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