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Great Thinkers on Great Questions

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This review is only valuable if you sometimes buy books on title or design alone, without knowing the author or background. I bought this one on my way to a flight, and felt stupid when realizing that the title is totally misleading, if not a lie.

The 15 questions are hardly the greatest ones (e.g., no real discussion of consciousness), and the majority are religious issues. And there is no diversity in the answers, hence little if any learning can be expected (neither for religious nor atheist persons). All "philosophers" in the book state that we have free will, that a god exists, that there is a life after death, and that reincarnation is unlikely. The author even states in the foreword that God (you know which one) exists, and from there it gets into pure arrogance in a chapter where the Christians are explaining how people can end up not believing in a god (you know which one).

Perhaps the book is valuable for some to strengthen their religious beliefs, but the arguments are surprisingly weak and wouldn't stand a discussion with most freethinkers.

Next time at the airport I'll take an extra minute before I buy, uneager to support another religious author trying to mislead curious minds.

The cover title overstated the scope and reputation of this book. Looking at the title, it seems that the impression the editor wished to make was that the book has covered all the main questions of this world and that the people who contributed their views represented the greatest of the great thinkers, and thus, the views held in the book are the best, if not the true, "answers" to the great questions. That was clearly a great misleading impression. First, the questions covered were not all the great questions in life. The editor declared in the "introduction" that the `Objective of this collection is not to present diversity for its own sake but to build a bridge between modern thought and the body of truth that has seemed obvious to the majority of the human race." That was an arrogant and false statement; the converse is more probable since Christians forms only a small minority of humans. The editor may argue that his contributors were not referring specifically to the Christian God. One need only browse the book at the bookstore to satisfy himself if that was really the case. Secondly, virtually every contributor was a Christian apologist, and his (there was one female contributor, but I will use the male gender for convenience) contribution was in support of answering the posed questions affirmatively in line with Christian thinking. There was not a single voice forming any contrary view although such voices and writers are in abundance - Martin Thomas, Richard Dawkins, Bart Erhman, George Smith, Bertrand Russell, Daniel Dennett et al. If the editor professes not to present a diverse field as he declared, then he ought to have chosen a more accurate and appropriate title. He included a short paragraph from "Dr Alfred Ayer", better known as A J Ayer. Ayer was not a Christian apologist (he was agnostic though some people have tried to claim that he had a late conversion to Christianity). He died in 1989. His short paragraph on logical positivism, taken out of context, tells the lay reader nothing. The rest of this book contain statements by the other contributors in simple layman's language, shorn of detailed and technical arguments. It was designed to lead the unsuspecting and ignorant lay reader into thinking that the answers given by these "great thinkers" are all the answers they need and that all those answers are true.

This book is more like a theological piece of work contributed by Christian apologists. Its true content was disguised under a title designed to sound like an intellectual work. It is not a book of science, evidence, or philosophy. It made its case on unproven statements. The converted Christian hardly needs this book; and the well informed reader will recognize the flaws at once. It is the uninitiated seeking answers to some of these questions who should be alerted to also read the books of the many other thinkers (I shan't go into the advertising mode and claim greatness on their behalf - the readers will judge for themselves) who present contrary views.

The flaws in the statements of the contributors are many and a complete refutation of them already exists in the works of the writers mentioned (there are many more) and a review would not be the appropriate medium to do that. However, some examples are necessary and useful. One of the great questions posed to the contributors was "Do you accept the existence of a soul or mind separate from the body, and, if so, on what basis?" First, this was a tricky question because it is really two questions - "Do you accept the existence of a soul?" and "Do you accept the existence of a mind separate from the body?" The first cannot be answered because none of the contributors (or indeed anyone else) was able to define what a "soul" is. Yet the contributors answered positively to it and then proceeded to explain their answer by the arguments used in arguments to the second question. The second question is a well known Cartesian dualist philosophical problem to which there are many opinions for and against. Many of the contributors appeared to give the impression that the "soul" is the same as the "mind" but if pressed, none of them will say that the soul is the mind because they know that if they commit themselves to that stand their position will become untenable. For example, how do the "souls" of brain-dead people and toddlers go to heaven? What is the point if their mind was non-existent?

