WHAT to T Free Inquiry

FALL 1998 VOL. 18 No. 4

Mind, Consciousness, and Rationality INTERVIEW WITH JOHN SEARLE Th pcI T^matas Jefferson on Religion BY ROBERT ALLEY

i°f í iiï i itics— free inquiry The Need for a New Coalition BY PAUL KURTZ Geleóra%ny !Reason ano ,7firmanily WHAT TO T THE P AlTA C MORA COM O SENSE E.O. WILSON, LAN SOKAL, JEAN BRÎCMONT, HARVEY SIEGEL, THEODORE SCHICK, JR., XIAORONG LI THE AFFIRMATIONS OF HUMANISM: A STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES free inquiry

We are committed to the application of reason and science to the understanding of the universe and to the solving of human problems. We deplore efforts to denigrate human intelligence, to seek to explain the world in supernatural terms, and to look outside nature for salvation. We believe that scientific discovery and technology can contribute to the betterment of human life. We believe in an open and pluralistic society and that democracy is the best guarantee of protecting human rights from authoritarian elites and repressive majorities. We are committed to the principle of the separation of church and state. We cultivate the arts of negotiation and compromise as a means of resolving differences and achieving mutual understanding. We are concerned with securing justice and fairness in society and with eliminating discrimination and intolerance. We believe in supporting the disadvantaged and the handicapped so that they will be able to help themselves. We attempt to transcend divisive parochial loyalties based on race, religion, gender, nationality, creed, class, sexual orientation, or ethnicity, and strive to work together for the common good of humanity. We want to protect and enhance the earth, to preserve it for future generations, and to avoid inflicting needless suffering on other species. We believe in enjoying life here and now and in developing our creative talents to their fullest. We believe in the cultivation of moral excellence. We respect the right to privacy. Mature adults should be allowed to fulfill their aspirations, to express their sexual pref- erences, to exercise reproductive freedom, to have access to comprehensive and informed health-care, and to die with dignity. We believe in the common moral decencies: altruism, integrity, honesty, truthfulness, responsibility. Humanist ethics is amenable to critical, rational guidance. There are normative standards that we discover together. Moral principles are tested by their consequences. We are deeply concerned with the moral education of our children. We want to nourish reason and compassion. We are engaged by the arts no less than by the sciences. We are citizens of the universe and are excited by discoveries still to be made in the cosmos. We are skeptical of untested claims to knowledge, and we are open to novel ideas and seek new departures in our thinking. We affirm humanism as a realistic alternative to theologies of despair and ideologies of violence and as a source of rich personal significance and genuine satisfaction in the service to others. We believe in optimism rather than pessimism, hope rather than despair, learning in the place of dogma, truth instead of ignorance, joy rather than guilt or sin, tolerance in the place of fear, love instead of hatred, compassion over selfish- ness, beauty instead of ugliness, and reason rather than blind faith or irrationality. We believe in the fullest realization of the best and noblest that we are capable of as human beings.

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free inquiry

• itarNIL r NO111,14, IIIOUTLET At free inquiry 4111116

POSTMODERNISM

FALL 1998 VOL. 18, NO. 4 ISSN 0272-0701

'EDITORIAL FEATURES DEPARTMENTS 5 Humanist Politics: The POSTMODERNIS 16 Frontlines Need for a New Coalition 20 Introduction: 19 Letters Paul Kurtz Truth and Con 48 Science and Religion Matt Cherry The Bible and Astronomy OP-ED 21 Back to the Enlightenm Hector Avalos E. O. Wilson 52 Great Minds 6 The Real Jefferson on The Age of Reason Religion 23 Exposing the Emperor's Thomas Paine Robert S. Alle New Clothes Jean Bricmon 54 Applied Ethics 8 True Religion and th 27 A Defense of t e re's'sur The Limits of Ethical `Miskids' Vern L. Bullough Vegetarianism Nancy Littell Fox Harold Hillman 28 Postmodernism and 9 Transcending Havel Universal Human Rights 56 Media Scan Timothy J. Madigan Xiaorong Li Participatory Science and the Mass Media 12 Defending the Rights o 32 Is Morality a Matter Richard Wiseman Unbelievers of Taste? Derek Carl Araujo Theodore Schick, Jr.' 66 Humanism at Large Matt Cherry 14 Catholic Care Unhealth 35 Why Everything Is for Women Not Relative Frances Kissling le BOOK REVIEWS

61 The Relevance of Sidney 39 God, Mind, and Artificial Hook Today Intelligence by Paul Kurtz An Interview with John Searle 63 Heidegger, Nazism, and 42 God and the Philosophers, Postmodernism Part 2 by Bill Cooke Paul Edwards 64 Toward Unity of Knowledge by Stuart Jordan 65 Resilient Illusions by Bill Cooke

fall 1998 Editor-in-Chief Paul Kurtz Editor Timothy J. Madigan Executive Editor Lewis Vaughn Managing Editor Andrea Szalanski Deputy Editor Matt Cherry Senior Editors free inquiry Vern L. Bullough, Richard Dawkins, Thomas W. Flynn, Martin Gardner, James A. Haught, NEXT ISSUE Gerald A. Larue, Taslima Nasrin Associate Editor Molleen Special Section: Matsumura Contributing Editors Rescuing Family Values Robert S. Alley, Joe E. Barnhart, David Berman, Jo Ann Boydston, Paul Edwards, Albert Ellis, FREE INQUIRY (ISSN 0272-0701) is pub- • Racism and the Risks Roy P. Fairfield, Charles Faulkner, Antony Flew, lished quarterly by the Council for Secular of Ethnic Humor Levi Fragell, Adolf Grünbaum, Marvin Kohl, Humanism, a nonprofit educational corpora- Thelma Lavine, Ronald A. Lindsay, Tibor tion, 1310 Sweet Home Road, Amherst. NY • How to Educate an Atheist Machan, Michael Martin, Wendy McElroy, Delos 14228. Phone (716) 636-7571. Fax (716) 636- B. McKown, Joe Nickell, Lee Nisbet, John 1733. Copyright ©1998 by the Council for • Letting Children Die Novak, Skipp Porteous, Lois Porter, Howard Secular Humanism. Periodicals postage paid for the Faith Radest, Robert Rimmer, Michael Rockier, J. J. at Buffalo, N.Y., and at additional mailing C. Smart, Svetozar Stojanovic, Thomas Szasz, • God and the Philosophers, offices. National distribution by International Edward Tabash, Richard Taylor Periodicals Distributors, Solana Beach, Part 3 Book Review Editor California. FREE INQUIRY is available from H. James Birx University Microfilms and is indexed in Editorial Associates Philosophers' Index. Printed in the United Roger Greeley, James Martin-Diaz, States. Warren Allen Smith Subscription rates: $28.50 for one year, PLUS Cartoonist Don Addis $47.50 for two years, $64.50 for three years. Council for Secular Humanism $6.95 for single issues. Payment in U.S. funds Op-Ed Chairman Paul Kurtz drawn on U.S. bank must accompany Canadian and foreign subscription orders. Board of Directors Vern Bullough, Jan Loeb Frontlines Please add U.S. $7.00 per year (surface mail) Eisler, Jonathan Kurtz, Joseph Levee, Kenneth Sidelines Marsalek, Jean Millholland, Robert Worsfold or U.S. $12.00 per year (air mail). Canadian and foreign customers are encouraged to use Chief Operating Officer Timothy J. Madigan Letters Visa or MasterCard. Single issues add $1.56 Executive Director Matt Cherry Media Scan (1-3 issues) or $3.00 (4-6 issues) surface Director of Humanist Community Development mail and $3.00 (1-3 issues) or $7.20 (4-6 Reason and Liberty Jo Ann Mooney issues) air mail. Address subscription orders, Great Minds Chief Development Officer James Kimberly changes of address, and advertising to FREE Associate Director of Development INQUIRY, P.O. Box 664, Amherst, NY Science & Religion Anthony Battaglia 14226-0664. Book Reviews Public Relations Director Norm R. Allen, Jr. Postmaster: Send address changes to FREE Director of Libraries Timothy Binga INQUIRY, P.O. Box 664, Amherst. NY Humanism at Large Chief Data Officer Richard Seymour 14226-0664. and more Fulfillment Manager Michael Cione Manuscripts, letters, and editorial inquiries should be addressed to Timothy J. Madigan, Design Chris Kolasny Editor, FREE INQUIRY. P.O. Box 664. Production Paul E. Loynes, Sr. Amherst. NY 14226-0664. Director of Illustration Elka Kazmierczak Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect Audio Technician Vance Vigrass the views of the editors or publisher. No one Web Page Designer David Noelle speaks on behalf of the Council for Secular Staff Linda Heller, Georgeia Locurcio, Chris Humanism unless expressly stated. Mooney, Anthony Nigro, Ranjit Sandhu, David Schummer Cover illustration: Tim Jordan Executive Director Emeritus Jean Millholland Cover concept: Matt Cherry Visit FREE INQUIRY on the World Wide Web at HTTP://WWW.SECULARHUMANISM.ORG Humanist Politics: The Need for a New Coalition EDITORIAL PAUL KURTZ

