'Properly Basic' Beliefs and the Existence of God

Over at Go Grue they have been having a fascinating discussion regarding Alvin Plantinga'a treatment of whether belief in God is 'properly basic'.. The nature of the way the authors deal with the argument will also be of interest, I think, to Philosophy students..

The link is: http://gogrue.wordpress.com/2007/08/13/plantinga-on-whether-belief-that-god-exists-is-properly-basic/

Dave

Where do philosophers go?

We were very pleased with the success of our call for accounts of how people started out as philosphers - how they ended up in this profession / calling / vocation/ etc - see http://r-p-e.blogspot.com/2007/05/starting-out-as-philosopher-and-levels.html - for people's stories: some very intriguing ones.

I thought it might be of interest to see where - after starting out - people felt the study of philosophy had taken them in their lives: and the impact thereupon (a real word?)...

comment welcome via the blog here...

Dave

Another year...

As A-level results loom, some of us are preparing for clearing - the annual round of last-minute scrambling for places... [mind you - we do at least now have potable running water back]

Here at the University of Gloucestershire - in (really) sunny Cheltenham - we are preparing for the first run of year three of the Religion, Philosophy & Ethics course. We are also welcoming another intake of first years (though we may have places through clearing - see http://www.ucas.com/clearing/vacancy.html for details on the process - or contact us via e-mail).

For current students - please use http://www.glos.ac.uk/timetables/index.cfm to see the timetable, and student records to choose your modules. Remember that those entering levels 2 and 3 will need 4 modules per semester...

Hope you are all having a good summer...
Dave

University closed till Friday 3rd August

As some of you may have heard, as a result of flooding there is no running water in our taps here in Cheltenham...

As a result, the University is closed until Friday 3rd August - so if you have any course-related question, do e-mail - but replies may be slower than normal...

Once all is back to normal here, it may be that we want to think over the debates that have been happening here - over how quickly the usual order, some have claimed, turns to chaos - with panic-buying, police supervising water supplies, etc - and the converse tales of neighbourly solidarity...

For more news on the University of Gloucestershire - see http://www.glos.ac.uk/

Why Study Philosophy?

I note that at http://users.ox.ac.uk/~worc0337/why_phil.html there is a set of for/against arguments dealing with this topic – and links to the many University Departments who offer a rationale for such studies.

At Elon University, Nim Batchelor has a page entitled: How can I tell my parents that I want to be a philosophy major?

But – what do those who are actively studying on a philosophy course – or active in philosophy as teachers or in some other sense - think?

Does the study of philosophy make you:
Happier?
More content – or more despairing and miserable?
A better (more virtuous) person?
Awkward and disputatious?
Smug and self-righteous?
Better-looking?

Or perhaps the study of it has benefits that aren’t as clear and as much to do with what impact it has on the individual student…

Comments welcome…
Dave

Love, Sex, Death and Podcasting

Those of you preparing for your third year of Religion, Philosophy & Ethics (rather than just relaxing all summer), will have noted the module Love, Sex and Death. I just came across a really intriguing podcast at:
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/podcasts/2007/02/science_weekly_for_february_12.html
which I thought would make an interesting pre-module listen. Enjoy...
Dave

Religion, Philosophy & Ethics (RPE) Staffing Update...

Well, after a very demanding and competitive process (we were hugely impressed by both the quantity of applicants, and the very high quality of them) of selecting a new member of staff to join us on the RPE team, we can announce the result. From next Semester, we will be joined by Dr Roy A Jackson. We are very excited about this - and I have asked him for a paragraph to introduce himself - which is below. I also managed to persuade him to let me have a photo of him. I am sure students will join the staff in making him feel welcome.

Dave

I was born in Liverpool and did my doctorate at the University of Kent where I also lectured for a number of years. I have, in my time, taught in secondary schools, colleges and various universities including Durham and King’s College London. I specialise in Nietzsche, Philosophy of Religion, and Islamic Philosophy and recently published two books for Routledge: Nietzsche and Islam, and Fifty Key Figures in Islam. I’m really excited at the prospect of teaching in the RPE department and, of course, experiencing the ups and down of the Robins (Cheltenham Town FC!).

UK Association for Buddhist Studies: Conference 6-8 July 2007

The Teaching of Buddhism in Higher Education

St Anne's College, Oxford

In association with the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies ( http://www.ocbs.org )

Conference 6-8 July 2007

Details at http://www.sunderland.ac.uk/~os0dwe/bs2.html

Cheers, Dave

Religion, Philosophy & Ethics (RPE) Summer Meal

Thanks to the Student Reps who have organised this. Following the success of the RPE Xmas meal, we are now having an event on Wednesday 13th Jun 2007 at 6pm. It will be at the Cheltenham Tandoori (details below).

If you want to come, and have not told Shajaat (or your student rep) - I can pass on a message - so we have an idea of numbers...

Cheltenham Tandoori,2 Great Norwood St,Cheltenham, GL50 2AN - click for map...

See you there - - Dave

Buddhism revision session

Just to remind RPE202 students that there is a revision session, Monday 11 June, 12noon. Meet in my office...
Dave

Summer Competition

Yes, a Summer competition. In the style of local newspapers everywhere, I thought students might want to show us where they get to this summer by sending in pics of themselves with the Dept of Humanities brochure...

Prizes may be forthcoming... Brochures can be found outside my office (QW219) - or at reception, or from Patricia Downes in the UMS office...

To get us started - see the RPE Photo album where pictures will be posted, one to get you started is there already...

Dave

Dumbsh*t Decisions

What kinds of stupid decisions are trivial enough to forgive? Can we have some rules please? See the Utah State philosophy blog at http://usuphilosophy.com/2007/05/22/forgiving-dumbsht-decisions/ for a rather interesting discussion..

News of the RPE Summer Meal, and a Summer competition to follow...
Dave

Starting Out as a Philosopher (and A-levels)

Many people (in the UK) find their first taste of studying philosophy to be the AS /A2 Religious Studies courses - most notably the Philosophy & Ethics A Level options....

I thought it would be an interesting post for this site to ask the readers of the blog (many of our students did these qualifications) to tell us about their experiences - and others, how did you encounter philosophy? To summarise - we would love to hear:

• Tips / Advice for AS/A2 Philosophy & Ethics students
  
• Anecdotes about your studies at A-Level (16-18yrs old - for readers abroad!)
  
• How did (for all blog readers) you first encounter philosophy as a subject - and what did you make of it?

• And a question for students: Why are you studying philosophy? How did it happen?
  
  

Dave

Islamic Philosophy

Those of you studying the Islam module, RPE104, on the Religion, Philosophy & Ethics course may be interested (as indeed all RPE students may well be) in the resources about Muslim philosophers and the influence of Islamic philosophy that are at http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/.

There is a lot of material, but it is worth having a good look around, and seeing what might apply to your in-class studies at present.

Dave

Yo...

Some of you will know what 'Open Source' software is - where the code is freely available, and people can amend it as they choose. But what about an Open Source religion? This is what Yoism claims to be:

"Uniting Atheist, Skeptic, Agnostic, Realist, Enlightenment,Humanist, Unitarian,
Transcendentalist, Pantheist, andDeist systems of belief to create the World's
First Open Source, Rational Religion, the advent of Yoismmarks a turning point in the history of Homo sapiens,the next stage in human development: Childhood's
End. "

Is it serious? Is it a joke? A serious joke? Maybe up your own mind at http://www.yoism.org/

Dave