Fall 2025
- PHI4930 Special Topics: The Problem of Evil
The problem of evil is one of the oldest and most heavily debated topics in the philosophy of religion. If God exists and is (as traditionally understood) both all-powerful and perfectly good, how is it that the world contains a great deal of suffering and evil? The ancient philosopher Epicurus (341-270 BC) is reputed to have said:
Is he [God] willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then is he impotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then is he malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Whence then is evil?
The problem may be understood as a puzzle or as an argument. As a puzzle, the point is just to try to find an explanation of the evil that exists while taking for granted that God exists. A proposed explanation is known as a “theodicy”: a kind of excuse for the evil that exists. As an argument, the point is that the evil that exists seems to provide evidence that God does not exist. In this class we will be focused mostly on the problem as an argument for atheism. How exactly should the argument be understood? How powerful is it? How important is it to find a plausible theodicy to respond to the argument? What are the most promising theodicies or responses?
Readings will consist of articles or selections made available on Canvas as PDFs. After an introductory overview and setting out key parameters, planned topics include some historical treatments (e.g., Augustine, Leibniz, Hume), a close look at two distinct argumentative strategies (the “logical” and “evidential” versions), responses to those arguments, contemporary proposed theodicies, the “skeptical theist” approach to the problem of evil, the “evil God” challenge, and questions about the practical dimensions of the problem. Exactly which topics we cover will depend on the pace of class discussion and perhaps on student interest.
This is an advanced seminar in which students are expected to participate vigorously. Requirements include frequent, ungraded writing exercises, an argumentative paper of modest size, a presentation handout in which you set out an original argument and several of your peers provide feedback, a paper based on that handout and feedback, and three short expository writing assignments completed in class.
- PHI6934 Special Topics: Contemporary Philosophy of Religion
Philosophy of religion has become over the last several decades an extremely active area of research in analytic philosophy given how it relates to core concerns in metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics. This seminar is designed to focus on two lines of argument that are widely considered to be the most powerful in current debates over theism: the teleological argument for theism based on the fine-tuning of physics and the argument for atheism based on the problem of evil.
The course will be broken roughly into three parts: the first will ensure a sufficient grounding in the contemporary landscape of philosophy of religion, reviewing major arguments for and against the existence of God; the second will look closely at the fine-tuning argument; and the third will focus on the problem of evil, focusing specifically on appeals to free will. At present I am expecting to make use of multiple papers and three books, the second of which is an anthology (note: these are subject to change before the fall term starts): (1) C. Stephen Layman (2007) Letters to Doubting Thomas; (2) Neil Manson, ed. (2003) God and Design: The Teleological Argument and Modern Science; and (3) Laura Ekstrom (2021) God, Suffering and the Value of Free Will.
Students will be required to provide regular contributions to a Canvas discussion board, make one presentation to the class, write one shorter paper and one longer (conference-sized) paper. Readings may vary depending on student interest, and I welcome student suggestions of material we might read for the course.