

Monday, December 9, 7:30-9:00 p.m., BSB 106