ARLT 100
Conceptions of God and Self
Fall 2008
MW 3:30 – 4:50
John Dreher
Office: MHP 211
x05173
dreher@usc.edu
Hours: Mon 10:30 – 11:30
Fri 11:00 – 12:00
Materials: Baird and Kaufmann, Philosophic Classics Volume III: Modern Philosophy,
fourth edition, New Jersey, Prentice-Hall, 2003
Description: This course involves an intensive examination of the writings of several
great philosophers concerning the nature of our relation to God. The readings are drawn
from, a period that is very rich in literature on this subject. Some of the major questions
to be addressed will be obvious to you: Is it reasonable to believe that there is a God to
whom we are related? If not, what difference does that make to our self-conception? If
so, what is the nature of our relation to God? We shall examine the ingenious arguments
for the existence of God presented by Descartes in Meditations III and V, the response by
Spinoza to Descartes’ arguments for the existence of God and to Descartes’ conception of
the soul, Leibniz’s response to arguments against the existence of God that are based
upon the facts of suffering and evil, Leibniz’s remarkable conception of simple
substances, the self and their relation to God, Hume’s controversial argument against the
possibility of miracles and his assessment of the strength of traditional arguments for the
existence of God, Kant’s famous claim that he denied ‘knowledge to make room for
faith,’ and finally Kierkegaard’s dramatic ‘leap of faith.’
In addition, we shall be interested in a conceptual revolution that occurred over the
course of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. During the early seventeenth century
the medieval thesis that faith and reason are essentially complementary remained intact.
By the end of the eighteenth century, however, natural science was thought to threaten
religious belief, and by the middle of the nineteenth century many philosophers argued
that religion and reason are actually incompatible. Religion, they claimed, requires a
‘leap of faith,’ presumably a leap over the chasm of doubt opened by reason. Many
people have thought that substantive scientific doctrine, e.g., Newton’s theory of
gravitation or Darwin’s theory of evolution undermined religion. Our course will
consider the matter at a deeper level, looking to see how the scientific revolution
occasioned crucial changes in concepts like substance, causation, existence and identity
and how those changes threatened the medieval synthesis of faith and reason.
Requirements: There will be a midterm examination, which will test for knowledge of
the reading assignments as well as the expository and supplementary information
delivered during class. There will also be a final examination. The first part of the final
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examination will test for knowledge of the reading assignments as well as expository and
supplementary information delivered during class sessions following the midterm
examination. The second part of the final examination will be a comprehensive question
dealing with the main theme of the course. The comprehensive question will be discussed
towards the end of the semester. Class attendance is very strongly recommended. Please
schedule at least one meeting with me during the course of the semester to discuss your
work.
There will be three short papers, approximately five pages in length. Recommended
topics are:
Paper #1: What is the philosophical problem known as the ‘Cartesian circle’? What is
Descartes’ proposed solution to it?
Paper #2: Compare Descartes’ and Spinoza’s conceptions of substance. Do they
mean the same thing by ‘cause,’ by ‘existence,’ by ‘identity’? How do their
differing conceptions of substance affect their views of God and of the self?
Paper #3: How does Leibniz attempt to show that the existence of God is compatible
with the existence of suffering and evil? Be sure to discuss all eight of the
objections and replies.
You may substitute a paper topic of your choosing for the recommended topic with
advance permission.
Grades will be calculated as follows:
Paper #1 – 1/6
Paper #2 – 1/6
Paper #3 – 1/6
Midterm Exam – 1/6
Final Exam: Part I – 1/6
Final Exam: Part II – 1/6
Please remember that the University strictly prohibits plagiarism, which can be the
mere failure to acknowledge the work of another as well as the deliberate
misrepresentation of the work of another as your own. You must acknowledge your
indebtedness not only to the ideas of others but also to their words.
Schedule of Readings, Assignments and Examinations:
1. Mon, Aug 25: Introduction: Background of 17th and 18th century philosophy,
influence of the scientific revolution on epistemology, the rise of
naturalism: Descartes: Dedicatory letter, Preface, Synopsis of the
Meditations, MP: 13 – 19
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2. Wed, Aug 27:
Descartes, Meditation I: “Demons, Dreamers and Madmen”:
MP 19 – 22
3. Mon Sep 1: Labor Day: University Holiday
4. Wed, Sep 3: Descartes: Meditation II: Essence and existence: MP 23 – 28
5. Mon, Sep 8: Descartes: Meditation III: Argument for the existence of God from
the fact of our idea of him: MP 29 – 38
6. Wed, Sep 10: Descartes: Meditation IV: Error as intellectual sin: MP 38 – 47
7. Mon, Sep 15: Descartes: Meditation V: The nature of material things, the
ontological argument: MP 43 – 47
8. Wed, Sep 17:
Descartes: Meditation VI and Correspondence of Princess Elizabeth
Self-knowledge and knowledge of the ‘external world’:
MP 47 – 61.
9. Mon, Sep 22: Spinoza: Overview of Spinoza’s Ontology
10. Wed, Sep 24: Spinoza: Ethics I: Definitions and axioms: MP 118 – 120.
Paper #1
11. Mon, Sep 29: Spinoza: Ethics I: P1 – P11: Infinite substance: MP 120 – 124.
12. Wed, Oct 1: Spinoza: Ethics II: Parallelism MP 125 – 155.
13. Mon, Oct 6: Review for Midterm Examination
14. Wed, Oct 8: Midterm Examination
15. Mon, Oct 13: Hume: Treatise of Human Nature, ‘Of the Immateriality
of the Soul’: hand-out.
16. Wed, Oct 15: Leibniz: Monadology: 1 – 13: MP 284.
17. Mon, Oct 20 Leibniz: Monadology: 14 – 90: MP 285 – 292.
18. Wed, Oct 22: Introduction to Propositional and Syllogistic Logic: Arguments and
argument forms, truth tables, syllogistic logic, contraries,
subcontraries, contradictions, existential presuppositions, Venn
diagrams: hand-out
Paper #2
19. Mon, Oct 27: Leibniz: Theodicy: Objections V, VI, VII, VIII: MP 281 – 283.
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20. Wed, Oct 29: Leibniz: Theodicy: Objections I, II, III, IV: MP 277 – 281.
21. Mon, Nov 3: Hume: Skepticism I: Causation, Enquiry Concerning Human
Understanding (ECHU), Sections IV and V, MP 359 -74
Paper #3
22. Wed, Nov 5: Hume: Skepticism II: Miracles, ECHU Section X and XI,
MP 398-417.
23. Mon, Nov 10: Hume: the Cosmological Argument and the Ontological Arguments,
Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, Parts IX – XII,
MP 457 – 479.
24. Wed, Nov 12: Kant: Critical Philosophy, Preface to the Critique of Pure Reason,
MP 507 – 514.
25. Mon, Nov 17: Kant: On Substance and Self, The Psychological Ideas,
Prolegomena, MP 545 – 47.
26. Wed, Nov 19: Kant: The Determination of the Bounds of Pure Reason,
Prolegomena, MP, pp 584 – 93.
27. Mon, Nov 24: Kierkegaard: Hegelian Influences
28. Wed, Nov 26: Kierkegaard: ‘The Leap of Faith’: hand-out
29. Mon, Dec 1: Review for Final Examination
30. Wed, Dec 3: Review for Final Examination