DESCRIPTION: This is a doctoral seminar for PhD and ThM students, open to a limited number of advanced MA and MDiv students. In the historical section of the course we examine Cartesian rationalism, empiricist foundationalism, and Kantian critical method. We then examine four current options: continental philosophy, analytic philosophy, post-analytic philosophy, and MacIntyre's tradition-constituted inquiry.

LEARNING OUTCOMES: (1) to familiarize students with changing conceptions of the nature of philosophy and philosophical methods since the beginning of the Modern period; and (2) to investigate the consequences of methodological changes for philosophy of religion, philosophical theology (i.e., theological method), and apologetics; (3) to increase students' skills in critical thinking and academic writing.

COURSE FORMAT: The class will meet weekly for three-hour sessions. Class time will be divided between lectures and discussion of the readings. Lectures will address the background and significance of the philosophers whose works we read.

REQUIRED READING:

Critchley, Simon. Continental Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford, 2001.

Descartes, René. Discourse on Method and the Meditations. Dover Philosophical Classics, 2003.

Kant, Immanuel. Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics. Hackett, 1977.

Moser, Paul, and Dwayne Mulder, eds. Contemporary Approaches to Philosophy. Macmillan, 1994.

Course reader.