Corso di laurea magistrale in Filosofia

This course will introduce students to central issues in the philosophy of religion, in line with the overall learning objectives of the MA program in Philosophy and the Philosophy International Curriculum to train the students' argumentative skills and their skills of philosophical and logical analysis and to make them acquainted with a variety of philosophical disciplines.

1. Knowledge and understanding of some key issues and readings in the philosophy of religion;
2. Ability to apply the acquired knowledge through the development of the analytical and argumentative skills in interpreting and discussing texts in their historical-cultural context and in formulating problems pertaining to individual texts and to their theoretical correlation;
3. Ability to engage with the topics presented during the lectures by making judgments supported by textual and argumentative evidence;
4. Communicative skills: argumentative effectiveness and the use of appropriate philosophical language.

The course has a structure that is both historical and thematic and it is divided into two intertwining parts.

The first part will consider fundamental thinkers and texts in the history of Western philosophy of religion. The thinkers that will be considered include: Anselm of Canterbury, Thomas Aquinas, Rene Descartes, Baruch Spinoza, Blaise Pascal, Immanuel Kant, G.W.F. Hegel, Friedrich Nietzsche, Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Paul Ricoeur, Alvin Plantinga.

The second part of the course will deal with some fundamental problems in the philosophy of religion, including:

• Arguments for the existence of God
• What might a God be like? The concept of God and the divine attributes.
• If God, why evil? The problem of evil and the answers of theodicy.
• Non-theistic / Eastern philosophies of religion
• Religion and violence
• Contemporary approaches to the philosophy of religion: analytic and continental philosophy.

36-hour course for 6 weeks, 3 days per week for 2 hours each. Any additional material discussed during the lectures will be available on the Moodle learning platform.

The oral exam will focus on the topics addressed during the lectures and on the content of the recommended texts.

The final grade will be given on a 30-points scale.

Preparation will be assessed considering the following elements:

• The ability to provide an appropriate account of the specific topic under discussion;
• The ability to discuss the topic autonomously;
• The substantial (not merely mnemonic) comprehension of the topics, demonstrated also through comments of central passages from the texts discussed during the course;
• The critical ability to contextualise historically, philosophically and argumentatively the problems highlighted and discussed during the lectures;
• The ability to grasp the relations and connections among various themes, problems and authors, as well as the personal theoretical re-elaboration of the main themes;
• The correct use of language.

Students who have attended the lectures and who intend to sit the exam in the first session after the end of the course, will be given the opportunity to submit a written essay as an alternative to the oral exam. Details will be provided at the beginning of the course.

For students with DSA or disabilities, please refer to the University's support (https://www.unito.it/servizi/lo-studio/studenti-con-disabilita) and reception (https://www.unito.it/accoglienza-studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa) arrangements, and in particular the procedures required for exam support (https://www.unito.it/servizi/lo-studio/studenti-e-studentesse-con-disabilita/supporto-studenti-e-studentesse-con).

Further material provided and recommended during the course (which will be made available on Moodle).

Non-attending students are required to study the prescribed text (Companion to Philosophy of Religion) in full.