Phil 230:
Atheism: a philosophical analysis (Vailati) Fall 2011
Office: PH 2212
Office Phone: x3370
Office Hours: M 11-12; T 5-6 and by appointment if
necessary
Email:evailat@siue.edu
Please, identify yourself as taking this class
Webpage with class material: http://www.siue.edu/~evailat
Atheism, the lack of belief in
the existence of any god, is probably as old as religion, and therefore much older than any of the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and
Islam). Today there are roughly 750 million
free atheists, mainly located in the western world. Although the frequency of atheists in the US
is rather low and being a declared atheist largely prevents one from achieving
public office, most likely you know some atheist.
This course studies the
philosophical issues surrounding atheism.
Its aim is to provide students with standard atheistic criticisms of
theism and atheistic answers to objections traditionally launched against it,
such as the charge that atheism, if true, would destroy morality and render our
lives meaningless. Readings are mainly from contemporary sources.
Texts
1. M. Martin ed., The Cambridge Companion
to Atheism (CUP, 2007), [C]
2. L. M. Anthony ed., Philosophers Without
Gods (OUP, 2007), [P]
3. Handouts
4. Online material to be downloaded from my
homepage: http://www.siue.edu/~evailat
A nice companion book for this course is E. K. Wielenberg,
Value and Virtue in a Godless Universe
(Cambridge: CUP, 2005)
A good and cheap collection of both historical and contemporary atheistic
literature is C. Hitchens, The Portable Atheist. Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever (New
York: Da Capo Press, 2007)
Schedule
Week 1: A brief account of positive and negative atheism and
some facts about atheists. Readings: C 47-65,
300-313. Download: H. L. Menken, Memorial Service
The attack on atheism. Reading: C 69-85.
Week 2-3: The argument from design and its problems.
Readings:
Dawkins’ handout;
Handout by Davies;
Handout of Martin’s Atheistic
Teleological Arguments.
September 5: holiday
End of week 3: first quiz
Week 4: Standard atheistic critiques of the Cosmological
Argument. Reading:
Download a few notes on mathematical
infinity
C 86-101
C 182-198.
Week 5 (first half): Experiencing God? Mysticism and Sensus Divinitatis
End of week 5: second quiz
Weeks 5 (second half)-6: An influential argument for positive atheism: The Argument from Evil. Reading:
C 166-181
P 231-242
Handout: Schellenberg’s Divine Hiddenness
justifies Atheism.
Week 7: Showing of Shadowlands. Reading:
Handout from Lewis’ A Grief Observed. Class discussion
End
of week 7: third quiz
Weeks
8-9: An evolutionary analysis of
religion? Reading: C 283-299.
Week 10: Becoming an atheist. Readings:
Handout from Darwin’s letters
and autobiography
P 41-58
P 69-79
P 80-89
Handout: Ayaan Hirsi Ali, How (and why) I became an Infidel
End of week 10: fourth quiz
Weeks
11-12: Is an atheistic system of ethics possible or desirable? Can an evolved morality be objective?
Reading: Download Craig Lane’s article.
P 215-230
C 149-65.
End of week 12: fifth quiz
Week 13: The meaning of life.
Readings:
Handout from Nagel;
Selection form Wilenberg’s Value and Virtue in a Godless Universe.
Download SEP article http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/life-meaning/
November 21- 27:
Break
Week 14: Death. Reading:
Download: Epicurus’ Letter to Menoeceus and
selection from Lucretius’ On the Nature of Things.
End of week 14: sixth quiz; Paper due
Week 15:
Showing of Bergman’s The Seventh Seal.
Final discussion
Requirements
·
One 5 page
double spaced paper, worth 25% of the course grade.
·
6
quizzes, some take-home, some in-class, cumulatively worth 30% of the course
grade.
·
A
presentation, worth 20% of the course grade.
·
A
final exam, worth 25% of the course grade.
There may also be some
pop quizzes for extra points.
Only students present when these quizzes are administered will be
allowed to take them. No exceptions,
ever.
Paper
You are encouraged to
give me rough drafts of your paper up to one week before the paper is due. Understand that the closer to a finished
paper your rough draft is, the more precise and useful
my comments will be.
Presentation
A presentation should last
about 20 minutes and have the following structure:
1. Statement
of the main point made by the author(s) you discuss
2. Brief
statement of the main argument(s) supporting the point
3. Brief
discussion of the difficulties of the author’s position and arguments
Make sure your presentation
is clear and well organized so that students who have read the material can follow
it.
Conduct
Please, turn off your
phones; avoid texting and reading material irrelevant to the course. Be respectful of other people. This does not mean that you should not
criticize their views, even forcefully; however, avoid personal invectives.