RELIGION & PHILOSOPHY

 

 

Since the beginning of recorded history, humans have been engaged in a never ending search for truth as they try to make sense of their world and their place in it.  This search has drawn people of all ages to ask the question: “Is there more to life than what we can see, hear, taste or feel?”  As these questions have been posed this search for truth has inevitably drawn the greater part of western civilization to conclude that there must be at least one Supreme Being who creates, oversees and, in some traditions, directs our lives.  Once the early philosophers and religious thinkers drew this conclusion, the foundations of much of what we consider modern thought were established.

 

To educate the whole boy or girl, as they are becoming men and women, we believe that each student should have the opportunity to learn how our ancestors and our contemporaries have grappled with this search for truth and explore the same questions that have inspired the great religious traditions of our time.  The purpose of the Religion and Philosophy Department is to challenge our students to become knowledgeable about the origins of religious and philosophical thought, as it has manifested itself throughout history in the world’s great cultures and religious traditions.  Having gained a deeper understanding of the important role religion has played in human history, we will grapple with the question of how these great thoughts and beliefs might be relevant in our time.  After establishing a foundation of knowledge about religious thought, as manifested in individual traditions such as Judaism, Islam, Buddhism and Christianity, students will have the opportunity to engage in their own critical evaluation of these great traditions, the roles they have played in history and the influence they are having on our world today.  

 

Course Title:                        INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY I: Socrates to Locke (fall)

Grade Level:                         10th - 12th

Prerequisites:                      None


The first semester of this full year course will introduce students to the history of Western philosophy, beginning with the ancient Greeks and ending with the Great Empiricists of the 17th century.  Students will be introduced to what these great philosophers had to say about topics like metaphysics, epistemology, the problem of evil, and the philosophical roots of ethics. Students will first learn what philosophy is and then be challenged to become philosophers themselves as they learn from the masters how to question and reason. Students will read from the works of ancient and modern writers such as Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Kant, Hume, Pascal, Smith and Locke as they grapple with the timeless questions that humans have tried to answer throughout history.

 

Course Title:                        INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY II: Kant to Russell (spring)

Grade Level:                         10th - 12th

Prerequisites:                      None


This course may be taken without Introduction to Philosophy I as a pre-requisite, or may be considered a logical continuation of our study in the first semester for students who would like to continue exploring great minds and ideas.  Beginning with a brief review of the roots of Philosophical thought in ancient Greece, we will then continue where we left off in Philosophy I by considering the ideas of more recent thinkers and in the fourth quarter shift our focus to the major philosophical issues that have challenged our world in the 20th and 21st centuries.  Our aim will be to consider the thoughts of more recent philosophers - Russell, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Kierkegaard, Heidegger and a few others - who, of course, looked to the ancients for their foundations, and see what they have to offer as we consider historical events such as the World Wars, the Russian Revolution, the Holocaust, the use of atomic weapons, the foundation of the United Nations, the Vietnam War, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the role of philosophical thought in Christian, Jewish, Islamic, and Hindu contexts.  We’ll discuss how these events have created ever-sharper demands on moral, political philosophy, and philosophy of religion, as we consider how these thinkers grappled with these issues, hopefully adding a few ideas of our own. 

 

Course Title:                        ETHICAL DILEMNAS: CRITICAL REASONING AND ITS APPLICATIONS

                                                (fall)

Grade Level:                         10th - 12th

Prerequisites:                      None

 

This course is designed to provide students with a general introduction to classical ethical theories and applied ethical issues.  The course will be divided into three main parts: 1) a brief overview of basic reasoning and critical thinking skills, 2) a general introduction to important historical sources of ethical theory (Consequentialist, Utilitarian, Virtue, Justice, etc.), 3) an analysis of how different ethical theories affect our answers to important applied ethical issues.  Through readings, discussion, and debate, students will engage a range of difficult ethical issues, including; euthanasia, capital punishment, animal rights, violence, cloning, stem cell research, war, and terrorism.  Assessments will include tests, papers, debates, homework, quizzes, and class participation.  Those who acquire the knowledge and skills taught in this course will come away with a greater appreciation for the complexity of ethical questions and will be better equipped to address ethical questions in an academically respectable way.