peaking personally, it is time for secular humanism to take a new direction: we need to develop a new political agenda. For a long time I have argued that humanists should concentrate primarily on ethical, philosophical, and Sscientific issues. What we needed was a basic cultural reformation of society. Our main focus was to be (1) on defending naturalism against the reigning free inquiry supernatural systems of belief; (2) emphasizing the importance of scientific inquiry rather than revelation, mysticism, faith, intuition, or authority; and (3) providing viable humanistic ethical alternatives to theologically grounded moralities. In the past, I have deplored the efforts of previous generations of humanists to politicize humanism by converting it into a party platform and/or by endorsing candidates for office. We reasoned that one could be a secular humanist and at the same time be a liberal, libertarian, conservative, or radical. Indeed, humanists may differ in their opinions about political and economic policies or political candidates. After all, Christians and Jews can vote Democratic or Republican, the Green Party or the Conservative Party, socialist or libertarian. Why not the same for secular humanists? All of the above doubts about involvement in politics I think are still valid; yet at the same time it is a mistake for humanists to withdraw entirely from the political arena or to refuse to take a stand, especially when vital social and ethical principles are at stake and if there are political obstacles to cultural reformation. Humanists should not be politically neutered; they ought to be engagé in the key political controversies of the day. It is clear that religious factions are involved in a big way in politics. They seek to persuade public opinion and influence candidates. The Christian Coalition clearly wishes to convince everybody to accept a biblically oriented agenda. It is against abortion, euthanasia, women's rights, equality for gays, affirmative action for minorities, and it is for capital punishment, a strong military-defense budget, lower taxes, and reduced welfare aid. Similarly, the Vatican intervenes in the American political process by opposing abortion, birth control, euthanasia, and other issues concerning church doctrine; it is forever urging government financial aid for parochial schools. It is likewise clear that humanists have certain hot-button issues. It is time that we speak out loud and clear as secular humanists. Indeed, there is, I submit, a compelling need today to develop a new humanist political agenda. There are surely core ethical principles and broad political ideals that humanists share—belief in secularism and the separation of church and state; the defense of freedom of conscience, including the protection of the rights of nonbelievers in society; the commitment to the open, pluralistic democratic society. Humanists are against authoritarian and totalitarian belief systems, and they are for human rights. They wish to defend human freedom from encroachments by church, state, or the economy. They are concerned with maximizing individual freedom. They also wish to ensure equality of opportunity and social justice. And they wish to develop a world community beyond the ethnic rivalries or the religious chauvinisms of the past; this means finding common ground between different cultural traditions. Today urgent new challenges have emerged. First, I submit that we should be concerned with ensuring free inquiry in the marketplace of ideas. Hence, we

(Continued on page 6O)

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Jesus" The Library uses this one letter, j along with the "Syllabus," as the only he Real Jefferson document by which to judge Jefferson's "Opinion of Jesus:' But since even this carefully selected letter fails to make the on Religion point upon which the Library seems intent, it tampered with the text in a vain effort to make its interpretation fly. Robert S. Alley The Library begins by making the judgment that, "influenced by the writ- In July, 24 of the nation's leading church-state scholars, led by professors Robert ings of Joseph Priestly," Jefferson S. Alley and Robert M. O'Neil, signed a letter to the Library of Congress refuting "seems to have adopted a more positive a paper accompanying an exhibit on Thomas Jefferson that was critical of his opinion of Christianity." The Library views on religion and government. The paper, which concluded that Jefferson's does not bother to distinguish between support of church-state separation was due to political considerations rather than organized Christianity and the message ideals, has been trumpeted by the religious right as evidence of the true intentions of Jesus. But Jefferson did just that in of the Founding Fathers. The protest letter calls the Library of Congress essay an 1801 letter to Priestly. "Those who "unbalanced and based on a flawed premise,"' and urges the Library "to refrain live by mystery and charlatanerie, from presenting these conclusions as settled fact." Below Dr. Alley expands upon fearing you would render them useless his objections to the exhibit. by simplifying the Christian philosophy—the most sublime and benevo- n late May 1998 the Library of seem to be two motives: to gloss over lent, but most perverted system that Congress opened a new exhibition Jefferson's own extensive writings on ever shone on man—endeavored to Ientitled "Religion and the Founding religion and to distort the clear message crush your well-earned and well- of the American Republic." The of Jefferson's letter to the Danbury deserved fame." As Jefferson noted in Library's collection of documents is Baptists. an 1800 letter to Rush, "I have a view of the subject (Christianity) which Any perusal of the Jefferson writings will ought to displease neither the rational Christian or Deist...." establish that the Sage of Monticello was a Sadly, the Library of Congress Deist. decided to edit what Jefferson had written to Rush in 1803. It begins its impressive and well displayed. There is The exhibit makes an effort to butchery by noting that Jefferson just one problem. It and an attending soften Jefferson's critique of Christian asserted that he was "Christian, in the essay, "The Wall of Separation Between theology and its clergy, making him only sense in which [Jesus] wished any Church and State: What Jefferson appear sympathetic to the doctrines of one to be" Scholarly integrity would Originally Wrote and What It Means" that religion. The exhibit and the essay require the Library to note that by Chief of Manuscripts Dr. James both contend that Jefferson had no the- Jefferson placed no period after the Hutson are being employed to "fiction- oretical basis for his church-state word be. There is, rather, a semi-colon alize" history by distorting documents views, only political motives. followed by the words, "sincerely and utilizing sloppy reasoning. The pri- Concerning Jefferson's religion, attached to his doctrines, in preference mary target of this strange campaign there are at least 47 extant letters from to all other; ascribing to himself every appears to be Thomas Jefferson. There the Sage of Monticello in which he human [underscored in the original] addressed that subject. The Library has excellence, and believing he never Robert S. Aller is a Contributing Editor seen fit to display a single letter written claimed any other." As was his prac- to FREE INQUIRY and Professor of to Benjamin Rush in 1803, perhaps tice, Jefferson contended that Jesus Humanities Emeritus at the University because Jefferson enclosed with that let- never claimed to be a deity. That senti- of Richmond. ter his Syllabus on the "doctrines of ment had already ignited severe oppo-

free inquir 6 sition by a large segment of the reli- miracles, wonders, signs, virgin birth, Danbury Baptists. And he chooses to gious establishment in his day. The resurrection, the god-head, and what- interpret the meaning of "separation" Library appears to be advancing an ever else conflicted with his own reli- from what Jefferson did not write. Just alternate theory that has no legitimacy, gious thought. as Jefferson's rich understanding of but may be more to the liking of Switching from the Library's separation of church and state cannot Christian orthodoxy. This may explain attempt to baptize Jefferson, Dr. be determined by referencing a single why the Library continues its com- Hutson moves to "debunk" Jefferson's letter, so too his intent cannot be mentary on the subject by quoting only famous letter to the Danbury Baptists. derived solely from comparing deleted a fragment of a rather lengthy sentence Dr. Hutson's essay depends upon a with included sections. There are sev- by Jefferson in his Syllabus. The flawed premise: that simply by com- eral possible explanations as to why Library is shameless in doctoring that paring the original draft with the final Jefferson crossed out certain words, sentence, which reads in its entirety: version of the president's reply a including the most obvious to any reader can fully "discern Jefferson's experienced writer, editing while com- The question of his being a member true intentions in writing the cele- posing. Although scholars may differ of the god-head, or in direct commu- brated Danbury Baptist letter." From as to the reasons for Jefferson's editor- nication with it, claimed for him by ial selections, there is no basis for some of his followers, and denied by there, the essay devolves into an all-out others, is foreign to the present view, assault on the phrase "separation of arguing that these omissions indicate which is merely an estimate of the intrinsic merit of his doctrines. Citizens have a right to expect the Library of

The Library of Congress altered it to Congress to be dedicated to the fair and read: complete presentation of its holdings... .

