PHI208: Ethics and Moral Reasoning - Wk4 Discussion

Ashford 5: - Week 4 - Instructor Guidance

Week 4 - Theoretical Issues in Religion; Instructor Guidance by Christopher Myers, PhD.

The Philosophical Study of Religion and God

Hello class! In this latest course revision, the curriculum skips over some essential parts of our textbook, including the entire Chapter Four which is devoted to religion and God in Western Civilization! Despite this, "God-talk" is usually a part of our discussions throughout the course and it is important to cover the topic in a philosophy and ethics class! Of course, we are going to be studying this from the philosophical perspective. I would like to open with a few words about the academic approach to religious studies, which is different than learning about a religion as a believer and follower of that religion. In the academic approach to religious studies, we have to maintain a rational objectivity in regard to the different religions and beliefs and practices that we are talking about and studying. Many of us have our own personal religious beliefs and practices but we have to put those into brackets and keep those separate from our academic studies. That does not mean that we cannot express our own personal beliefs, but the discussion here is ordered by rationality and philosophical justification. As an example, suppose that we were studying Buddhism and in particular the concept of reincarnation. It would not help us to simply say “I don't believe in reincarnation..." or to quote some biblical verse that we think "disproves" it. In our academic study, we would be discussing what reincarnation means to Buddhists and to consider "what would it mean if reincarnation were true?" Of course, we would not be making any metaphysical judgment whether it is really true or not.

Positive Metaphysical Agnosticism

I have an academic approach to religious studies that I call "positive metaphysical agnosticism." Keeping in mind that this is a philosophy course and not a religion course, let me explain this term. I call it "positive" because it means that I am open to the study of all kinds of religious experiences, and to the people that are expressing them and their religious beliefs and practices. "Metaphysical" means the kinds of ideas and claims they cannot be proven or disproven in a scientific laboratory or by science even in its largest scope. This includes supernatural experiences and beings and claims that go beyond the five senses. For instance, if I were to say "I saw my guardian angel save me from the car crash ," that is a metaphysical statement. The term "agnosticism" is based upon a Greek word and it literally means: to not know. So, putting that all together, in the academic and philosophical approach, as a professor or student, I would have to say, "I do not know if that is true or not and there is no way that I can tell one way or the other, but we can talk about the concept of angels and supernatural intervention from a philosophical perspective.

Good-Faith Dialogue

In the academic study of religion and God there need not be any personal conflicts in our discussions together. Atheists, agnostics, and followers of any religion or denomination should be able to have a reasonable discussion. Mosser talks about the "principle of charity" (p. 180) in which we extend to people the good faith that they are good and positive people who are interested in discussing these issues with us for the benefit of the entire class, regardless of their personal viewpoints, religious or not.

Remember, this is a philosophy class, and our goal is to learn about religion and God from the philosophical perspective this week!

Make sure that take a look at the power-point presentation that I have prepared for you. It goes hand-in-hand with the information in Chapter Four, and will help you summarize the main points in your mind and retain the information for future use!

PHI 208 Week 4 PowerPoint Presentation

After you have reviewed he power point presentation, you should check out the following video and book! I was fortunate to see a live debate with William Lane Craig at the University of Iowa, with Professor Evan Fales from the Philosophy Department. Later, I took a philosophy seminar with Professor Fales on causality - and both were great!

The video and book will introduce you to one of the best philosophical theologians living today and one of the 20th century's most respected philosophers and atheists - Antony Flew.

Does God Exist? William Lane Craig vs Antony Flew

http://youtu.be/NDSaJrbFOuk Accessed by Christopher Myers, 12/10/12

Published on Apr 24, 2012

William Lane Craig and Antony Flew met in 1998 on the 50th anniversary of the famous Copleston/Russell debate to discuss the question of God's existence in a public debate. Unlike Richard Dawkins, Flew was one of the most respected atheist thinkers of the 20th and early 21st century (his scholarly works on David Hume are still studied today, and his "presumption of atheism" argument is still used by atheists). He became a deist shortly before he died in April 2010 (although he was an atheist when he debated Craig).

Does God exist?: the Craig-Flew debate

books.google.com/books?isbn=0754631907

William Lane Craig, Antony Flew, Stan W. Wallace - 2003 - Preview - More editions

William Craig and Antony Flew met on the 50th anniversary of the famous Copleston/Russell debate to discuss the question of God's existence in a public debate. The core of this book contains the edited transcript of that debate.