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On successful completion of the module, students should be able to:
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Distinguish and evaluate Kant’s religious, logical, metaphysical and epistemological reasons against previous attempts in philosophy of religion to prove the existence of God.
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Explain the emergence and centrality of the problem of arguing for the existence of God in post-Kantian philosophy of religion.
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Describe the historical development of modern philosophy of religion from Descartes down to the present and judge the value of key concepts and tenets elaborated by various thinkers for philosophy of religion after Kant’s critique (e.g., by Hegel, Kierkegaard, Schleiermacher, Levinas, Desmond).
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Appraise central tenets in modern philosophy of religion, such as: Descartes’s idea of the infinite; alienation and reconciliation in Hegel; faith as the crucifixion of the understanding (Kierkegaard); the feeling of absolute dependence on the infinite (Schleiermacher); the trace of the infinite in the presence of ‘other’ (Levinas); a metaxological approach to creation out of nothing by the Creator (Desmond).
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Recognise different positions and perspectives in the philosophy of religion through an examination of some of the main rejecters of Hegel’s account (e.g. by Kierkegaard, Schleiermacher, Levinas, Desmond).
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articulate different concepts of theisms, atheisms, polytheisms, deisms, nihilisms, finitude and infinitude and assess their relevance to the evaluation of a particular philosopher of religion’s position;
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demonstrate the ability to address pivotal philosophical questions regarding some central concepts and tenets in the development of modern and contemporary philosophy of religion.
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