Jefferson declined to consider the church and state" supported with that the reply was not "conceived to be "question of [Jesus] being a member absurd assumptions drawn from what a statement of fundamental principles," of the god-head, or in direct commu- but rather, "was meant to be a political nication with it, claimed by some of Jefferson excised. In this venture Dr. his followers, and denied by others." Hutson was aided by the Federal manifesto, nothing more" Bureau of Investigation, which pro- Finally, it is not accurate to claim, Why the changes? Perhaps to invent duced a transcript of the words deleted as the Library does, that the reply to a baptized Jefferson! That may explain by Jefferson. He seems excited that the the Baptists was "political" and not "a why the Library fails to cite any other word eternal was marked through by dispassionate theoretical pronounce- of the 47 Jefferson letters on religion. the president. (I saw the original document" That is absurd. Of course it was For they have a common theme, accus- ment at the Library of Congress in political, and that fact in no way ing those who professed to be special 1994 and deciphered eternal without negates either the significance of his servants of Jesus as having "perverted" the aid of the FBI.) Dr. Hutson appears statements or his commitment to prin- his ethics "into an engine for enslaving to assume that intent and meaning can ciple. For Jefferson the two most mankind, and aggrandizing their be derived from examining the prized of his writings—The Declara- oppressors in church and state:.. Jefferson deletions. He makes no mention of Independence and the Statute (Thomas Jefferson to William tion of the text of the letter from the for Establishing Religious Freedom in Baldwin, 1810). Virginia—were unapolo- Any perusal of the getically "political," even as AS FoR IRE oT1tER fAt145 WRE IZED HERE, Jefferson writings will every line in each was laced I.oFt, PH1PFFT.' ue ASK lr lj 11« NAME— establish that the Sage of with "principles" concern- Monticello was a Deist who ing democracy and free- accepted the label Christian dom. as he defined it. To him Citizens have a right to Jesus was a moral man who expect the Library of based his ethics on the nat- Congress to be dedicated to ural rights of human beings. the fair and complete pre- Jefferson, as his writings sentation of its holdings so make abundantly clear, had that opinions may flourish contempt for much of the with the safety net of accu- Christian clergy, rejected LEGISLATIVE racy. When the Library John Calvin as a tritheist, SESSION abandons that canon of r ar E6ANL t OlJAL responsibility, it forfeits its and wrote his own bible that PRAYER excluded all references to 3.6 singular franchise. fi

fall 1998 EI

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But for his wife and children, the void of his absence at home was True Religion and unbearable as constantly we raised to heaven our lament: "But where is Father? Will he never come home?" the Mishkids' For months on end, Father was "up the Yangtze" baptizing everyone in sight. His love, time, and most of his vast for- Nancy Littell Fox tune was bestowed on hospitals, churches, and schools. Although we hristianizing China? A joke!" lauded his generosity, still, quipped Madalyn Murray paternal neglect was the CO'Hair, atheist-par-excellence. heavy price his family was Her realistic conclusion targeted, of forced to pay. As someone course, the hordes of foreign mission- said: "He begets, then he aries who, between 1850 and 1950, forgets." infested that "godforsaken" land, bent Never close, never know- on extricating those "filthy heathens" ing a heart-to-heart chat with from the jaws of Satan. him, I began to harbor Libraries abound with books heretical doubts about his depicting the most massive missionary beliefs and the whole mis- thrust into a foreign land the world has sionary movement. Around ever seen. The literature, however, age 12, as my skepticism lacks one segment of the story—one increased, so did feelings of that I, at long last and now in my The Littell family in 1927. The author is in the front row, on guilt tug at me from within. the left. eighty-first year, have decided to I began to wonder, was I divulge, family image notwithstand- ways. But in others, alas! Like thou- born a sinner just because, ing. This footnote of history, somewhat sands of other "Mishkids," we were the eons ago, someone ate fruit? Why was tragic, and not easy for me to tell, is unseen casualties of this religious rat it forbidden? What else could they find my firsthand account of the negative race. for dinner? Why was the Bible called effects widely experienced by the off- His faith and fervor forever burning, the "Good Book" even though it reeks spring of missionaries ("Mishkids"). Father claimed to have made countless with rape, murder, incest, debasing of conversions. He never cooled—not women, and violence of all kinds? How PUBLIC HONOR, PRIVATE even when Mao Tse-Tung triumphed could we say grace—"We thank thee, SADNESS and missionaries fled for their lives. Lord. Thou openest thine hand and "Aren't you dismayed," he was often fillest all things living with plenteous- It was back in 1898 that a certain honor asked, "that your whole life's work has ness."—in this land of starvation? graduate from the Oxford University been in vain?" "Never!" he flashed When my 28-year-old sister, School of Theology (my future father) back, "Communism? Just a temporary Charlotte, knowingly asphyxiated her- jumped on the Jesus bandwagon. setback. To God's glory, we have self, why did Father (whom she rarely Ablaze with zeal, Harrington "Hank" planted the seeds for the One True saw and barely knew) insist, against Littell set sail for China, where he soon Faith. All of China will, one day, burst kindly advice, on personally conduct- became embroiled in that bloodiest of forth under the banner of Christ!" ing her funeral? Because, in his own all riots, the Boxer Rebellion. For 32 For his "outstanding dedication" as words, "I must be there for her on her years he preached, baptized, battled Chairman of the International China glorious passage to Heaven!" bandits, fought famine and disease, and Famine Relief Commission, my father Hypocrisy? I could handle no scaled walls to dodge "Down-with-the- was awarded the medal of the "Order of more. And so, flapping my wings, I Foreign-Devils" demonstrations. the Felicitous Grain" by President Sun flew the coop (as did five of my sib- The Littell family consisted of five Yat Sen. To this day it is preserved in lings). I adopted my own guidelines boys and two girls, reared in the wilds the archives of St. Andrew's Cathedral, based not on sin, guilt, an afterlife of of Kiangsi and Hunan provinces, cen- Honolulu, Hawaii. He became the fifth bliss, or fiery torture, but simply on tral China. We coped fine in some Episcopal Bishop of Honolulu, serving respect and love of people, animals, from 1930 to 1942. Much beloved, and nature. I warmed to the words of Nancy L. Fox lives in Ashland, Oregon. some called him a "saint." Bertrand Russell: "No human being," free inquir LI OP-ED

he said, "has rights over another." That response. And never again did I see son, Samuel Clemens, Margaret was a concept alien to missionaries, to that stranger. Soon after, he died. His Sanger, Ben Franklin, Robert Inger- governments who justify aggression ensuing epitaphs? Rave reviews soll, Voltaire, Isaac Asimov, and hosts on the pretext of "national security." nationwide. of others. Second, Christians have not Such aggression was exemplified by Will my own offspring be as hard come near proving their 2,000-year- those ominous fleets I often on me? Will they feel I left them a old claim that they have a corner on watched—foreign gunboats anchored legacy of love and "quality time?" I morality. And last, there's no such off Yangtze ports, poised to "protect" may never know. I only know that, first thing as "the true religion." (In the us invaders. as a Mishkid, and then as a bishop's United States alone we have 385 ver-

THE LEGACY I began to wonder, was I born a sinner just Blind to the void in our relationship, because, eons ago, someone ate fruit? Father, at age 93, phoned me in Minnesota from his nursing home in daughter, there are three lessons life sions from which to choose or not to New York. "Come quickly, Nancy," he has taught me. choose.) But if there were, it would begged, "I'm so lonely!" I hesitated. First, there is no need for religion to show its influence in every part of our Tears filled my eyes. "Not now, make life worth living—an opinion conduct. Said William Penn: "It would Father," I mumbled, "too busy. Some shared by Albert Einstein, Thomas resemble the sap of a living tree which other time." I'm not proud of that Edison, Bernard Shaw, James Madi- penetrates the most distant boughs." fi

growing tensions between different cultures and nationalities; the increas- Transcending Havel ing ecological crisis; the continuing proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; and the rise of social prob- Timothy J. Madigan lems based on the destruction of human communities. It is not enough to invent new Havel—influenced by existential- It is rare for a political leader to be machines, new regulations, or new ism—has long made philosophical so forthright, and Havel must be com- institutions. We must understand observations about the human condi- mended for his courage in asking us all differently and more perfectly the true purpose of our existence on this tion. In 1978 he wrote an essay called to face such unpleasant realities. As a earth. "The Power of the Powerless," in politician who witnessed the rather tur- which he argued that the prime cause bulent breakup of his old country of —Vaclav Havel of the growing discontent throughout Czechoslovakia into the Czech the world was a loss of transcendent Republic and Slovakia, he has himself aclav Havel, president of the concerns. Humans, he argued, were faced irrational nationalism and Czech Republic, is one of the too preoccupied with self-fulfillment, learned the art of compromise. He is a Vtwentieth century's most rather than with larger issues. rare combination of idealist and realist. admirable figures. Originally a play- Now, as a distinguished world Yet Havel goes further in his analy- wright and actor, his courageous statesman (albeit one who remains sis of the current scene and attributes stance against the repressive commu- friends with the Rolling Stones and many of these worldwide problems to a nist regime that ruled his country made Lou Reed), Havel continues to offer loss of metaphysical certitude. Human him one of the world's best-known dis- pronouncements on grand themes. He beings are not attempting to address sidents; his unlikely election as presi- recently hosted a gathering of world these difficult issues, he feels, primar- dent, after the so-called Velvet intellectuals in Prague, where he deliv- ily because they have become alienated Revolution of 1989, was a highlight of ered a provocative talk entitled "Faith from what he calls "the sphere of the the relatively bloodless collapse of that in the World," in which he reflected spirit." We are, Havel asserts, living in regime. upon the current global situation. He the first atheistic civilization in the his- In addition to his fictional writings, began by listing the host of threats tory of humankind. He writes: looming above the head of humankind: Timothy J. Madigan is Editor of FREE overpopulation; the widening gap Could the fact that humanity thinks INQUIRY. between the world's rich and poor; the only within the limits of what lies in