In another question, "What are your own conclusions on the question of God's existence and on what basis do you affirm or deny the existence of God?" One of the contributors declared that the God whose existence we are considering is by definition, omnipotent, omniscient, perfectly good, perfectly free and so on." then he quickly conflated his definition into three - omnipotent, omniscient, and perfectly free. He squeezed in "perfect goodness" under these three properties. The reason is perfectly clear. He cannot answer the big question "How could a "perfectly good" god have created or permit so much evil and bad in this world? That contributor attempted to do so in another question as to how to solve the "problem of evil". The reader will see that that contributor hummed and hawed and made some statements but did not provide an answer to that question either.

This book may merit reading because the views expressed in them can contribute to ongoing debates (if only to be shot down) relating to the questions posed, but it is not right to present it as if it carried the objective or best views on the topics discussed.

This excellent book is divided up into five parts and addresses top questions by highly qualified Christian apologists.

Part 1. CAN WE KNOW AND KNOW
THAT WE KNOW?

Part II: IS MATTER THE WHOLE STORY?

Part III: ARE RELIGION AND MORALITY SIMPLY AND
SOLELY BY-PRODUCTS OF THE SOCIOCULTURAL
ENVIRONMENT?

Part IV: IS THERE A GOD?

Part V: WHAT CAN WE KNOW ABOUT GOD?

CONTENTS
Contributors xiii
Introduction: A Return to Universal Experience 1


Part I: CAN WE KNOW AND KNOW 21
THAT WE KNOW?
RELATIVISM 23
Great Question 1: It is commonly believed that "truth" is simply a
product of perspective or genetics or cultural environment. We are
told by relativists that the human mind cannot really know anything.
What is your assessment of relativism?
Richard Swinburne 23
Hugo Meynell 24
Alvin Plantinga 27
Gerard J. Hughes 28
Josef Seifert 30
George F. R. Ellis 31
Ralph McInerny* 33
William P. Alston* 34
UNIVERSAL INSIGHTS PRESUPPOSED BY SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY 39
Great Question 2: It is often said that the premises in an argument
already "contain" their conclusions and therefore logical arguments
cannot reveal anything new. Are there any fundamental insights
that lie beyond scientific experimentation and philosophical argumentation
to which the human mind has access?
Alvin Plantinga 39
Josef Seifert 40
Ralph McInerny* 40
* Follow-up questions and answers included.


Part II: IS MATTER THE WHOLE STORY? 41
THE EXISTENCE OF THE SOUL 43
Great Question 3: Do you accept the existence of a soul or mind
separate from the body and, if so, on what basis?
Richard Swinburne 43
Alvin Plantinga 45
Hugo Meynell 46
Josef Seifert 47
Sir Alfred Ayer* 48
Ralph McInerny* 49
G. E. M. Anscombe* 52
John Lucas* 56
John Foster* 57
THE FREEDOM OF THE WILL 70
Great Question 4: Are human decisions entirely shaped by
heredity and environment or are human beings capable of free
choices? On what basis is it possible to accept the reality of free
will?
Gerard J. Hughes 70
Richard Swinburne 72
Alvin Plantinga 74
Hugo Meynell 75
Josef Seifert 77
Ralph McInerny* 78
John Lucas* 79
LIFE AFTER DEATH 83
Great Question 5: Do you believe in a life after death and, if so,
why?
Josef Seifert 83
Richard Swinburne 85
Gerard J. Hughes 85
REINCARNATION 87
Great Question 6: What is your assessment of the theory of reincarnation?
C.T.K. Chari* 87
GREAT THINKERS ON GREAT QUESTIONS viii
* Follow-up questions and answers included.


