REL 402, ETHICS 403
Philosophy of Religion
Mohsen Kadivar, PhD
Spring 2025
Tu/Th 4:40-5:55 pm
Course Description
Philosophy of religion is the philosophical study of the meaning and nature of religion. It includes the analyses of religious concepts, beliefs, terms, arguments, and practices of religious adherents. In other words, the philosophy of religion is the philosophical examination of the themes and concepts involved in religious traditions as well as the broader philosophical task of reflecting on matters of religious significance including the nature of religion itself, God, or ultimate reality, and probable alternative concepts of God, and the religious importance of general features of the cosmos (e.g., the laws of nature, the emergence of consciousness).
Philosophy of religion also includes investigating and assessing worldviews (such as secular naturalism) that are alternatives to religious worldviews. Philosophy of religion involves all the main areas of philosophy: metaphysics, epistemology, value theory (including moral theory and applied ethics), philosophy of language, science, history, politics, art, and so on.
The main themes that arise in the philosophy of religion have been shaped by issues concerning the relation between human language and thought on the one hand and the nature of the divine on the other. The philosophy of religion differs from religious philosophy in that it seeks to discuss questions regarding the nature of religion as a whole, rather than examining the problems brought forth by a particular belief system. It can be carried out dispassionately by those who identify as believers or non-believers.
The range of those engaged in the field of philosophy of religion is broad and diverse and includes philosophers from the analytic, continental, Wittgensteinian, and feminist traditions, Eastern and Western thinkers, religious believers and agnostics, skeptics, and atheists. Philosophy of religion draws on all the major areas of philosophy as well as other relevant fields, including theology, history, sociology, psychology, and the natural sciences. Although it gives significant attention to theism, it concludes outside the Abrahamic faiths as well.
The course explores these major areas of philosophy of religion: (1) religious language and belief, (2) religious diversity, (3) concepts of God / Ultimate Reality, (4) arguments for the existence of God, (5) problems of evil and suffering, (6) miracles, (7) afterlife, and (8) religion and morality.