Subject Area: Philosophy

In this course, you will study key ideas in philosophy of religion including: conceptions of deity, cosmos, life and death, human society, the natural environment, human action, and ritual and ethical practices. You will investigate some of these topics: how religious ideas are expressed and justified in different religions; how thinkers such as Anselm and Aquinas, and contemporary philosophers, make a case for the existence of God; critiques of religion by influential critiques of religion by thinkers such as Hume, Feuerbach, Nietzsche, Freud and others; the concept of evil; religion and morality; religion and gender; miracles; free will and determinism and the meaning of life. Key questions you will explore include: Did the universe have a cause? Is the order and regularity in the world evidence of intelligent purpose and design, or are they the result of mere chance? Are science and religion compatible? Is there a realm of understanding which is beyond scientific knowledge?