Part III: ARE RELIGION AND MORALITY SIMPLY AND 95
SOLELY BY-PRODUCTS OF THE SOCIOCULTURAL
ENVIRONMENT?
PSYCHOLOGY, SOCIOLOGY, AND RELIGIOUS BELIEF 97
Great Question 7: Some thinkers hold that religion can be
explained entirely in psychological and sociological categories.
Can it?
Gerard J. Hughes 97
Richard Swinburne 98
Josef Seifert 99
RIGHT AND WRONG 100
Great Question 8: Can right be distinguished from wrong, good
from evil? More fundamentally is there an objective moral order
and can human beings become aware of it?
Josef Seifert 100
Richard Swinburne 101
Alvin Plantinga 102
Gerard J. Hughes 103
George F.R. Ellis* 105
Keith Ward* 106
ATHEISM 108
Great Question 9: Atheism - the rejection of the existence of
God - is an intellectual option embraced by several thinkers.
How do you explain atheism?
Alvin Plantinga 108
Richard Swinburne 109
Gerard J. Hughes 111
Hugo Meynell 112
Josef Seifert 113
CONTENTS ix
* Follow-up questions and answers included.


Part IV: IS THERE A GOD? 115
THE EXISTENCE OF GOD 117
Great Question 10: The existence of God has been one of the
most hotly debated issues in the history of human thought.
What are your own conclusions on the question of God's existence
and on what basis do you affirm or deny the existence of
God?
Richard Swinburne 117
Alvin Plantinga 120
Gerard J. Hughes 120
Brian Leftow 122
Josef Seifert 125
Russell Pannier, T. D. Sullivan 136
Hugo Meynell* 138
Ralph McInerny* 140
Bernard J. F. Lonergan* 142
H. D. Lewis* 145
William P. Alston* 148
GOD AND MODERN SCIENCE 154
Great Question 11: What bearing, if any, does science have on
religion - particularly with respect to the questions of God's existence,
the origin of the universe, and the possibility of miracles?
Richard Swinburne 154
Hugo Meynell 155
Gerard J. Hughes 156
Josef Seifert 158
Alvin Plantinga* 160
Ralph McInerny* 164
Owen Gingerich* 165
George F. R. Ellis* 170
Keith Ward* 184
GREAT THINKERS ON GREAT QUESTIONS x
* Follow-up questions and answers included.
THE PROBLEM OF EVIL 191
Great Question 12: The problem of evil, the problem of
reconciling the existence of evil and suffering with the existence
of an all-good, all-powerful God, has puzzled believers and
unbelievers. What solution, if any, do you see to this problem?
Richard Swinburne 191
Gerard J. Hughes 193
Alvin Plantinga 196
Hugo Meynell 198
Josef Seifert 199
Sandra Menssen, T. D. Sullivan 202
Ralph McInerny* 204
PANTHEISM 206
Great Question 13: How do you view pantheism, the notion
that we are all "part of" God, that God can be identified with
the world?
Russell Pannier, T. D. Sullivan 206
Richard Swinburne 208
Hugo Meynell 208
Alvin Plantinga 209
Josef Seifert 209
Ralph McInerny* 210
William P. Alston 210
DIVINE ACTION IN THE WORLD AND HUMAN HISTORY 212
Great Question 14: What is your view on the possibility of
Divine action in the world and of the relation of Providence and
history?
Richard Swinburne 212
Gerard J. Hughes 213
Alvin Plantinga 214
Josef Seifert 214
CONTENTS xi
* Follow-up questions and answers included.