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its field of vision and is incapable of to point out that other heroic figures worthy effort, but in order to succeed, remembering also what lies beyond, who helped to tumble the Soviet the species needs to transcend the divi- whether in the temporal or spatial sense, not be the result of a loss of empire, including Andrei Sakharov, sive theistic belief systems that have metaphysical certitude? Could not Adam Michnik, Sidney Hook, and his done so much to separate its members the whole nature of the current civi- own countryman Alexander Dubcek, into warring factions. lization, with its shortsightedness, were forthright atheists themselves. Far from leading to a lack of with its proud emphasis on the It is a mistake to equate "atheism" responsibility, atheism holds—in the human individual as the crown of all creation—and its master—and with (living without a belief in a supernat- words of the Humanist Manifesto II— its boundless trust in humanity's ural realm or spiritual beings) with that "No God will save us. We must ability to embrace the Universe by "meaninglessness." The loss of old save ourselves." The only real hope for rational cognition, could it not all be certainties is a good thing, not some- the world is if the various world reli- only the natural manifestation of a thing to bemoan, and the sort of ill- gions can transcend their own phenomenon which, in simple terms, amounts to the loss of God? defined "spirituality" Havel recom- parochialism and exclusiveness. (Civilization, April/May 1998, p. 52) mends seems hardly likely to inspire Havel calls for an "Existential Revolution" that would rival the Velvet A belief in an afterlife makes it easier to Revolution. This is a worthy goal, albeit an unlikely one. What truly postpone attempting to solve dilemmas in unites all humans is our own ignorance. If we can get the vast majority of the here-and-now. humans to admit this, and then try to jointly work together to solve the social These are all leading questions. First the massive awakening he desires. problems besetting us, there may of all, it is demonstrably not the case Transcendence is another ill-defined indeed be workable solutions to the that humanity overall is lacking meta- word. Certainly we need to overcome litany of potential disasters that loom physical certitude. It is the differing an unhealthy preoccupation with our on the horizon. It is appropriate that the certainties of the various world reli- own selves, but in what way? A mutual literary school that most influenced gions, particularly the monotheistic project to save the species is indeed a Havel was the Theater of the Absurd. fi ones, that cause so much distress. If world religious leaders would admit they might be wrong, that might help to Please remember FREE INQUIRY (the alleviate a good deal of tension. Hubris Council for Secular Humanism) when plan- comes not from the assumption that ning your estate. Your bequest will help to humans are the crown of creation, but maintain the vitality and financial security rather from the feeling that we are spe- of humanism in a society often hostile cially created in the image of a toward it. Depending on your circum- supreme being who favors us above all stances, a charitable bequest to FREE other living things. And a belief in an INQUIRY may have little impact on the net afterlife makes it easier to postpone size of your estate—or may even result in a attempting to solve dilemmas in the greater amount being available to your here-and-now. A good sense of evolu- beneficiaries. tionary naturalism leads more to an u We would be happy to work with you acceptance that we are here by chance and your attorney in the development of a rather than by design, and a realization will or estate plan that meets your wishes. of the precariousness and interconnect- A variety of arrangements are possible, edness of all beings. For more information contact including gifts of a fixed amount or a per- Many postmodernists, and premod- Anthony Battaglia. All in- centage of your estate; living trusts or gift ernists as well, claim that we now live quiries will be held in the annuities, which provide you with lifetime in a post-secular society. Why, then, strictest confidence. Write to: income; a contingent bequest that provides does Havel claim that this is the first for FREE INQUIRY only if your primary real atheistic civilization? Perhaps he is P.O. Box 664 beneficiaries do not survive you. reflecting upon the official anti-reli- Amherst, NY 14226 gious stance of the Soviet Union, under Of call which he came of age. The communist 716-636-7571 regime that Havel so heroically fought against misused atheism to perpetuate its own state power. But it is important free inquiry free inquiry 10 COUNCIL FOR SECULAR HUMANISM at the

The Executive Council of the new Campus Freethought Alliance at the Center tor Inquiry International for the First Annual Conference.

Ten-Year Plan and the $20 Million Challenge Thu Council for Secular Humanism has developed a Ten- FUND Year Plan to promote humanist principles, develop public support and participation, develop the Center for Inquiry FOR THE International as an education and research center, and expand the Council's resources. To fund its implementation, we've launched the Fund for the Future: a ten-year, FUTURE $20 million drive to add capital to the Center for Inquiry International's endowments.* Endowment income will Author/entertainer Steve Allen co-chairs the Fund fund bold new and expanded projects including: An Unprecedented for the Future campaign. • rapid media response Drive for a • outreach to the young • adult education Humanistic Future • expanding library resources • and more. The Center for Inquiry International is hub to an To learn more about the Ten-Year Plan and the Fund for the Future, send for your FREE copy of our campaign video! expanding network of humanist and skeptical centers worldwide. Secular humanists How Can I Help?

across the country and the FREE INQUIRY receives no government grants and little foundation money. We world now benefit from its depend on the generosity of individual readers, donors, and friends. The Fund libraries, conference and sem- for the Future seeks gifts of cash, appreciated securities, and other liquid assets. A three-year pledge can make more substantial gifts surprisingly afford- inar facilities, online and able. Bequests, trust funds, and other planned giving arrangements are also audiovisual capabilities. Still, welcome. The Council can assist prospective donors in determining the we must do more. Promoting planned giving arrangement best suited to the donor's wishes, tax situation, and existing financial plans. All requests will be held in strictest confidence. secular humanism in the next century will demand new To learn more, complete and return the postpaid reply card! In addition to the information you request, you'll receive a FREE VHS copy of our methods of outreach that mag- Fund for the Future campaign video. azine revenues alone cannot We invite you to make your Fund for the Future commitment today! support.

'Combined endowment goal of the Council for Secular Humanism and the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), both tax- exempt nonprofit educational organizations. m f i fall 1998 OP-ED

we have come to accept these violations as traditions, so much so that Defending the Rights modern politicians and pundits speak of them as though they had been insti- tuted at the birth of the Union. of Unbelievers Discrimination against unbelievers is rampant. Perhaps the most egregious violation of religious liberty in modern Derek Carl Araujo America is four states' legal prohibi- tion of atheists from holding any pub- July 12, 1998, student free- church attendance has skyrocketed. For lic office. But general sanction of dis- thinkers from across the United them, what we need to endure and suc- crimination against unbelievers is far OStatesn and Canada gathered at ceed in the next millennium is not more harmful than any unjust laws. I the Center for Inquiry International to social justice, not better education, not don't think it would be possible for an sign a Bill of Rights for Unbelievers. sensible economic policy, not a will- atheist to be elected to Congress The document comprises 11 rights that ingness to confront our problems and because of public animosity. George either remain unrecognized under law or are unprotected liberties that are often Unbelievers are the real suppressed minority. violated. It would surprise many that detailing a list of unbelievers' funda- work hard to solve them, but simply Bush was so confident in America's mental rights is necessary today. This is more religion. We are told to believe in dislike of atheists that he felt comfort- one reason why this Bill of Rights is so what would be the most miraculous of able in declaring that atheists shouldn't needed and important. miracles: all of our social problems be considered patriots. Undoubtedly, Violations of these liberties go about from drug abuse to gun violence to there are many places where society's largely unnoticed in a cultural atmos- murder will disappear if every student hostility makes it hard for an unbe- phere of distrust for unbelievers. prays at the start of the day. Because liever to hold a job. According to some Violations are seen as justified by mis- unbelievers want to protect the polls, this hostility is so widespread placed blame for every imaginable Founding Fathers' wall of separation of and severe that most Americans would social ill. Lack of faith remains one of church and state, unbelievers are held deny any atheist the basic right to the great scapegoats for our failings as partly responsible for these social ills. speak at a town meeting. a nation. Paradoxically, religious America's distaste for unbelief has It is ridiculous for the Religious zealots assert that America's troubles led to the most blatant violations of the Right to protest that it's difficult being arise from a growing "spiritual separation of church and state, from Christian in the United States, where poverty" that plagues us at a time when the insertion during the 1950s of the well over 80% of the population is words "under God" in our Pledge of Christian. Unbelievers are the real sup- Derek Carl Araujo is President of Allegiance and "In God We Trust" on pressed minority. By publicizing this the Campus Freethought Association our paper currency to the conclusion of document, I and the many students and a student at Harvard University. our presidential oath of office with "so who drafted and signed it hope to bring The Bill of Rights for Unbelievers help me God"—words that are con- to light the truth about violations of may be "signed" electronically at: spicuously absent from the oath as religious liberty in America. No longer http://www.secularhumanism.org/cfa originally written. Without noticing it. can it be a truth untold. fi

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7/V Bill of Rights for Unbelievers The freedoms of thought and expression count among our most fundamental and cherished rights and promote both individual welfare and the common good in a democratic state. Historically, however, unbelievers such as secular humanists, atheists, agnostics, rationalists, and freethinkers have faced prejudice, intolerance, and discrimination for their opinions and discoveries.

