THEO1921: God and the Good: Philosophy of Religion and Ethics

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• To train students to read, understand, and analyse complex foundational texts in the history of philosophy and theology.
• To provide students with an understanding of the deep sources and commitments that underlie contemporary ethical debates.
• To enable students to locate and understand the interaction between classical and medieval views of the Good and happiness, in relation to standard divisions of ethical approaches as utilitarian, deontological, and virtue-based.
• To introduce students to questions that arise from the interaction between philosophy, theology, and religion.

• Standard contemporary accounts of different ethical approaches tend to divine the field into utilitarian, deontological and virtue ethics. This module explores the deep and traditional sources for each of these ethical approaches, by engaging with classical, medieval and modern texts. What will emerge are complex patterns of inter-relation between the three approaches, which have historically often been understood as intimately linked and co-dependent. The module will explore the relationship between Christian conceptions of God, and non-Christian conceptions of the good, by studying what some key texts in the history of philosophy and theology have said about desire, duty, human flourishing and happiness. Thinkers studied may include, indicatively, Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Hume, Kant, and J.S. Mill. As well as providing an engagement with the primary texts, the module will also reflect upon the legacy of these thinkers, as manifested in subsequent thought, and as reflected in diverse cultural expressions (such as poetry and literature).

Subject-specific Knowledge:

• A knowledge of the underlying concepts and principles associated with alternative ethical approaches.
• An understanding of the interaction between religious and non-religious conceptions of the good, and an appreciation of the role of the concept of God in various ethical traditions.

Subject-specific Skills:

• Skills in the close reading, critical analysis and systematic understanding of complex and multivalent foundational texts from different periods, with rigour and sensitivity to their historical depth, addressing issues of content, perspective and purpose.
• Skills in the perception and interpretation of the relationships between philosophical, theological and ethical commitments and world-views.
• Skills in the critical analysis of, and engagement with philosophical, theological and ethical discourse.
• Skills in tracing continuities and discontinuities between different philosophical and theological world-views and in tracking the complex development of an idea across different periods and texts.

Key Skills:

• Skills in the acquisition of information through reading and research, and in the structured presentation of information in written form.
• The ability to engage critically but respectfully with the convictions, claims, and arguments of others.

• Lectures convey information and exemplify an approach to the subject-matter, enabling students to develop a clear understanding of the subject and to improve their skills in evaluating information.
• Seminars enhance subject-specific knowledge and understanding both through preparation and through interaction with students and staff, promoting awareness of different viewpoints and approaches.
• Formative exercises in commentary (gobbets) develop subject-specific knowledge and understanding, along with student skills in close reading and critical analysis, in the acquisition of information through reading and research, and in the structured presentation of information in written form.
• Summative essays and dissertations assess subject-specific knowledge and understanding, along with student skills in the acquisition of information through reading and research, and in the structured presentation of information in written form.
• Examinations and closed-book tests assess subject-specific knowledge and understanding, along with student skills in the structured presentation of information in written form under time constraints.

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