Part V: WHAT CAN WE KNOW ABOUT GOD? 219
OMNISCIENCE, OMNIPOTENCE, ETERNITY, INFINITY 221
Great Question 15: If God exists, what attributes can properly
be described as divine attributes?
Gerard J. Hughes 221
Alvin Plantinga 224
Hugo Meynell 225
Josef Seifert 225
Ralph McInerny* 229
Brian Leftow* 230
Leo Sweeney 232
Index 250


CONTRIBUTORS
1. Sir Alfred Ayer. Wykeham Professor of Logic, Oxford University,
1959-78; President, Society for Applied Philosophy, 1982-1985.
Delivered the Gifford Lectures. Works include Language, Truth
and Logic (which introduced Logical Positivism to the Englishspeaking
world); The Foundations of Empirical Knowledge and
Concept of a Person.
2. G. E. M. Anscombe. Professor of Philosophy, Cambridge
University; Honorary Fellow of St. Hugh's College and of
Somerville College, Oxford University; Fellow of the British
Academy. Widely recognized as one of today's leading moral
philosophers, her works include An Introduction to
Wittgenstein's Tractatus, Intention, and Three Philosophers
(with Peter Thomas Geach). Also translator and co-editor of the
posthumous writings (including Philosophical Investigations
and On Certainty) of Ludwig Wittgenstein.
3. William P. Alston. Professor of Philosophy, Syracuse University;
past President, American Philosophical Association; past
President, Society for Philosophy and Psychology. A distinguished
contributor to the philosophy of language and the philosophy
of mind, he has also been described as "one of the foremost
contributors to the analytical philosophy of religion."
Editor of the Cornell Studies in Philosophy of Religion. Works
include Philosophy of Language, A Realist Conception of Truth,
and Perceiving God: The Epistemology of Religious Experience.
4. C. T. K. Chari. Former Professor of Philosophy, Madras
University. Member of the Prime Minister's Council of Indian
Philosophy. Published extensively on subjects ranging from
Hindu philosophy to logic, linguistics, information theory,
mathematics, quantum physics, and parapsychology.
Contributor on reincarnation to Wolman's Handbook of
Parapsychology.
5. George F. R. Ellis. Professor of Applied Mathematics, University
of Cape Town and Queen Mary College, University of London;
President of the International Society of General Relativity and
Gravitation; author of numerous works on the evolution and
density of the Universe and co-author (with Stephen Hawking,
his former fellow-student) of The Large-Scale Structure of
Space-Time.
6. John Foster. Fellow, Brasenose College, Oxford. Works include
The Immaterial Self.
7. Owen Gingerich. Professor of Astronomy and of the History of
Science, Harvard University and former Chairman of the
Department of the History of Science. Past Chairman of the US
National Committee of the International Astronomical Union.
Delivered the George Darwin Lecture, the most prestigious lecture
of the Royal Astronomical Society. Asteroid 2658=1980CK was
named in his honor by the International Astronomical Union.
Works include Album of Science: The Physical Sciences in the
Twentieth Century, The Great Copernicus Chase and Other
Adventures in Astronomical History, and The Eye of Heaven:
Ptolemy, Copernicus, Kepler.
8. Gerard J. Hughes. Chairman, Department of Philosophy,
Heythrop College, University of London. Works include
Authority in Morals, The Nature of God, and The Philosophical
Assessment of Theology (edited).
9. Brian Leftow. Professor of Philosophy, Fordham University. Editor of
a series of volumes on analytic philosophy and the divine attributes.
Works include Divine Ideas and Time and Eternity.
10. H. D. Lewis. Former Head of the Department of the History
and Philosophy of Religion, London University. Past President
of the Mind Association and of the International Society for
Metaphysics; former Chairman of the Council of the Royal
Institute of Philosophy and Editor of the Muirhead Library of
Philosophy from 1947 to 1978. Delivered the Gifford Lectures.
Books include The Elusive Mind, The Self and Immortality, and
Our Experience of God.
11. Bernard J.F. Lonergan. Former Professor of Philosophy,
Gregorian University and Boston College. Time magazine noted
that he "is considered by many intellectuals to be the finest philo-
