Course Texts
William Rowe: Can God Be Free?
Additional Readings available through BeachBoard

Course Description
In Western philosophical theology, God is understood to be unsurpassably good, knowing, and powerful.  Each of these attributes contributes to a view of God as one who cannot fail to do the best.  But if God cannot fail to do the best, does it follow that this the best possible world?  Could God have created some other world or not at all?  In other words, is God, given his nature, free with respect to creation? William Rowe has argued that our traditional view of God entails that he is not free with respect to creation; he must create the best.  But there may not be a best world for God to create.  If God cannot do the best, Rowe argues, then we should conclude that God does not exist.

But perhaps there is a way out of Rowe’s argument. Following Rowe’s suggestion, perhaps we must change the way we understand God’s nature.  Are there limits to God’s omnipotence and omniscience?  What does it mean to be wholly good?  Is complete goodness consistent with the apparent great evils in this world?   What does it mean to say that a divine being is free?

Course Requirements
Seminar Attendance and Participation (10%):
Students are expected to attend every class and to come prepared to discuss the material.  2 unexcused absences will result in the reduction of the course grade, and 4 unexcused absences will result in a grade of “F” for the course.
Presentation (15%):
Each student will be expected to give a seminar presentation on a section or argument in one of the assigned course readings.  Presentations should be about 30 minutes plus time for discussion.
Papers (75%):
There will be a midterm paper (25%) and Final paper (50%) for the course.  Midterm papers may be expanded into final papers upon approval of the instructor.  I will require abstracts for each paper to be turned in before the papers.  The dates are given below.

Course Readings and Assignments

August 31st:  Introduction to course, syllabus, and discussion of God’s attributes

September 7th: The Leibniz and Clarke Correspondence - On BeachBoard, book on reserve in library if you prefer – password “Leibniz”  (Optional Readings this week for help on Freedom and/or Leibniz:  Marcy Lascano’s “God’s Freedom and the World’s Contingency” and T.J. Mawson’s “Freedom, Human and Divine” (BeachBoard))

September 14h: Rowe’s Can God Be Free? Chapters 1 & 2, pp. 8-35

September 21st: Norman Kretzman’s “A General Problem of Creation: Why Would God Create Anything at All?” and “A Particular Problem of Creation: Why Would God Create This World?”  (BeachBoard)

September 28th:  Rowe, Chapters 3 & 4, pp. 36-73

October 5th: Robert Adams’ “Must God Create the Best?” (BeachBoard) and Rowe Chapter 5, pp. 74-87

October 12th:  David Blumenfeld’s “Is the Best Possible World Possible?” and Grover’s “This World, ‘Adams Worlds’, and the Best of All Possible Worlds” (BeachBoard)

October 19th: Daniel and Frances Howard-Snyder’s “How an Unsurpassable Being Can Create a Surpassable World” and Jesse Steinberg’s “Why an Unsurpassable Being Cannot Create a Surpassable World” (on BeachBoard)  Abstract for Midterm Paper Due

October 26th:  Rowe’s Chapter 6, pp-88-120

November 2nd: Rowe’s Chapter 6, pp. 121-150  Midterm Paper Due

November 9th: Brian Leftow’s “No Best World: Creaturely Freedom” and “No Best World: Moral Luck” (on BeachBoard)

November 16th: Marcy Lascano’s “God Must (and Can) Create the Best” and Erik Wielenberg’s “A Morally Unsurpassable God Must Create the Best” (on BeachBoard)

November 23rd: No Class, Thanksgiving Holiday

November 30th: Rowe Chapter 7, pp. 151-166 and Morris and Menzel’s “Absolute Creation” (on BeachBoard)  Abstract for Final Paper Due

December 7th: William Hasker’s “Can God Be Free?: Rowe’s Dilemma for Theology” and William Rowe’s “Reply to Hasker” (on BeachBoard)

December 14th: Symposium on Rowe from PHILO (on BeachBoard)