In the firm conviction that the principle of church-state separation guarantees the equal rights of the religious and non-religious, we the Campus Freethought Alliance, on this 12th Day of July, 1998, hereby present the following Bill of Rights for Unbelievers.

Unbelievers shall have the right to: I. Think freely and autonomously, express their views forthrightly, and Student signers include debate or criticize any and all ideas without fear of censure, (partial list): recrimination, or public ostracism. Derek Araujo, Harvard II. Be free from discrimination and persecution in the workplace, University business transactions, and public accommodations. Pearl Chan, Harvard University III. Exercise freedom of conscience in any situation where the same right Chris Mooney, Yale University would be extended to believers on religious grounds alone. Daniel Farkas, Yale University IV Hold any public office, in accordance with the constitutional Joshua Black, Princeton principle that there shall be no religious test for such office. University Richard C. Carrier, Columbia Abstain from religious oaths and pledges, including pledges of V. University allegiance, oaths of office, and oaths administered in a court of laNN. Emily Hanna, Massachusetts until such time as these are secularized or replaced by non- Institute of Technology discriminatory affirmations. Aaron Brick, Johns Hopkins VI. Empower members of their community to perform legally binding University ceremonies, such as marriage. David Schummer, State University of New York at Raise and nurture their children in a secular environment, and not VII. Buffalo be disadvantaged in adoption or custody proceedings because of Adam Butler, University of their unbelief. Alabama at Birmingham VIII.Conduct business and commerce on any day of their choosing, August Brunsman, Ohio State without interference from laws or regulations recognizing religious University days of prayer, rest, or celebration. Deidre Conn, Marhsall University IX. Enjoy freedom from taxation supporting the government Bill Bishop, University of employment of clergy, and access to secular counseling equivalent to Florida that provided by chaplains. Paula Duckhorn, College of X. Declare conscientious objection to serving in the armed forces under Lake County any circumstance in which the religious may do so. Gerry Ricciardi, Boston University XI. Live as citizens of a democracy free from religious language and Cornell imagery in currency, public schools and buildings, and government Erin Vaughn, University documents and business.

® fall 1998 OP-ED

those cases, negotiations were halted over issues related to Catholic doc- Catholic Care trine. In 1997, the Vatican for the first time acted directly to halt a merger Unhealthy for Women involving a Catholic hospital. St. Peter's Medical Center and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in Frances Kissling New Brunswick, New Jersey, had been negotiating a merger for two years. Throughout the process, they had con- ost Americans take for granted Catholic hospitals resulted in a patch- sulted experts in canon law, received their ability to get non-contro- work of solutions to service provision the blessing of local church officials, mversial reproductive health- questions. The only trend was inconsis- including the local bishop, and even care services such as contraception, tency. Some combined Catholic and obtained the support of the Catholic tubal ligation, or in vitro fertilization. non-Catholic hospitals, under pressure Health Association. Despite these But increasingly, the Catholic health- from the communities they serve, measures and a proposal that would care system in the United States is lim- found creative ways to continue provid- have located obstetric and gynecologi- iting access to those services, not just ing reproductive health services. Some, cal services at the Catholic facility— for Catholics, but for everyone. for example, established "independent" that is, under Catholic control—the Catholic health-care institutions clinics in or near hospital buildings. Vatican rejected the proposal because must abide by guidelines that have Other mergers let reproductive services of concerns about "women's reproduc- been established by the Catholic bish- continue; some simply stopped offering tive programs," according to a ops and set out in Ethical and all reproductive health services. spokesperson for St. Peter's. Religious Directives for Catholic But new patterns are emerging. What's more, the increased pressure Health Care. The Directives forbid These include increased participation to follow the Directives strictly has services that contradict church teach- of the Catholic hierarchy in merger affected institutions whose mergers ing, thus prohibiting, among other decisions, a growing number of and acquisitions were completed years things, tubal ligations, vasectomies, in alliances between and among Catholic before. As creative ways around the vitro fertilization, and the prescribing institutions, and stepped-up vigilance Directives have come to light, agree- or dispensing of contraceptive devices by Catholic bishops against not just ments on some services have been and drugs. They even restrict use of the abortion, but the full range of repro- rescinded. Rather than preserving morning-after pill for raped women. ductive health services. access to reproductive health care, These prohibitions have a huge impact, these creative solutions appear to be because the Catholic health-care sys- nothing more than public relations A NEW LEVEL OF tem is the largest private nonprofit strategies intended to quell concerns at effort to deliver health care in the WATCHFULNESS the time of a merger. The delay in United States. About 10% of all non- As business activities of Catholic imposing church doctrine on a for- federal hospitals are Catholic, a por- health-care institutions have acceler- merly non-Catholic facility speaks to tion that renders Catholic hospital net- ated, many of the nations' bishops have the heart of the control problem posed works comparable to for-profit sys- grown more attentive to the impact of by mergers of Catholic and non- tems such as Tenet Healthcare. the deals on the "Catholic identity" of Catholic hospitals: the church will When the ongoing frenzy of merg- the resulting institution. Even the eventually interfere. ers and acquisitions in the health-care Vatican has become involved. And it industry began some years ago, seems that Rome is looking for closer alliances between Catholic and non- adherence to the Directives. As a con- EXPANSION OF CATHOLIC sequence of this increased attentive- HEALTH CARE Frances Kissling is President of ness, merger plans have failed with A striking trend is the increasing num- Catholics for a Free Choice (CFFC). increasing frequency, often because of ber and scope of alliances between and This article is based on findings stalemates on access to reproductive among Catholic institutions. This pat- reported in CFFC's just released study: health services. In 1996 and 1997, tern has dramatically enlarged "When Catholic and Non-Catholic Catholics for a Free Choice identified Catholic health-care networks. In 1996 Hospitals Merge: Reproductive Health nine consolidation negotiations that and 1997, CFFC found 17 consolida- Compromised." were terminated, and, in over half of tions within the Catholic health-care

