Course Syllabus
Syllabus
Introduction to Philosophy
Professor Robert Zomermaand
Week 1
Introduction to philosophy – what is philosophy?
Assignments:
- Readings and presentation
- Quiz on content of readings and presentation
- Reading from Alvin Plantinga Advice ….
Week 2
Arguments and Logic
Assignments:
- Read article on the building of an argument
- Watch PPt on how to write a philosophy paper (for beginners)
- Quiz on arguments
- “Fun with Fallacies”
- Logic and the Christian Faith
- Reading from A. Plantinga Advice ….
- Quiz on fallacies
Week 3
Ancient Philosophers
Assignments:
- Watch videos re Pythagoras, Hippocrates, and Democritus
- Reading from A. Plantinga Advice ….
- Read article on Plato
- Quiz on Plato’s Allegory of the cave
- Watch presentation on Aristotle's Golden Mean
- Quiz on Aristotle’s Golden Mean
- PPt re Art in Ancient Greece
- Quiz on Art and Philosophy in Ancient Greece
Week 4
What is Real? An Introduction to Ontology
Assignments:
- Video introducing the issue
- Read excerpts from Philosophy: The Power of Ideas Moore & Bruder, 2011,
- Quiz on Moore and Bruder
- Read article re George Berkeley
- Quiz on George Berkeley
- Reading from A. Plantinga Advice ….
- The Ontology of Nicholas Wolterstorff
- Quiz on Wolterstorff
Week 5
Does God Exist?
Assignments:
- St. Anselm’s Ontological Argument for the Existence of God
- Peter Kreeft on the Arguments for the Existence of God
- Quiz on Arguments for the Existence of God
- Reading from A. Plantinga Advice ….
- Alvin Plantinga on the argument for God in the New York Times
- Quiz on NYT article
Week 6
Epistemology – What Do We Know?
Assignments:
- Video about what epistemology is focused on
- Reading from A. Plantinga Advice ….
- Article re optical illusions
- Video re perception blindness
- Radio lab audio re our perception of reality
- Descartes on Epistemology
- Quiz on Descartes
- Article By John Suppe on the Epistemology of Christianity in the Light of Modern Science
- Quiz on Suppe
Week 7
Anthropology -- On Being Human
Assignments:
- Reading from A. Plantinga Advice ….
- Reading excerpted from Richard Nolan re Biblical Anthropology
- Quiz
- Reading from Wayne Jackson re Soul and Spirit
- Article on soul from the Holman Bible Dictionary
- Quiz
- Article on Body and Soul from Jewish point of view
- Quiz
Week 8
Time What is Time?
Assignments:
- Three videos re time and how it is discussed in philosophical circles
- Quiz
- St. Augustine on the reality of time
- Reading from A. Plantinga Advice ….
- Article on a Christian Approach to Time
- Quiz on Christian Approach to Time
Week 9
Soren Kierkegaard
Assignments:
- Article from Sparks Notes re Kierkegaard’s philosophy in Fear And Trembling
- Quiz
- Video on Kierkegaard from a secular point of view
- Article on Fear and Trembling and Repetition in Kierkegaard
- Quiz
- Reading from A. Plantinga Advice ….
- Video: RC Sproul digs into the philosophy of Soren Kierkegaard
- Quiz
Week 10
The Mind, the Heart, the Soul
Assignments:
- Video with Alvin Plantinga
- Reading from A. Plantinga Advice ….
- Article from Mark Goldblatt re the Soul
- Quiz
- N.T. Wright on the Mind, Soul, Spirit from a Biblical Theologian’s Perspective
- Quiz
- Book Review of A Review of Neuroscience, Psychology, and Religion: Illusions, Delusions, and Realities about Human Nature by Malcolm Jeeves and Warren S. Brown
- Quiz
Week 11
Ethics
Assignments:
- Reading from A. Plantinga Advice ….
- Article re the field of ethics
- Quiz
- Article with excerpts from Scripture and N. Wolterstorff
- Quiz
- Video – Ravi Zacharias teaches us How to Measure Our Actions
- Quiz
Week 12
Herman Dooyeweerd
Assignments:
- Plantinga's whole article
- Quiz on Plantinga article
- Article on Introduction to Herman Dooyeweerd in four paragraphs
- Excerpt’s from Basden’s Summary of Dooyeweerd’s Philosophy
- Quiz
- A presentation of the various aspects of reality in Dooyeweerd’s Thought
Last modified: Monday, October 26, 2015, 9:27 AM