Philosophy of God (AP9210C)

Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays

29 June; 1, 3, 6, 8, 10 July

9.30am - 4.30pm

(A more detailed division of the lecturing period is on the ARK site as a word document).

Monday 29 June

Introduction; Unit Guide. Premises and proofs. The classical taxonomy of the arguments – ontological, cosmological, teleological, moral proofs.

Plato, Aristotle, Anselm. Ancient phil. and basic cosmological & teleological arguments Anselm’s 'ontological' (Proslogion) arguments, Gaunilo & Aquinas’ responses to Anselm’s argument

Wednesday 1 July

Aquinas. The five ways (1) – motion, efficient cause, contingency and (possibly) John Duns Scotus’ argument for the existence of God

Aquinas. The five ways (2) – full perfection, teleology

Friday 3 July

Descartes’ and Leibniz’s ontological arguments. Introduction to Kant on the existence of God; background to Kant and Kant’s response to ontological arguments

Clarke’s Boyle lectures; Paley’s teleological argument

Monday 6 July

God and the problem(s) of evil (Lecturer: C Mulherin) Ockham’s, Hume’s and Kant’s critiques of the ‘traditional’ arguments for the existence of God

Wednesday 8 July

A new realist-idealist argument for the existence of God

The divine attributes: simplicity, timelessness, eternity and immutability (part 1)

The divine attributes: simplicity, timelessness, eternity and immutability (part 2)

Friday 10 July

Language and God (if we have time). Remaining worksheet reviews

Exam outline. Some comments on report assessment for asynchronous students.