COML144 - Foundations Mod Thought

“God is dead,” declared Friedrich Nietzsche, “and we have killed him.” Nietzche's words came as a climax of a longer history of skepticism, criticism of, and dissent toward, the religious foundations of European society and politics. The critique of religion had vast implications for the meaning of human life, the nature of the person, and the conception of political and social existence. The course will explore the intensifying debate over religion in the intellectual history of Europe, reaching from the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment to the twentieth century. There is no straight line from belief to atheism, however. Indeed, the age of Enlightenment witnessed a proliferation of new conceptions of religion as skeptical thinkers confronted the apparent conflict between faith and reason. Orthodox Christians dug in their heels in resistance to these seemingly dangerous currents, yet some religious thinkers responded with nuanced arguments that did not simply reject the currents of modern thought. Modernity is not synonymous with unbelief, but rather with the dialectical tensions that were spawned between the impulse to liberate humans from the gods and the imperative to reimagine religion in light of the skeptical challenge.<br />
Course Requirements:<br />
Assignments: Take-home mid-term exam (5 pages) due Thursday, February 21, at 4:00 (please email your exam to me), and a cumulative take-home final exam (8 pages) due Monday, May 6, at 10:00 a.m.<br />
Mid-Term Exam 30%<br />
Final Exam 50%<br />
Participation 20%<br />
You may write an optional paper on a topic of your choice, which will count for 30% of your final-exam grade. The optional paper will be due on May 13. You must discuss your topic with me before writing, and you must still pass the final examination to pass the course.