 

Course Title:                        ETHICAL DILEMMAS: CRITICAL REASONING AND ITS APPLICATIONS

                                                (spring)

Grade Level:                         10th & 12th

Prerequisites:                      None

 

Whether one is discussing philosophy, politics, law, or even what the greatest movie of all time is, one’s position can only be as strong as the arguments used to support it.  As such, it is imperative that all students acquire the skills necessary to comprehend and formulate clear and persuasive arguments.  In this class, students will develop the technical tools to critically evaluate arguments, and learn how to apply the rules of a natural deduction system to determine whether arguments are valid/sound/weak/strong.  In addition to learning the technical information associated with critical thinking, students will reconstruct and evaluate many arguments from the history of philosophy and from contemporary sources.  Those who acquire the knowledge and skills taught in this course will be better prepared for any field/discipline in which clear thinking is valued.

 

Course Title:                        THE ROLE OF RELIGION IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICA (fall)

Grade Level:                         10th - 12th

Prerequisites:                      None

 

Having been such an important consideration of our Founding Fathers, does, or should, religious thought still play a role in American political, economic and social culture today?  If so, what is that role, and does that role depend on which religious faith one embraces.  This course will be a survey of the American religious landscape, with a particular emphasis on ways that religious belief has influenced education, family and political life. 

 

Course Title:                        FAITH AND REASON: FROM PLATO TO BENEDICT XVI – THE

PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS OF THE SEARCH FOR GOD (fall)

Grade Level:                         10th - 12th

Prerequisites:                      None

 

From Plato’s Allegory of the Cave to Benedict XVI’s now famous (or infamous, depending on your point of view) speech at the University of Regensburg, philosophical inquiry has insisted that we depend on reason in our quest for truth.  Does a superior being such as God/Allah/Yahweh actually exist, or have religious traditions successfully tricked some of us into believing so?  If there is a God, how can we explain the existence of evil in the world?  If we are convinced that religious belief makes sense, which of the many creeds or types of religious expression do we consider most “reasonable?” Throughout the history of western thought, many men and women have grappled with these questions.  From early ancient Greek thinkers such as Plato and Aristotle to present day thinkers such as Francis Collins, head of the National Human Genome Research Institute who also happens to be a “born again” Christian, and the current Roman Catholic Pope, many religious thinkers have insisted that the only reliable path to truth is by way of the use of our “God given” reason.  We’ll explore many arguments from these and others for the existence of God and decide for ourselves whether we think these arguments are “reasonable.”

 

Course Title:                        GREAT RELIGIOUS LEADERS OF OUR TIME: HOW THEY HAVE CHANGED

                                                THE WORLD (spring)

Grade Level:                         10th - 12th

Prerequisites:                      None

 

In this course students will have an opportunity to study the lives of great religious figures of the 20th century such as Mahatma Gandhi, the Dali Llama, Pope John Paul II, Martin Luther King, Jr., Mother Theresa of Calcutta to name just a few, and glean from their lives and their teachings some of the greatest moral and philosophical lessons of all time.

 

Course Title:                        OLDER AND YOUNGER BROTHERS IN THE FAITH: A STUDY OF THE

                                                JUDEO-CHRISTIAN TRADITION (spring)

Grade Level:                         10th - 12th

Prerequisites:                      None

 

A close study of the Judeo-Christian tradition which will include close reading of the Old & New Testament of the Revised Standard Version of The Bible, selected readings from contemporary Jewish and Christian biblical scholars and several historical sources from both religious traditions comprise this course. The purpose of this course will be to establish the historical, biblical and scholarly background that will demonstrate the links between these two great religious traditions, providing a basis for discussion of what they have in common.