PAPER ASSIGNMENT

5-7 page paper due July 19 on one of the following topics:

(NOTE: Your name should appear only on the back of the last page, written in pencil)

Read extremely carefully Part I of David Hume's Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (pp. 3-12). ("Extremely carefully" will likely involve at least three or four re-readings.)

Describe the attitude of each of the three participants (Demea, Philo, Cleanthes) toward

(a) the prospects of success for natural theology, i.e., for the project of demonstrating the existence and nature of God on the basis of reason alone;

(b) the question of whether skepticism and, in general, pessimism with respect to the powers of reason is an ally or enemy of revealed religion; and

(c) the question of whether belief in the mysteries of the Christian faith is foolish in the absence of philosophical demonstrations of God's existence and attributes.

Finally, take a stand on the following question: Does any of the three participants espouse the position on (a), (b), and (c) laid out by St. Thomas in Summa Contra Gentiles I, chaps. 1-9--or is St. Thomas's position on these issues different from that held by any of the three? Give cogent reasons for your answer.

Read extremely carefully the "pear-tree incident" on pp. 23-31 of St. Augustine's Confessions. (This covers all of Book Two.)

St. Thomas, following Aristotle, asserts that even when we act badly or immorally, we do not perform the action in question simply because it is wrong or evil. Rather, we act for some good (e.g., pleasure, wealth, fame, the approval of our peers, etc.) that through our own fault we mistakenly believe to be conducive to our ultimate happiness. By contrast, St. Augustine seems to claim here that he stole the pears out of sheer perversity of will, i.e., that he performed this action precisely because it was sinful and not in order to attain any good at all.

In your paper you are to answer the following three questions:

(a) What is Augustine's argument in favor of the claim that he stole the pears precisely because it was sinful to do so and not because of any good he was striving to attain? Is his argument convincing?

(b) Does Augustine retreat from this strong claim when he later conjectures that he wouldn't have committed the sin if he had been by himself? In other words, does this conjecture indicate that there was indeed some good for which he was (sinfully) striving when he stole the pears?

(c) What do you think? Is it indeed possible to sin for no reason other than simply to sin? Whichever answer you give, what are your reasons? Be sure to respond to possible objections against your position.