Freddoso

Decio 324/631-7327

E-mail: Alfred.J.Freddoso.1@nd.edu

Home page: http://www.nd.edu/~afreddos

Purpose----Texts----Requirements---- Syllabus----Term Paper----On-line texts, notes, and papers----Presentation Assignments

The purpose of this course is to examine some key theoretical issues concerning faith and reason. Among these issues are: the nature of faith, the nature of intellectual inquiry, the role of affection in intellectual inquiry, the main competing accounts of intellectual inquiry and of the philosophical life. Among the authors to be read are St. Thomas Aquinas (opening sections of the Summa Theologiae and Summa Contra Gentiles, parts of the treatise on faith from Summa Theologiae 2-2), Plato (Phaedo and small section of the Republic), Descartes (first three parts of Discourse on Method), Locke (An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Part IV, chaps 18-19), Kant ("What is Enlightenment?"), Hume (first and last parts of Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion), Mill (chapters 2 and 3 of On Liberty), Nietzsche (excerpts from Beyond Good and Evil), Newman (Oxford University Sermons 7, 10, 11, and 13), Chesterton (chapters 2-4 of Orthodoxy), and Pope John Paul II, encyclical Fides et Ratio.

Texts: I have ordered the following texts for the course, even though some of them are available on the web:

• Plato, Phaedo (Hackett Publishing Co.)
 
• Rene Descartes, Discourse on Method (Hackett Publishing Co.)
 
• David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (Hackett Publishing Co.)
 
• John Stuart Mill, On Liberty (Hackett Publishing Co.)
 
• Pope John Paul II, On the Relationship between Faith and Reason (Fides et Ratio) (Daughters of St. Paul)

In addition, the other works are available from the course website--just click right here. (You might try to get a copy of Summa Theologiae 2-2 in the Library, although I have posted the relevant questions on the course website.)

• Summaries. During the course of the semester each student will be expected to prepare one brief (15-20 minute/5-page) summary to be presented to the class. A copy should be provided for each student on the day the presentation is to be given.
 
• Class Participation (25% of course grade).
 
• Term Paper. You are required to write a 15-20 page paper, worth 50% of the course grade. A 2-3 page proposal, plus outline, is to be submitted for approval on or before April 4; the paper itself is to be handed in on or before the last class day, May 2. See below for more details.

• Week 1 (1/17): Introduction to faith and reason
 
• Reading: Pope John Paul II, Fides et Ratio, Introduction and Chaps. 1-2
 
• Weeks 2-4 (1/22-2/7): St. Thomas on the nature of faith
 
• Reading for 1/22 and 1/24: Summa Theologiae 2-2, ques. 1-4 (from Treatise on Faith)
• Reading for 1/29 and 1/31: Summa Theologiae 2-2, ques. 5-9 and 16 (from Treatise on Faith)
• Reading for 2/5 and 2/7: Summa Theologiae 2-2, ques. 10 and 15 (from Treatise on Faith)
 
• Week 5 (2/12-2/14): Plato on philosophy as a way of life and the nature of philosophical inquiry
 
• Reading: Plato, Phaedo, esp. 57A-70B, 82C-85E, and 88C-91C; Republic, 471C-505B; Fides et Ratio, Chap. 3
 
• Week 6 (2/19-2/21): St. Thomas on the nature of Christian philosophical inquiry
 
• Reading:  Summa Theologiae 1, ques. 1; Fides et Ratio, Chap. 5, ##49-51 and ##57-63, and Chap. 6, 64-74
 
• Week 7 (2/26-2/28): St. Thomas on faith and natural reason
 
• Reading: Summa Contra Gentiles 1, chaps. 1-9; Fides et Ratio, Chap. 4, ##36-44 and Chap. 6, ##75-79
 
• Week 8 (3/5-3/7): Kant and Descartes: Modernism and the nature of enlightenment
 
• Reading:  Kant, "What is Enlightenment?"; Descartes, Discourse on Method, parts 1-3; Fides et Ratio, Chap. 4, ##45-48 and Chap. 5, ##52-56
 
• Week 9 (3/19-3/21): Locke: Reason, assent, and faith
 
• Reading: Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Book IV, chaps 16-21


• Week 10 (3/26-28): Mill: Individuality and freedom of thought
 
• Reading: Mill, On Liberty, chaps. 1-3


• Week 11 (4/2-4/4): Hume: Pragmatism as the progeny of pessimism about reason
 
• Reading: Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, Parts I, XI, and XII; Gary Gutting, Pragmatic Liberalism and the Critique of Modernity, "Concluding Reflections"
 
• Week 12 (4/9-4/11-4/18): Nietzsche: Postmodern nihilism as the progeny of cynicism about reason
 
• Reading: Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, Preface and Parts 2, 3, and 6 (maybe 9 as well)
 
• Week 13 (4/23-4/25): Newman: Reprise on faith and reason
 
• Reading: Newman, Oxford Sermons 7, 10, 11, and 13; Fides et Ratio, Chap. 7, ##80-91 and Conclusion
 
• Week 14 (4/30-5/2): Chesterton: The mania of modernism and the suicide of postmodernism
 
• Reading:  Chesterton, Orthodoxy, chaps. 2 and 3

• Comments about the paper:
 
• The paper is meant to be a 'philosophical' paper rather than a 'research' paper that delves into secondary literature. You might, for example, articulate a thesis, whether positive or negative, and defend it by replying to objections. Alternatively, you might do a mainly interpretive paper which delves into issues that are not obvious on a first reading of or which brings together material from diverse sources.
 
•  The topic of the paper should be connected in some fairly recognizable way with our readings and discussions. That is, it should focus on some issue or small set of issues. Moreover, it should be a manageable topic which will allow you to delve more deeply into specific arguments and objections. This, of course, is easier said than done, but I am here to help you do it.
 
• The paper is a fairly long one, and so you will have to plan it carefully. I expect the paper to move forward at well-marked junctures instead of merely talking around one or another point in order to fill space. I especially do not want a paper consisting primarily of loosely connected observations about some topic. Further, every paper must begin with an introduction that tells the reader exactly what you mean to do in the paper and how each section of the paper is related in general to your topic.
 
•  I expect the paper to be stylistically and grammatically beyond reproach. I will take off for sloppy sentence-structure, misspellings, dangling participles, etc. Proofreading is absolutely essential.

• Comments about the proposal:
 
• The proposal should contain two parts, viz., a narrative and an outline. The narrative should be a two-page (or so) description of the thesis or interpretation you wish to defend and of the steps by which you will defend it. In order to write this sort of narrative you already have to have a fairly detailed idea of what you want to do and the series of steps by which you propose to do it. In general, your strategy must be to construct a logical sequence of steps which will correspond to the main divisions of the paper. Here is one possible example of what I have in mind: (i) exposition of a given author's view on such-and-such, (ii) three criticisms, (iii) objections to the criticisms, (iv) reply to the objections. There are numerous other possibilities as well; the main thing is to order your paper in a coherent and logical sequence.
 
• The outline that accompanies the narrative should make graphically clear the main divisions and subdivisions in the text. This outline should include more than just the three or four main headings; I want to see some subheadings within each of those main divisions, so that I will have a reasonably clear idea of how the paper is supposed to progress.
 
I encourage you to try your ideas out on one another and I also encourage you to consult with me before the proposal deadline if you think it will be helpful--either after class or by making an appointment to see me at some other time.