PHIL 100: Final Project Stage 1: Choosing your Philosophical Question (10% of overall grade)

The Final Project is an opportunity for you to investigate one of the discussion questions to a much greater degree than in the forums. For your Final Project you will choose and develop philosophical question (stage 1), conduct an analysis of the claims and arguments relevant to the question by reading the primary texts of the philosopher/s (stage 2), then make a proposition in the form of an argument that will attempt to answer your question (stage 3). 

For this first stage of your Final Project assignment, (a) choose a question that appears as a discussion question (listed below, with some exceptions). You may choose one that you have previously begun to answer in the discussion forums, or one that you have yet to consider, then (b) in a short essay explain three or four points why you are interested in exploring this philosopher / philosophy   and c) the primary text / s and the question further. Submit this assignment on a Word x (400 -500 + wds). This is a standard proposal essay, citations and ample references expected.

 This is the first stage of the most important research you will do this term. Your preliminary bibliographic research for this project should, at a minimum, reflect five titles, texts, journals, or critical work on the subject of your question, excluding dictionaries, encylopedias (including wikipedia).

Q1. DOES GOD REALLY EXIST?

MLA CITATION.

WEEK 4 READING FOR THE PAPER

YOU MUST ONLY USE THE READING NO OUTSIDE REFERENCE

) LENGTH AND DEVELOPMENT (EXCEEDED MINIMUM WORD COUNTS), 

2) THESIS STATEMENT AND ACADEMIC STRUCTURE (“THIS POST DISCUSSES / ARGUES POINTS A,B,C), AND

3) CITATIONS AND REFERENCES (MULTIPLE CITATIONS EACH PARAGRAPH, CITING PRIMARY DOCUMENTS AND SUPPORT; EACH CITATION FULLY REFERENCED AT END OF POST).

(11) “The Problem of Evil: Crash Course Philosophy #13.” YouTube. Uploaded by CrashCourse, May 9, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AzNEG1GB-k&list=PL8dPuuaLjXtNgK6MZucdYldNkMybYIHKR&index=13

I. REQUIRED READING
(1) [PRIMARY TEXT] Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Part I, Question 2, Article 1-3: The Existence of God.
An English translation of Aquinas’ discussion on the existence of God in the Summa Theologia, including the five “ways” of demonstrating God’s existence. Taken from Kreeft, Peter. A Shorter Summa: The Essential Philosophical Passages of St. Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica. Ignatius Press (San Francisco, 1993).
(2) Kreeft, Peter. “The Summa & Its Parts.” Christian History, vol. 21, no. 1, Feb. 2002, p. 14.
An overview of the Summa Theologica of Thomas Aquinas and its style of argumentation.
(3) Castaldy, Daniel. “Summa Theologica by Thomas Aquinas.” Salem Press Encyclopedia of Literature, 2013
An introduction to the Summa Theologica of Thomas Aquinas. [ADA: Audio option]
(4) Russell, Bertrand. History of Western Philosophy. vol. [New ed.], Routledge, 2004. Routledge Classics.
(a) Chapter 13: Saint Thomas Aquinas, pp. 418-427
II. SUPPLEMENTAL READING
(5) “God.” Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia, 2017, p. 1p. 1.
An introduction to the concepts of God, faith and religious belief in world cultures.  [ADA: Audio option]
(6) Sheposh, Richard. “Ontology.” Salem Press Encyclopedia of Health, 2016.
A short introduction to the philosophical study of ontology. [ADA: Audio option]
(7) “Theology.” Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia, 2017, p. 1p. 1.
A short introduction to the philosophical study of theology. [ADA: Audio option]
(8) “Aquinas, Saint Thomas.” Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia, 2017, p. 1p. 1.
A short introduction to the life and writings of Thomas Aquinas. [ADA: Audio option]
(9)  “Scholasticism.” Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia, 2017, pp. 1-2.
A short introduction to late medieval Philosophy. [ADA: Audio option]
III. SUPPLEMENTAL AUDIO/VIDEO
(10) “Aquinas and the Cosmological Arguments: Crash Course Philosophy #10.” YouTube. Uploaded by CrashCourse, April 11, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgisehuGOyY&index=10&list=PL8dPuuaLjXtNgK6MZucdYldNkMybYIHKR