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 a pair of texts by the philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty and the contemporary scholar of religion, Robert Orsi, which will allow us to consider the relationship between mind, body, and "belief."
By engaging with the ideas conveyed in these works, and in the work we do on them in class and tutorial, in this course you will learn skills of textual analysis, conceptual argumentation, and effective writing.
COURSE READINGS
- René Descartes, Discourse on
Method and Meditations on First Philosophy, trans. Donald A.
Cress (Hackett). ISBN 978-0872204201 [required]
- Sigmund Freud, The Future of
an Illusion, ed. Todd Dufresne, trans.
Gregory C. Richter (Broadview Editions, 2012). ISBN 978-1554810659 [required]
- Martin Buber, I and Thou, trans. Walter Kaufmann (Free Press). ISBN 978-0684717258 [required]
- Gordon Harvey, Writing with
Sources. A Guide for Students,
3rd ed. (Hackett, 2017). ISBN 978-1624665547 [required]
- Diana Hacker and Nancy Sommers, A Pocket Style
Manual, 8th edition
(Bedford/St. Martin's, 2018). ISBN 978-1319057404 [strongly recommended]
- Coursepack
[required]
- Zebra M-301 0.5 mm pencil and package of 12 "B" lead refills [required; available in the Required Course Supplies section of the Campus Store]
- All the required readings, as well as some optional supplementary readings, are also on
reserve at Mills Library -
e.g. for personal photocopying. To find items on reserve for a course, select "Course Reserve" from the drop-down menu here.
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.
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COURSE REQUIREMENTS
- Attendance of all class and tutorial sessions.
- One Text Summary (1-1.5 pages) - see detailed assignment to be handed out in class and to be posted below.* This assignment is to be completed in conjunction with attendance of the full class session at which it is due, and to be handed in at the end of the class session on those days.
Please complete either Text Summary 1 for September 20 or Text Summary 2 for September 27, which will be on the readings you are preparing for those days.
*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!
- One Text
Preparation (2-3 pages) - on the assigned readings for Oct. 18, Nov. 1, Nov. 8, Nov. 15, or Nov. 22, in conjunction with attendance of the full class session, and to be handed in at the end of the class session on those days. Specific assignments for each week will be posted to this online syllabus the week before (see under the due dates below). Please wait to receive your marked Text Summary assignment and review the feedback on it before completing the Text Preparation assignment.
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.
Submissions at other times will not be accepted. Preparation of an alternate assignment for a future session will always be an option (until we run out of class sessions).
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- 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: Text Summary (7%), Text Preparation (15%), Attendance of
Class Meetings and Tutorial Sessions (5%),
Midterm Exam
(33%), Final Exam (40%).
To arrange an academic
accommodation for a disability, please contact Student
Accessibility Services (SAS), Tel. 905-525-9140 ext. 28652, sas@mcmaster.ca, to make arrangements with a Program Coordinator. For further information, see McMaster University’s policy on Academic Accommodation of Students with Disabilities.
LAPTOPS AND ELECTRONIC DEVICES
Please do not eat during class.
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
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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).
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September 6
INTRODUCTION
No tutorial meeting on September 10.
September
13, 17
DESCARTES:
Skepticism and the Existence of God
Both works are included in René Descartes, Discourse on
Method and Meditations on First Philosophy (Hackett) [purchase book]
September
20, 24
Descartes,
Meditations 1 and 2
Text
Summary 1 due in class on September 20 from
students with last
names beginning in A-L.
September 27, October 1 Descartes,
Meditations 3 and 5
Text
Summary 2
due in class on September 27 from students who did not complete Text Summary 1.
Optional Supplementary Reading: Bernard Williams, chap. 5 ("God") of Descartes: The
Project of Pure Enquiry
(1978) [book on reserve]
October 4, 15 (Midterm Recess: Oct 8-12)
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]:
- 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")
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 18
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 18
from some students.
Midterm
Exam Preparation Sheet
distributed in class on October 18.
October 22 - Optional Exam Review Session
October
25
MIDTERM
EXAM
No
tutorial meeting on October 29.
November 1, 5
FREUD: The Value of
Religious Ideas
Sigmund
Freud, The
Future of an
Illusion (1927), trans.
Gregory C. Richter (Broadview Editions, 2012): I, II, III, VI, VII,
VIII [purchase
book]
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 November 1 from some students.
(905)
525-9140, ext. 24759* 
danahol@mcmaster.ca*
https://socialsciences.mcmaster.ca/danahol/
updated November 24, 2018
Please silence and refrain from using cell phones and other handheld electronic
devices during class meetings and tutorials.
To read the online article, be sure to click on the headings in the table of contents in the upper-left corner!