T????????????????????hroughout the term we have examined the various problems of God that have arisen over time for those who believe in a monotheistic God who is also understood to be omnibenevolent and all-powerful. Among the various problems we have examined are: The difficulties with proving Gods existence Theodicy The anthropomorphic God vs the unknowable God The potential of God to serve as an opiate or legitimation for suffering The impossibility of God/religion to provide absolute consolation The (unnecessary) tensions between Science and Religion Belief in God as an excuse to indulge in resentment and revenge (towards others and the world) God as Being (and metaphysical ground of knowledge/truth) We have examined several thinkers who have examined or uncovered these problems in detail. We have also examined several thinkers who have opened up alternative ways of thinking about Godways of thinking that attempt to respond to these problems (rather than solve them). ESSAY: For your final exam/paper please write a well-developed essay in which you examine where you are now in???????????????????? light of the thinkers we have studied this semester making sure to connect these figures with themes in David Foster Wallaces This is Water and if you wish the other videos shown in class by The Roots Run the Jewels Rage Against the Machine etc. Make sure to take a stand concerning what you think are the most compelling logical points raised by each position but also take a stand on what you find to be the most compelling way to live in this world. And of course explain WHY. Note: You must engage each of the thinkers in Group D and David Foster Wallace. For your reference here are the thinkers grouped for your convenience: Group A (Classical Western Christian Thought): Plato Augustine Anselm Aquinas Descartes Leibniz Group B (Modern Skeptics): David Hume Ludwig Feuerbach Karl Marx Friedrich Nietzsche Sigmund Freud Fyodor Dostoevsky (Ivan Karamazov) Group C (Non-religious Phenomenologists): Friedrich Nietzsche Martin Heidegger Jacques Derrida Group D (Religious Phenomenologists): Emmanuel Levinas Paul Ricoeur Jean-Luc Marion Michel Henry Fyo????????????????????dor Dostoevsky (The Russian Monk)