GREAT THINKERS ON GREAT QUESTIONS xiv
sophic thinker of the 20th century." (Time, April 20 1970). Over
a hundred and fify doctoral dissertations have been written on his
work and an entire conference of fellow-philosophers was convened
to study his work. "77 of the best minds in Europe and the
Americas gathered to examine Lonergan's profoundly challenging
work." Works include Insight, which was described as having
"become a philosophic classic comparable in scope to Hume's
Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding," (Newsweek, April
20, 1970), Method in Theology, and Philosophy of God and
Theology.
12. John Lucas. Emeritus Fellow, Merton College, Oxford
University. Delivered the Gifford Lectures. Works include The
Freedom of the Will, The Nature of Mind, and The
Development of Mind.
13. Ralph McInerny. Michel P. Grace Professor of Medieval Studies,
University of Notre Dame; Director of the Jacques Maritain
Center. Past President of the American Metaphysical Society and
of the American Catholic Philosophical Association. Editor, The
New Scholasticism. Works include The Logic of Analogy,
Thomism in an Age of Renewal, and Boethius and Aquinas.
14. Sandra Menssen. Associate Professor of Philosophy, University
of St. Thomas. Has published extensively in philosophy of religion,
biomedical ethics and gender studies, and is co-author
(with T. D. Sullivan) of A Ship for Simmias? Philosophical
Objections to Revelatory Claims.
15. Hugo Meynell. Professor of Religious Studies, University of
Calgary. Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. Works include
God and the World, The Intelligible Universe, and The
Theology of Bernard Lonergan.
16. Russell Pannier. Professor of Law, William Mitchell College of
Law, St. Paul. His previous publications have been in the areas
of logic, metaphysics, jurisprudence, and constitutional law.
17. Alvin Plantinga. John A. O'Brien Professor of Philosophy,
University of Notre Dame. Past President, American
Philosophical Association. Delivered the Gifford Lectures.
Plantinga has been described as "the most important philosopher
of religion now writing." Works include God and Other
Minds, The Nature of Necessity, and Warrant.
CONTRIBUTORS xv
18. Josef Seifert. Rector, International Academy of Philosophy,
Liechtenstein. One of the most prominent contemporary
proponents of phenomenological realism, he has published
extensively in English and German on epistemology, metaphysics,
philosophy of mind, and philosophy of religion.
Works include: Back to Things Themselves: A
Phenomenological Foundation for Classical Realism, Gott als
Gottesbeweiss: Eine phänomenologische Neubegründung des
ontologischen Arguments (God as Proof of God's Existence: A
Phenomenological Foundation for the Argument for the
Existence of God from the Necessary Divine Essence), and Leib
und Seele.
19. T. D. Sullivan. Aquinas Professor of Philosophy and Theology,
University of St. Thomas, St. Paul. Has published extensively in
logic, ethics, metaphysics, and the philosophy of religion. Coauthor
(with Sandra Menssen) of A Ship for Simmias?
Philosophical Objections to Revelatory Claims.
20. Leo Sweeney. Research Professor of Philosophy, Loyola
University, Chicago. President of the US section of the
International Society for Neoplatonic Studies; President,
American Catholic Philosophical Association. Works include A
Metaphysics of Authentic Existentialism, Authentic
Metaphysics in an Age of Unreality, and Divine Infinity in
Ancient and Medieval Thought.
21. Richard Swinburne. Nolloth Professor of the Philosophy of the
Christian Religion, Oxford University. A distinguished contributor
to philosophy of science, philosophy of mind, and philosophy
of religion, he is the leading living proponent of rational
"argumentative" theism. Delivered the Gifford Lectures. Works
include Space and Time, The Coherence of Theism, and The
Evolution of the Soul.
22. Keith Ward. Regius Professor of Divinity, Oxford University. He
is one of the most prominent contemporary philosophers of religion
in the United Kingdom. Works include God, Faith and the
New Millennium, Concepts of God, In Defence of the Soul, and
God, Chance and Necessity.