- UCAS course code
- VL66
- UCAS institution code
- M20
BA Comparative Religion and Social Anthropology / Course details
Year of entry: 2024
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Course unit details:
Problems in Theology, Philosophy and Ethics: Evil
Unit code | RELT21112 |
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Credit rating | 20 |
Unit level | Level 2 |
Teaching period(s) | Semester 2 |
Available as a free choice unit? | Yes |
Overview
The second year core course enhances the knowledge of continental philosophy introduced in the first year core course RELT 10621 Introduction to the History of Philosophy. The course also provides a theological, philosophical, ethical supplement to Holocaust Studies, Religion and Society and the joint programme BA Honours Philosophy and Religion.
Aims
- To enhance and further the knowledge of key philosophers
- To consider the central themes of what has been described as evil
- To recognise a variety of key theological and philosophical perspectives on the ethical problem of evil in its different forms
Teaching and learning methods
- 11x 2hours lecture (PowerPoint based followed by an interactive Q&A session)
- 11x1 (2) seminar based on students presentation of the set text and followed by peer feedback on the presentation.
- Additional handouts, texts and other material will be supplied by the course unit director in due course
Knowledge and understanding
- Have a basic philosophical knowledge of the concept of evil and free will
- Have a basic theological knowledge of the problem of theodicy
- Be able to explain key terms featured in both primary (informational) sources and secondary (interpretational) materials, and to articulate the historical, social and political factors that account for the ways in which the problem of evil has been approached and formulated in Modernity
Intellectual skills
- To understand the shift in the discourse from theodicy to post Holocaust anthropodicy and the debate about the return of a different form of theodicy
- To be able to formulate the problem of evil in a reflected way and to be able to distinguish between good and bad, evil and misery, evil and violence
Practical skills
- To be able to balance the use of primary and secondary texts critically
- To understand and classify different discourses on ethical reasoning
- To be able to present complex ethical issues within an accredited intellectual context
- Enhance individual performance skills
Transferable skills and personal qualities
This course will enable students to seek a career in Journalism, NGOs, NPOs, faith-based communities/churches and law wherever a profound training in ethics and religion on a philosophical and academic basis is deemed to be an essential prerequisite.
Employability skills
- Group/team working
- Working as part of a team
- Project management
- Working to fulfil the requirements of a specified brief
- Oral communication
- Communication skills (written and oral via synchronous zoom meetings)
- Research
- Research skills
- Written communication
- Communication skills (written and oral via synchronous zoom meetings)
- Other
- Philosophical and Religious concepts of evil, violence and the good Careful generalisation on the basis of analysis of specific examples Critical awareness of different contemporary forms of evil and violence
Assessment methods
Draft Essay (Formative) | 0% |
Essay (Summative) | 100% |
Feedback methods
- Written feedback on essays
- Additional one-to-one feedback (during the consultation hour or by making an appointment via zoom)
Recommended reading
Compulsory reading
- Bernstein, Richard. Radical Evil. A philosophical Interrogation (Polity, 2002)
Will be available as ebook via the library
Examples of further Readings
- Terry, Eagleton. On Evil (Yale University Press: Yale, 2011)Bernstein, Richard.Violence. Thinking without Banisters (Polity, 2013)
- Paul, Ricœur. Evil: A Challenge to Philosophy and Theology (Continuum: London, 2007)
- Paul, Ricœur. The Symbolism of Evil (Beacon Press, 1993)
- Peter, Vardy. The Thinker’s Guide to Evil (O Books: Australia, 2003)
- Philip, Tallon. The Poetics of Evil: Toward an Aesthetic Theodicy (Oxford University Press: Oxford, 2012)
- Hanna, Arendt. The Human Condition (University of Chicago Press, 1999)
- Hanna, Arendt. On Violence (Harcourt Publishers, 1970)
Keywords
Theology: Theodicy, Sin, Guilt, Devil; Philosophy: Free Will, Freedom; Ethics: Judgment, Decision, Pragmatism
Study hours
Scheduled activity hours | |
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Lectures | 22 |
Seminars | 11 |
Independent study hours | |
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Independent study | 167 |
Teaching staff
Staff member | Role |
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Michael Hoelzl | Unit coordinator |