m industry, involving dozens of hospitals Catholic Directives if the price is right. reproductive health services were dis- or hospital chains, all Catholic. Forty- As Catholic coalitions continue to continued in the non-Catholic facility. two Catholic systems participating in build their resources, more and more When Norwood Hospital and surveys by the trade journal Modern non-Catholic hospitals will be forced Southwood Hospital of Massachusetts Healthcare grew by 12% in 1996, to make concessions to Catholic hospi- merged with Caritas Christi Catholic acquiring outright 55 hospitals to bring tals. Future mergers could devastate Health Care Systems, the two non- their combined total to 527. Catholic access to reproductive health services. Catholic hospitals were required to Healthcare West acquired eight hospi- Furthermore, Catholic health care is prohibit not only abortions, but also tals in 1996, for a total of 32. The well-positioned to be a significant tubal ligations and in vitro fertilization Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother-US player in a managed care future. A sig- services. Accord Healthcare Network, Health System added seven in 1996 to nificant threat to reproductive health a Catholic network, terminated negoti- end the year with 22. This growth far services nationwide is a large number ations with Mt. Sinai Hospital Medical outpaced those of large for-profit sys- of health maintenance organizations Center of Chicago, because the two tems; Colombia/HCA Healthcare (HMOs) that do not cover family plan- were unable to agree on contraceptive Corporation grew only 3% that year. ning services, forcing individuals—dis- services offered at Mt. Sinai. In Troy, This growth, coupled with the proportionately women—to shoulder a New York, Seton Health Systems, a Catholic health-care industry's ex- large health care expense or go without Catholic system, was sued for its panding economic power, has had an reproductive health care. And Catholic refusal to provide referrals for reproductive health services. A large number of health maintenance organizations (HMOs) do not cover family PRESERVING ACCESS Without advocacy for the preservation planning services, forcing individuals— of reproductive health services, more disproportionately women—to shoulder a communities nationwide are sure to see these services eliminated. For- large health care expense or go without tunately, many communities have ral- lied when word has gotten out that reproductive health care. Catholic and non-Catholic institutions are consolidating. For example, the impact on access to reproductive HMOs would restrict coverage no mat- lawsuit in Troy, mentioned above, was health care in at least two ways. First, ter which facility a women goes to. brought by two women who had been a growing number of Catholic hospi- Last year, eight New York bishops denied services and referrals, with sup- tals are "sole provider" hospitals—that established a Catholic HMO called port from activists and advocacy orga- is, they are located in areas where no Fidelis Care New York, now the sec- nizations. (The suit was settled when other similar institution is easily acces- ond largest Medicaid-managed plan in Seton agreed to provide referrals.) And sible. (Sole provider status is granted the state. Fidelis serves low-income apart from legal strategies, effective by the U.S. government, and hospitals men and women and does not cover resistance to Catholic-dictated health with the designation are reimbursed any procedure or prescription prohib- care has been achieved through public for Medicare services at rates higher ited by the Directives, including con- education campaigns by community than those paid to other hospitals.) traceptives services or tubal ligations, activists at the time of mergers, and by Since 1994, the number of these even though these services are covered physicians who understand that the Catholic "sole providers" has risen by Medicaid in New York. Fidelis also care they provide may someday collide from 46 to 76. refuses to provide referrals for these with the Catholic Directives. Second, the growth of Catholic net- services, leaving its low-income In our pluralistic society, it is deeply works and the Catholic health-care enrollees without full information on troubling to many that a community or industry as a whole place Catholic hos- services covered by Medicaid. secular hospital would adopt the reli- pitals in a stronger negotiating position Where once abortion was the cru- giously based Directives, which define during mergers with non-Catholic cial issue in delaying or scrapping what is a moral or immoral service, and facilities. Administrators of failing mergers, bishops now have taken more which allow bishops, rather than doc- hospitals are desperate for resources, inflexible stances on widely accepted tors, to decide which medical options and many Catholic hospitals and sys- services such as family planning, tubal will be available to patients. In the end, tems are in excellent financial condi- ligations, and emergency contracep- the questions raised by mergers involv- tion. Catholic hospitals are able to tion for raped women. In approxi- ing Catholic hospitals are basic ques- force the non-Catholic hospitals to mately one-third of the consolidations tions about religious freedom, bodily agree to strict adherence to the CFFC identified in 1996 and 1997, all integrity, and democracy. fi

® fall 1998 FRONTEINES

Preaching Allowed UNBELIEF AMONG TOP in Public Schools SCIENTISTS GROWING

Until further notice, feel free to preach in The same authors who reported no decline in religious belief public schools in Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, and Wyoming among American scientists since 1916 now announce that, (the territory of the Tenth Circuit Court of during the same period, faith declined sharply among natural Appeals). Just don't come out and say scientists of top rank. that your intentions are religious. In a letter to Nature (July 23, 1998, p. 313), University of Georgia historian of That's the upshot of the Supreme science Edward J. Larson and Washington Times reporter Larry Witham described Court's refusal last June to reconsider, a survey of religious beliefs they administered to 517 American scientists who much less overturn, the Tenth Circuit's belong to the prestigious National Academy of Sciences (NAS). Larson and ruling in Rachel Bauchman v. West High School. The decision to turn away the Witham's survey closely replicated a survey of 400 "greater" scientists performed case ignored an amici curiae brief in 1914 by psychologist James H. Leuba and repeated by Leuba in 1933. Leuba, endorsed by the Council for Secular an atheist, expected religious belief to decline with increasing education and Humanism, Americans for Religious accomplishment, and it did. Leuba found distinguished scientists significantly less Liberty, and others. likely to believe in God and immortality than their less-accomplished contempo- During the 1994-1995 school year, raries. Further, religious belief among top scientists sagged further during the 19 Rachel Bauchman, a Jewish sophomore years between Leuba's two studies. at West High in Salt Lake City, Utah, Larson and Witham polled NAS members in a mix of disciplines mirroring that joined the school choir. She was immedi- originally polled by Leuba. The results seem stark: belief in God and immortality ately forced to endure choir leader were precipitously lower than what Leuba reported. "Among the top natural scien- Richard Torgerson's Mormon proselytiz- tists," Larson and Witham observe, "disbelief is greater than ever—almost total." ing, which included in-class prayer and exhortation. The accompanying table compares belief, disbelief, or doubt regarding God and According to Rachel's statement, human immortality as measured in 1914, 1933, and 1998. when she voiced objection to Torgerson's Biological scientists rejected beliefs in God and immortality by 65.2% and conduct, he began to berate her in his lec- 69.0%, respectively; among physical scientists, those beliefs were rejected by tures and showed a complaint letter from 79.0% and 76.3% of respondents. "Most of the rest were agnostic on both issues," Rachel's father to another choir mem- Larson and Witham report, "with few believers." Of all disciplines polled, mathe- ber's parents. Following this incident, maticians reported the highest level of positive belief in God and immortality, biol- Rachel's classmates took to calling her ogists the lowest. "Dirty Jew," "Jew Bitch," told her to "go These findings are doubly startling because just two years ago, the same back to Israel," and even drew a Nazi researchers announced their replication of another classic Leuba study. In that sur- swastika on a poster she made for class. vey, 40% of a more general sample of scientists reported belief in God and immor- The Tenth Circuit ruled that, because plausible secular purposes for his conduct tality—almost exactly the result Leuba obtained polling a like population of sci- existed, Torgerson's intention to inculcate religion had not been convincingly demonstrated. The Tenth Circuit decision thus sets a I precedent for shifting an excessive bur- d 9 den of proof onto the plaintiff in Establishment Clause suits. The silence of the Supreme Court, meanwhile, sig- I nals its tacit approval of a ruling that 1 contradicts crucial First Amendment decisions. 1l

IMETEICIIM ED FRONTLINES

entists in 1914. (Leuba's finding that National Center for Science Education SIDE LINES "only" 40% of scientists held religious to the NAS itself have sought to blunt beliefs shocked America when he pub- creation/evolution conflicts by mini- by Matt Cherry lished it in 1916.) In April 1997, mizing suggestions of direct opposition Larson and Witham announced in between science and religion per se. Wise Guy Nature that they had administered a Not surprisingly, part of that debate Politicians can say some pretty stu- similar survey to 1,000 scientists in the surrounds Larson and Witham's pid things. But it is rare for them to same mix of disciplines, and found methodology. Some observers voice come right out and explicitly attack belief still holding at 40%. concern about selection bias: the 517 intelligence and education. An Conservatives hailed the study as NAS members polled by Larson and exception to this rule is James proof that secularization was losing Witham represent a smaller, hence more Traficant, Jr., Congressman (Demo- momentum. Critics pointed out elite, slice of the scientific community crat) for the 17th District in Ohio. methodological problems and unex- than did the 400 "greater scientists" Commenting on the report that only plained declines in belief on particular Leube surveyed in 1914. That may 7% of top scientists believe in God, indices ("Faith Steady Among Scien- make it difficult to draw valid conclu- on August 3 he made the following tists—Or Is It?" FI, Summer 1997). sions about trends in religious belief learned contribution to the House of Despite its ambiguities, many saw over time. But it does nothing to blunt Congress: "Mr. Speaker, a new report the Larson and Witham study as a bell- another provocative finding: within the says only 7 percent of scientists wether of warmer relations between scientific community, highly advanced believe in God. That is right. And the science and religion. Since then, insti- accomplishments seem to correlate neg- reason they gave was that the scien- tutions such as the Templeton Fund atively with religious belief. That alone tists are `super smart.' Unbelievable. have stepped up their pace in bestowing is grist for secularists who suspect that Most of these absent-minded profes- awards, making grants, and holding the opposition between science and reli- sors cannot find the toilet. conferences to further promote the rap- gion is historic and genuine. "Mr. Speaker, I have one ques- prochement of science and religion. At tion for these wise guys to consti- the same time, organizations from the — Tom Flynn pate over: How can some thing Belief in personal God (percent) 1914 1933 1998 come from no thing? And while they Personal belief 27.7 15 7.0 digest that, Mr. Speaker, let us tell it Personal disbelief 52.7 68 72.2 like it is. Put these super-cerebral Doubt or agnosticism 20.9 17 20.8 master debaters in some foxhole with bombs bursting all around Belief in human immortality (percent) 1914 1933 1998 them, and I guarantee they will not Personal belief 35.2 18 7.9 be praying to Frankenstein. Personal disbelief 25.4 53 76.7 "Beam me up here. My col- Doubt or agnosticism 43.7 29 23.3 leagues, all the education in the world is worthless without God and Edward J. Larson and Larry Witham, "Leading Scientists Still Reject God." Nature, July 23, 1998, p. 313. a little bit of common sense" Rep. Traficant is on the House Science Committee. Unbelievable. researchers and counted noses in every True Churchgoing Protestant church in Ashtabula County, Ohio. Only 20% of adult The Holy Tooth Revealed members were there, half what Gallup In April, Taiwan celebrated the predicted. After more such counts, arrival of a tooth, allegedly from the Since 1939, the Gallup organization Hadaway, Penny Long Marier, and mouth of Buddha. Monks escorted has reported that 40% of adults attend Mark Chaves published a 1993 paper the holy tooth, encased in a minia- church weekly. (The most recent figure announcing that churchgoing was ture pagoda, around Taipei airport to is 42%.) Gallup's figure has long at- "probably one-half what everyone bring luck to the planes. Wu Poh- tracted skepticism. Were it true, some thinks it is" and suggesting that the hsiung, an advisor to Taiwan's pres- 73 million people would throng the secularization of society was real. ident, said worshiping the tooth was nation's houses of worship each week. Some pollsters have since refined their "by no means superstitious." I'm In 1992 C. Kirk Hadaway, a sociol- survey instruments. glad he cleared up that potential ogist employed by the United Church misunderstanding. of Christ, assembled an army of —Tom Flynn m ® fall 1998

