These four exams are all take-home exams. For the sake of saving paper, please use 10 point type, but use Arial font (it is easier for me to read). Space the lines at 1.5 rather than double space. Use one inch margins all around, rather than the 1.25 right and left default margins used by MS Word. (You can also use .8 margins top and bottom rather than 1.0, if you like.)

Exam #1 (brief -- 60 points).

Explain and evaluate the method of science as given in the Reader for the course.

This should include a description of the specific aspects of the general method of science, of the limits of science, of what sort of ‘faith’ science rests on. It should include a description of how the method of science described in the Reader differs from Haught’s notion of "scientism," and the ways in which science is a naturalism, is reductionistic, and is materialist, as defined by Haught (chs. 1 & 4), the Reader, and the presentation on "emergentism." 

Exam #2 (mid-length 100 points):

Review and compare the major possibilities about the nature, existence, and activity of God.

Use ch. 2 & 3 of the Reader, class lectures, and Haught’s ch. 2. Later sections of the course will return to the issue of establishing the existence of God. For now it is sufficient to review what conception of God Haught provides (H. ch.2), and in the Reader (ch. 2).  Describe the three major notions of God on R. p. 25, and the notions about God found in Philo, Anselm and Aquinas R ch. 2). Discuss which concepts of God are more vulnerable to attack by the atheists in R, ch. 2. With all this  background in mind address the pros and cons of whether it is legitimate to assert that God does intervene supernaturally (miraculously) in the course of nature and history. Be sure to include some of the major arguments or analyses in history on this, from Augustine, late medieval, deist and "liberal" positions.  Use the excerpt from Boyle to illustrate deism.  Use the sheet on Lourdes to illustrate the possibility of a scientific study of miracle claims.  Evaluate the use of prayer for healing using both the Keith Steward Thomson handout and the video and class lectures on faith healing and children's health.

Exam #3 (long -- 100 points):

Review the evidence from cosmic and biological evolution that would contribute to or diminish the reasonableness of asserting that the universe is planned, created and sustained by a God, and has an ultimate purpose.

Use chs. 4 & 5 from the Reader, class notes, and Haught’s chs. 5, 6, and 8 on the cosmos and ch. 3 on evolution. Except for the final, this is the most difficult exam. Include specific reviews of what science claims about the history of the universe and of the pattern of the development of life on this planet. Be sure to present adequate analyses of the anthropic principle(s) and the ID argument. Answer this question with the kind of thoroughness that Exam #2 also required.  At this point it is your job to identify and explain the many specific aspects that can contribute to a complete answer to the question.  You may use your "critique" paper on Haught, chs. 5, 6, and 8 for this exam, copying from yourself if you like.

Final Exam Question (comprehensive -- 100 points):

Using the materials of this course, with an emphasis on the last three sections (on soul, faith, environment) give your best estimate of the human place in the universe — and explain how you arrive at this conclusion.

In your answer: Include a good description of the method of faith you are using -- or of the basis of your skepticism --  for your answer.  Review the material and arguments on human nature (and the soul) and give your best judgment of how we should think of the place of the human in the cosmos and in biological evolution (you may want to restate briefly your conclusions about the AP and ID arguments) and in relation to the Ultimate, whatever you now conclude that probably is (e.g., a personal God?).  Indicate what sort of responsibility humans have in relation to the environment and why.

This page last changed on October 15, 2004.