The purpose of this activity is to enable you to clarify your beliefs, identify the reasons why you hold them, and explore the ways that beliefs may be consistent or in conflict with each other. The skills learned in this unit can make you a more reflective person who is able to reason through open-ended problems in all walks of life. This activity supports the following unit objectives: Discriminate between knowledge and belief. Distinguish between objective and subjective arguments for religious belief.
Tasks
Before participating in the below exercise and discussion, please carefully read the Disclaimer included in the overview module of this unit.
Participate in this interactive exercise http://www.philosophyexperiments.com/god/Default.aspx, then answer the questions below.
What were your direct hits and/or bitten bullets?
Describe any interesting tensions that arose from your answers and your reactions to those tensions.
Identify and explain what role, if any, reason, evidence, and argument should play in religious belief.
Is religious belief different from other kinds of belief?
Develop and defend your position(s). Making Connections. How might Descartes, Socrates, Kant, or another philosopher that we have studied respond to some of your bitten bullets?
Expectations and Criteria for Success
Your discussion post should answer each question above in at least two to three sentences and provide arguments and evidence to support your responses. Successful posts will answer each question with specific examples and details from the assigned sources. Your discussion posts should provide in-text citations for any paraphrased and/or directly quoted material. Parenthetical references at the end of the sentence using said material are sufficient.
Response Post
Once you have completed your initial post, read and respond to the posts of at least two of your peers. Reference course materials and contribute new points of discussion. Your initial post and your peer responses should be substantive (well thought out and logically organized) and original (do not copy and paste).
Consider using the following format in your responses to stimulate more discussion:
Student X says Y. “I have some questions or comments about Y” – insert your question or comment.
Or: “Another point to consider is Z.”
Check the course calendar for due dates.
Attachments
