Readings

Peter van Inwagen, "Possible Worlds," excerpt from Metaphysics (2002)

St. Thomas Aquinas, "The Five Ways," from Summa Theologica (1266-1273)

G.W. Leibniz, excerpts from The Monadology (1714), "The Principles of Nature and Grace, Based on Reason" (1714), and "On the Ultimate Origination of the Universe" (1697).

Blaise Pascal, "Pascal's Wager," from Pensées (1660)

William Paley, excerpt from Natural Theology (1800)

Robin Collins, "The Fine-Tuning Argument"

Immanuel Kant, "Of the Impossibility of an Ontological Proof" (1789)

Gareth B. Matthews, "The Ontological Argument," (2003)  (This file is a .pdf.  Here it is also in Word.)

J.L. Mackie, "Evil and Omnipotence," (1955) (this is a cleaner version of the same reading that is available on electronic reserves)

Here is a list of the readings assigned so far (last updated 11/24/03):

1. Feldman, "What is Philosophy?" (first chapter in packet)
2. Feldman, "The Fundamentals of Philosophical Theology" (second chapter in packet), read only from page 10 on.
3. Rowe, "The Idea of God" (on ERes)
4. Aquinas on omnipotence (third chapter in packet)
5. Clarke, "Can God Do Evil?" (fourth reading in packet)
6. Feldman, "Some Problems with Omnipotence," (fifth chapter in packet)
7. St. Augustine, "Divine foreknowledge and Human Free Will," pp. 233-235 (on ERes).
8. Rowe, William, "Predestination, Divine foreknowledge and Human Freedom," first two sections only pp. 147-153 (on ERes).
9. van Inwagen, "Possible Worlds," on course website
10. the rest of Rowe, "Predestination, Divine foreknowledge and Human Freedom" (on ERes)
11. Feldman, "Some Popular Arguments," (in packet)
12. Aquinas, "The Five Ways," especially the Second Way (on course website)
13. Leibniz, "On the Ultimate Origination of the Universe," (in packet)
14. Leibniz, excerpts from ... (on course website)
15. Hume, "Some Objections to the Cosmological Argument" (in packet)
16. Pascal, "Pascal's Wager" (on course website)
17. Rowe, "The Cosmological Argument" (on ERes)
18. Paley, excerpt from Natural Theology (on course website)
19. Dawkins, “The Blind Watchmaker” (in packet)
20. van Inwagen, “The Wider Teleological Argument” (in packet)
21. St. Anselm, "The Ontological Argument" (in packet)
22. Guanilo, "The Perfect Island Objection" (in packet)
23. Kant, "On the Impossibility of an Ontological Proof" (in packet, also on course website)
24. Matthews, "The Ontological Argument" (on course website)
25. Plantinga, "A Modal Version of the Ontological Argument" (in packet)
26. Mackie, "Evil and Omnipotence" (on ERes and on course website)
27. Plantinga, "The Problem of Evil," through section 2 (up to p. 24), (on ERes).
28. Plantinga, "The Problem of Evil," through section 8 (on ERes).
29. Plantinga, "The Problem of Evil" (on ERes).
30. Feldman, "The Problem of Evil," pp. 70-75 in course packet.
31. Lewis, "Evil for Freedom's Sake?" (on ERes).
32. van Inwagen, "The Magnitude, Distribution, and Duration of Evil: A Theodicy"