COURSE WEBSITE / ONLINE SYLLABUS Religious Studies 2LL3 (Fall 2017) - Skepticism, Atheism, and Religious Faith This course website and online syllabus is located 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 (https://religiousstudies.mcmaster.ca/). Information about assignments and any scheduling changes will be posted to this online syllabus, announced in class, and/or e-mailed to participants. (Please make sure to keep me up to date on your e-mail addresses!)
CLASS MEETING: Tuesdays, 12:30-2:20 p.m., BSB 136 TUTORIALS: Thursdays, 12:30-1:20 p.m., BSB 136 INSTRUCTOR: Professor Dana Hollander, Department of Religious Studies,** University Hall 113. (905) 525-9140, ext. 24759* danahol@mcmaster.ca* http://socserv.mcmaster.ca/danahol/ *in your phone and e-mail messages, please let me know how I can reach you by phone **Staff in the office of the Department of Religious Studies will not date-stamp or receive written assignments.Office Hours: Fridays, 5-6 p.m., or by appointment. |
"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 |
Course Description / Course Readings / Course Requirements | ☛ JUMP TO SCHEDULE: September / October / November / December
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":
We will conclude with an essay by a contemporary scholar of religion, Robert Orsi, inviting us to think in new ways about the nature of religious "belief."
Throughout the course and at the exams, you must
use your own
paper copy of all the
primary works we are studying--in the same
edition selected for the
class (whether
in book or xeroxed form). This will allow you to mark your text as you read and to be
prepared to refer to specific passages in
class and tutorial and when you write the exams. |
*Please allow sufficient time to acquaint yourself with the specific instructions for this assignment (and to contact me for clarification if necessary) before beginning your work on it!
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. Therefore, these assignments consist of the written assignment to be handed in at the class meeting at which it is due plus attendance of the full class session.No submissions outside of those class times will be accepted.
Grades will be
based on the following: Text Summary (7%), Text Preparation (15%), Attendance of
Class Meetings and Tutorial Sessions (5%),
Midterm Exam
(33%), Final Exam (40%). 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." 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).
Both works are included in René Descartes, Discourse on
Method and Meditations on First Philosophy (Hackett) [purchase book]
Descartes,
Meditations 1 and 2
No tutorial meeting this week.
To arrange an academic
accommodation for a disability, please contact Student
Accessibility Services (SAS), Tel. 905-525-9140 ext. 28652;
sas@mcmaster.ca. Academic accommodations must be arranged for
each term of study.
LAPTOPS AND ELECTRONIC DEVICES
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.
September 5
INTRODUCTION
No
tutorial meeting this week.
September
12, 14
DESCARTES:
Skepticism and the Existence of God
Original: Discours de la methode
September
19
Text
Summary 1 due in class from
students with last
names beginning in A-L.
Descartes,
Meditations 3 and 5 Text
Summary 2
due in class on September 26 from students who did not complete Text Summary 1.
Emil
Fackenheim, "Kant's Philosophy of
Religion" (1985) in The God Within [book on reserve] Midterm
Exam Preparation Sheet
distributed in class on October 17.
October 19 Drop-In Exam Review Session: 12:00-2:00 p.m., John Hodgins Engineering Building (JHE) 210
Optional Supplementary Reading: Bernard Williams, chap. 5 ("God") of Descartes: The
Project of Pure Enquiry
(1978) [book on reserve]
October 3, 5
KANT:
Religion and Morality
Immanuel
Kant, selection from Critique
of Practical Reason (1788), trans. Mary Gregor, from: Immanuel Kant,
Practical Philosophy
(Cambridge University Press, 1996) [selection in coursepack]:
Additional
resources:
MID-TERM RECESS, OCTOBER 9-13
October 17
finish
Kant: read closely Part V
("The Existence of God as a Postulate of Pure
Practical Reason")
Text
Preparation 1 due in class on October 17
from some students.
No tutorial meeting this week.
Supplementary: Peter Gay, "Sigmund Freud: A Brief Life," in Freud, The Future of an Illusion. trans. James Strachey (Norton) [book on reserve]
Text
Preparation 2 due in class on October 31 from some students.
conclude discussion of Freud
BUBER: Religion and Dialogue
Martin Buber, selections from I
and Thou
(1923), pp. 53-64, 68-69, 82-85, 123-31, 148-50 [purchase book]
Supplementary: Tamra Wright, "Buber, Martin," in Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy (1998) [online and in the Reference Section of Mills Library]. To read the online article, be sure to click on the headings in the table of contents in the upper-left corner!
Text Preparation 4 due in class on November 14 from some students.
November 28, 30
Robert A. Orsi, "Belief" from Material Religion, vol. 7, no. 1 (2011), pp. 10–16 [essay in coursepack, or print out your own copy of the PDF version from here]
Be sure to click the green "PDF" button to access a printable version of the article.
Eric Matthews, The Philosophy of Merleau-Ponty (Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2002): 67-71*
December 5
ROBERT ORSI: Reconceptualizing "Belief." (Alternative Title: Mind, Body and "Belief")
Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Phenomenology of Perception (1945), trans. Donald A. Landes (London: Routledge, 2012): 403-8.**instructions on how to obtain these readings to be communicated in class and by e-mail
Final
Exam Preparation Sheet to be distributed in class on November 28.
Monday, December 11, 7:30 p.m., BSB 137
Copyright ©
Dana Hollander