University of Nairobi Skeptical Challenge to The Belief in Miracles Essat
INSTRUCTIONS:
This assignment consists of a short essay question, and a short response question. The
main intent of these questions is to ensure that you have a sound grasp of the fundamentals of the material
presented in this unit. To that end, there is a 3 to 4 page (1000 words) limit for the short essay question.
I’m not so concerned with whether you agree with a particular author or not. The quality of your answer
is based on your exposition of the competing positions, your comparative analysis of those positions and,
lastly, your argument in support of the position you defend.
Assigned Readings:
The assigned readings should be read in the following order:
1. Clifford, William Kingdom. The ethics of
belief. http://ajburger.homestead.com/files/book.htm
2. James, William. The will to
believe. http://ajburger.homestead.com/files/book.htm
3. Saint Anselm, excerpts from Proslogion. (The Ontological Argument) Chapters II –
V. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/anselm-proslogium.html
4. Saint Thomas Aquinas, excerpts from Summa Theologica. (The Cosmological
Argument). Question 2 Article 3 “Whether God
exists?” http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/aquinas1.html
5. David Hume, excerpts from Dialogues concerning natural religion. Part
II. http://www.anselm.edu/homepage/dbanach/dnr.htm
6. William Paley. State of the argument and application of the argument continued.
In Natural Theology. http://primopmtna01.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/primo_library/libweb/action/dlDisplay.do?vid=
UMB&search_scope=UManitoba&docId=UMB_ALMA51626888880001651&fn=per
malink
7. David Hume. Part X from Dialogues concerning natural
religion. http://www.anselm.edu/homepage/dbanach/dnr.htm
8. MacKie, J. L. 1955. Evil and omnipotence. Mind 64: 200-212.
9. Peterson, Michael, William Hasker, Bruce Reichenbach, and David Basinger. 1991.
The logical problem of evil. Reason and religious belief, 94-107. New York: Oxford
University Press.
Available in your readings package
10. Hume, David. Skeptical challenge to the belief in miracles. Section X, Of Miracles,
Part I. http://18th.eserver.org/hume-enquiry.html
