Philosophy of Religion Class Notes

  10/30/2025 [Philosophy Club every Tuesday at 5:00pm in CAS 436 ("The Cave")] [Challenge for today: Try to think of (and possibly ask) at least one question.] Can you be happy and not know it?   Evidentialist challenge to (some) religious claims: Many religious claims are under-evidenced (the overall weight of evidence is either against or neutral regarding them). This suggests that the proper epistemic attitude should be at least suspension of judgment (if not rejection) regarding them (non-belief).   (“Presumption of atheism” – non-belief should be the default position. The “burden of proof” for any non-trivial religious claim lies with the person advocating its acceptance.)   “Epistemic obligation” can be understood in the two ways I distinguished strong and weak Evidentialism (see last class notes): Strong EO: Non-rational belief is culpable (condemnatory) (ethical culpability is most common, but not necessarily the o...

  10/28/2025 [Philosophy Club every Tuesday at 5:00pm in CAS 436 ("The Cave")] [Challenge for today: Try to think of (and possibly ask) at least one question.]   Do you agree with the following? “It is wrong, always, everywhere, and for everyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence." (William Clifford)   (Class notes?) Evidentialism is the view that one should proportion one’s belief to one’s evidence.   Let: P = some proposition E = the totality of one’s evidence   If E supports P more than not-P, then one should believe P. If E supports not-P more than P, then one should believe not-P (believe that P is false). Otherwise, one should suspend judgment regarding P.   Evidentialism may differ from Clifford’s dictum depending on how “should” and “wrong” are understood.   Clifford seems to intend “wrong” to be taken in a moral sense. Unevidenced belief is unethical because false belief...

  8/26/2025 Philosophy of Religion   10% Attendance      Maximum of 14 absences before failing course      You get 1.5 points for each day you come to class. There are 28 class meetings (= 42 points). If you attend 21 class meetings, you will get 100% on your attendance grade (31 points). If you attend more than 21 class meetings (up to 28) you can earn 135% on your attendance grade.   8/28/2025 [Philosophy Club: Tuesday, September 2 at 5:00 in CAS 436 (“The Cave”)]   Do you think anything ever “just happens” for no reason at all?   First cause   What, exactly, is a cause ?   Aristotle’s 4 causes: -Efficient - Material - Formal - Final   Nyaya’s inhering and non-inhering causes (emergent causation): -       Some effects inhere in (or reduce to) their causes (e.g., a brick wall is caused by an arrangement of bricks...