FRONTLINES

'New Age' Captures the Workplace SIDE LINES

The workplace has become a cold, consultants. Each article carries sug- Raving Robertson dark and soulless realm ... or so we gested books or audiotapes with 800 The Reverend Pat Robertson is rant- are told by The Inner Edge: A Resource numbers to charge by phone. ing and raving again. The Christian for Enlightened Business Practice. Advice reaches heavily into New Coalition President has allowed Published by the American Association Age jargon, with gurus dressed in busi- America another glimpse of his of Critical Care Nurses, Edge is a ness suits outlining the "ritualized rites bizarre and hate-filled worldview. glossy catalogue disguised as a maga- of passage" needed to become a Denouncing Orlando, Florida, for its zine that offers the New Age as the "change master" or heralding the time gay day celebrations—during which solution to worker unhappiness and to "heal the Split Lodgepole ... mend the city tied rainbow flags to its business inefficiency. the Rainbow Hoop ... and restore the lampposts—he said, "You're right in "It's time to practice business as vision of the Braided Way." In the the way of some serious hurricanes, unusual" says Edge's editor Carol S. process, workers can throw away the and I don't think I'd be waving those Pearson, Ph.D. "People today are talk- shackles of servitude to the "God of flags in God's face if I were you." ing about their longing for community, economics" and start bettering them- Predicting hurricanes in Florida spirituality, dignity, and sense of pur- selves and American culture. is a fairly safe bet. Robertson was a pose in the workplace." According to Whether The Inner Edge's approach little more imaginative in threaten- the pages of The Inner Edge, from to business can solve the problems of ing that Orlando's tolerance would small business to Fortune 500, the American workplace is in doubt, bring "terrorist bombs, earth- American offices are rife with Dilbert but it's clear that The Inner Edge is the quakes, tornadoes and possibly a cynicism, sullied by "Ally McBeal" latest addition to a growing multi-mil- meteor." Robertson—one of the materialism and dangerously full of lion dollar New Age marketing web most powerful religious leaders in "L.A. Law" ruthlessness. It's an that relies on the lure of books, semi- the United States—made the com- Orwellian environ dominated by cubi- nars, videos, magazines, merchandise, ments on his weekday television cles, cold office technology, and orga- and audiotapes to capitalize on the show "The 700 Club." nizational sclerosis. "Companies that yearnings of unhappy people. In the do not attend to issues of emotional end, the most striking revelation found and spiritual intelligence risk going the in The Inner Edge is that a few entre- The Arms of the Lord way of the dinosaur" warns Pearson. preneurial gurus have grown an indus- An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, The Inner Edge offers solutions by try out of nothing. a bullet for a bullet? A July 1998 law way of author profiles, perspectives, has made it legal for Kentucky min- and book reviews that are heavy on —Matt Nisbet isters to carry concealed weapons in glamour photos of Ph.D. authors and their churches. It remains illegal for parishioners to take guns into church. In a pungent sound bite crit- Religious Grip Slips in Newfoundland icizing the new law, the Reverend Nancy Jo Kemper, Executive Newfoundland public schools are A 1995 referendum produced the Director of the Kentucky Council of finally free of their religious adminis- same result but was prevented from Churches, said, "Jesus would puke" trators. being implemented by court chal- It is a fad among young Chris- Last year a nonbinding referendúm lenges from parents. More than $7 mil- tians to wear jewelry with the initials was held to gauge public opinion on lion in government funds had to be "WWJD" to encourage themselves the issue. Seventy-three percent voted used to open denominational schools to ask, "What Would Jesus Do?" to oust the former set-up in favor of a that had been slated for closing. Maybe they can now also wear nondenominational system that The Canadian parliament is still "JWP" bracelets to remind them of accommodates religious instruction deciding whether to end church-run Reverend Kemper's answer. and observances. The switch was sup- schooling in the province of Quebec. ported by the Anglican church and There religious-based school boards Send interesting news and tidbits to four other denominations who had would be replaced with linguistic Sidelines, FREE INQUIRY, P.O. Box been administering the schools, but boards. 664, Amherst, NY 14226-0664, or was opposed by the Catholic and e-mail to: Pentecostal churches. —Andrea Szalanski [email protected]. free inquir ED

LETTERS

cally interfere with world leaders in Science vs. Religion, such a way as "to make it look like Revisited there is no interference." The point is that science is a process that builds Eugenie C. Scott seems to be one who, knowledge based on evidence. Science in her attempt to find a middle ground cannot "prove" the non-existence of a between science and religion, believes god that can hide all evidence of him- that science cannot pretend to "prove" self. Being "neutral" regarding claims that "there is no supernatural interfer- that cannot be disproved is silly and ence in nature" ("Two Kinds of gets us nowhere. Materialism:' FI, Spring 1998). She Scott's conclusion that "[i]f we goes further to say that God might have want people to accept science (espe- made the universe so as that it would cially the science of evolution), we appear to scientists that there is indeed omnipotent God can fool scientists— should allow them to make their reli- no God! I believe her points make little and the rest of us—into thinking He gious accommodations to it" misses sense for two reasons. doesn't exist would seem counterpro- the point. Religious accommodation is For one, the word supernatural— ductive. First off, it is rather obvious not possible if one really is to under- under which God falls—means some- that mankind feels it has been made stand the faceless, indifferent process thing that is "beyond nature" and aware of His existence many times in of evolution. I recommend Daniel which thus acts in contrary to it. The the past and even today just read the Dennett's relentlessly clear-headed supernatural has never left behind a Bible and/or talk to those at Fatima. book Darwin's Dangerous Idea. His single "proof," and those who have When then did God choose to make demonstration of the way nature has suggested that they have seen angels, Himself invisible to reason and obser- built "cranes" to drive the construction or witnessed true miracles, have been vation? Also, for there to exist a super- of living things, rather than supernat- more often than not proven illusionary natural force that can be likened to ural "skyhooks," ought to lead scien- or perhaps indulged in mere wishful God—one that is such that cannot be tists who "see evidence of God's hand- thinking. To be certain, if any such detected by mankind—then this force iwork" in the natural world to examine miracle like that of Jesus walking on would certainly not turn out to be any their supernatural hypothesis more water or Moses parting the seas did of the gods mankind has created since critically. actually occur, entire paradigms of he began creating gods—certainly not Scott is wrong when she implies that physics, chemistry, etc., would have to the Judeo-Christian God who is sup- religion does not try to answer ques- change dramatically. posedly always interfering with His tions about the natural world. As To say that the supernatural is "out "children." Such a force would seem to Richard Dawkins points out in "When there" changing nature or building either have always existed outside our Religion Steps on Science's Turf' (FI, nature is as meaningless as saying that understanding or will perhaps one day Spring 1998) religion makes many once there were leprechauns causing come under it as science progresses. I claims about the natural world. The the forests to behave as they do. In fact, feel though that this force would be question comes down to this: Do we there is no reason to assume that nature one of nature rather than of the "intel- have a right to claims for which we have needed anything to either start it going ligent designer" religion and Scott no evidence? If we teach our children or maintain it; it more or less just "is." refer to. that we do have this right, are we serv- Furthermore, if anything supernatural Barry F. Seidman ing them well? If we attend and support was indeed detected, the shift in Lincoln Park, N.J. institutions that promote this style of thought (science), would therefore "education;" are we not impeding the allow the once supernatural event to understanding of evolution in particular become a natural event and would Scott states that "science is neutral on and science in general? There can be no therefore be in the realm of science the existence of God." Science is also compatibility between religion, which after all. "neutral" on the existence of huge Finally, Scott's premise that an invisible pink elephants that telepathi- (Continued on p. 57)

19 m fall 1998 POSTMODERNISM

Truth and Consequences INTRODUCTION Matt Cherry

-1) ostmodernism" has been the leading fashion in academia for the last two decades. It has been variously described as the greatest intellectual advance since the eighteenth-century Enlightenment, and as the death knell of the Enlightenment's age of reason. It has been credited with opening academia to a greater diversity of values and truths, and accused of paving the way for nihilism and even fascism. The ferocity of the arguments about the merits of postmodernism has been matched by the confusion over its meaning. One reason it is so hard to pin down what postmodernism means is that the term is used in many different fields, from architecture to literature to philosophy just as is the modernism that it claims to be replacing. But its vagueness is also part of its essence: postmodernists refuse to be pinned down by strict definitions. We stand at the end of the Age of Reason. A new era of Nevertheless, it is possible to dis- the magical explanation of the world is rising. There is no tinguish some characteristics of postmodernist philosophy. Postmodernism truth, in the scientific sense. That which is called the questions accepted standards and crisis of science is nothing more than that the gentlemen emphasizes how social context affects beliefs and theories. It therefore tries are beginning to see on their own how they have to "deconstruct" the assumptions underlying truth claims, and it encour- gotten onto the wrong track with their objectivity. ages openness to the points of view of those outside the mainstream. —Adolf Hitler, Conversations with Hitler by Hermann Rauchning So far so good. If postmodernism provides an antidote to complacent claims of certainty then surely it is to be welcomed. In exposing the biases of human understanding, it is emphasizing a tenet of science that has been too often overlooked—the fallibility of human thought and the need for constant questioning and testing to improve our theories. Yet the leading postmodernist thinkers go much further than simply stressing the difficulty of getting at the truth. They reject the very notion of "truth" itself. They argue that there is no "objective knowledge" and no "facts," only personal interpretation, and that "reason" and "science" are no better than any other "myth," "narrative," or "magical explanation." (Using "irony" and "scare quotes" to show that the writer questions the validity of certain terms seem to be de rigeur for postmodernists.) And if even science cannot claim any cross-cultural truths, then moral concepts must also be completely relative—no more than a matter of taste or tradition. These theories about the nature of truth have real-world consequences. If taken seriously they would, for example, destroy support for science, social reform, and universal human rights. In recent years there has been a growing chorus of critics attacking the extremes of postmodernism. Some of the sharpest critiques have come from people expected to be sympathetic to postmodernism—academic theorists and social progressives. This special section of FREE INQUIRY presents some of the principal arguments against postmodernist philosophy. As well as examining the main claims of postmodernism, our contributors explore the consequences of accepting the complete relativism of "truth," "justice," and "ethics." Of course, it may be that thoroughgoing postmodernists are immune to all arguments based on appeals to reason. The reasoning may not be to their "taste." Perhaps it is the factor that helped make postmodernism so popular that will ultimately lead to its decline: intellectual fashion. In the end, its intellectual barrenness may be shown by the reason for its demise: never mind whether it is wrong, postmodernism is passé. How "ironic." fi Matt Cherry is Executive Director of the Council for Secular Humanism and Deputy Editor of FREE INQUIRY.

20 POSTMODERNISM

Back to the Enlightenment WE MUST KNOW, WE WILL KNOW E. O. Wilson

Edward O. Wilson was born in Birmingham, Alabama, in impersonal forces that imprisoned it. 1929. He received his B.S. and M.S. in biology from the They were driven by the thrill of discovery. They agreed on University of Alabama, and, in 1955, his Ph.D. in biology from the power of science to reveal an orderly, understandable uni- Harvard. He is currently Pellegrino University Research verse and thereby lay an enduring base for free rational dis- Professor and Honorary Curator in course. They thought that the perfection of the celestial bodies Entomology of the Museum of Compara- discovered by astronomy and physics could serve as a model tive Zoology at Harvard. The author/ for human society. They believed in the unity of all knowledge, coauthor of two Pulitzer Prize-winning individual human rights, natural law, and indefinite human books, On Human Nature (1978) and The progress. They tried to avoid metaphysics even while the flaws Ants (199O, with Bert Hölldobler), he is and incompleteness of their explanations forced them to prac- the recipient of many fellowships, honors, tice it. They resisted organized religion. They despised revela- and awards. Wilson's other books include tion and dogma. They endorsed, or at least tolerated, the state The Diversity of Life, Biophilia, Socio- as a contrivance required for civil order. They believed that biology: The New Synthesis, and his autobiography, education and right reason would enormously benefit human- Naturalist. A member of the International Academy of ity. A few, like Condorcet, thought human beings perfectible Humanism, Wilson is a frequent contributor to FREE INQUIRY. and capable of achieving a political utopia... . The Enlightenment, defiantly secular in orientation while indebted and attentive to theology, had brought the Western mind to the threshold of a new freedom. It waved aside everything, every form of religious and civil authority, every he Enlightenment gave rise to the modern imaginable fear, to give precedence to the ethic of free 1 intellectual tradition of the West and much of inquiry. It pictured a universe in which humanity plays the its culture. Yet, while reason was supposedly role of the perpetual adventurer... . Tthe defining trait of the human species and needed only a lit- By the early 1800s, however, the splendid image was fad- tle more cultivation to flower universally, it fell short. ing. Reason fractured, intellectuals lost faith in the leadership Humanity was not paying attention. Humanity thought oth- of science, and the prospect of the unity of knowledge sharply erwise. The causes of the Enlightenment's decline, which declined. It is true that the spirit of the Enlightenment lived on persist to the present day, illuminate the labyrinthine well- in political idealism and the hopes of individual thinkers. In springs of human motivation. It is worth asking, particularly the ensuing decades new schools sprang up like shoots from in the present winter of our cultural discontent, whether the the base of a shattered tree: the utilitarian ethics of Bentham original spirit of the Enlightenment—confidence, optimism, and Mill, the historical materialism of Marx and Engels, the eyes to the horizon—can be regained... . pragmatism of Charles Peirce, William James, and John The Enlightenment itself, however, was never a unified Dewey. But the core agenda seemed irretrievably abandoned. movement. It was less a determined swift river than a lace- The grand conception that had riveted thinkers during the pre- work of deltaic streams working their way along twisted vious two centuries lost most of its credibility... . channels. By the time of the French Revolution it was very All movements tend to extremes, which is approximately old. It emerged from the Scientific Revolution during the where we are today. The exuberant self-realization that ran early seventeenth century and attained its greatest influence from romanticism to modernism has given rise now to philo- in the European academy during the eighteenth century. Its sophical postmodernism (often called poststructuralism, originators often clashed over fundamental issues. Most especially in its more political and sociological expressions). engaged from time to time in absurd digressions and specu- Postmodernism is the ultimate polar antithesis of the lations, such as looking for hidden codes in the Bible or for Enlightenment. The difference between the two extremes the anatomical seat of the soul. The overlap of their opinion can be expressed roughly as follows: Enlightenment thinkers was nevertheless extensive and clear and well reasoned believe we can know everything, and radical postmodernists enough to bear this simple characterization: They shared a believe we can know nothing. passion to demystify the world and free the mind from the The philosophical postmodernists, a rebel crew milling

QI fall 1998 beneath the black flag of anarchy, challenge the very foun- to sound patronizing), it's not so bad.... Reason will be dations of science and traditional philosophy. Reality, they advanced to new levels, and emotions played in potentially propose, is a state constructed by the mind, not perceived by infinite patterns. The true will be sorted from the false, and it. In the most extravagant version of this constructivism, we will understand one another very well, the more quickly there is no "real" reality, no objective truths external to men- because we are all of the same species and possess biologi- tal activity, only prevailing versions disseminated by ruling cally similar brains. social groups. Nor can ethics be firmly grounded, given that And to others concerned about growing dissolution and each society creates its own codes for the benefit of the same irrelevance of the intelligentsia, which is indeed alarming, I oppressive forces... . suggest there have always been two kinds of original thinkers, Scientists, awake and held responsible for what they say those who upon viewing disorder try to create order, and those while awake, have not found postmodernism useful. The who upon encountering order try to protest it by creating dis- postmodernist posture toward science in return is one of sub- order. The tension between the two is what drives learning for- version. There appears to be a provisional acceptance of grav- ward. It lifts us upward through a zigzagging trajectory of ity, the periodic table, astrophysics, and similar stanchions of progress. And in the Darwinian contest of ideas, order always the external world, but in general the scientific culture is wins, because—simply—that is the way the real world works. viewed as just another way of knowing, and, moreover, con- Nevertheless, here is a salute to the postmodernists. As trived mostly by European and American white males. today's celebrants of corybantic Romanticism, they enrich It is tempting to relegate postmodernism to history's culture. They say to the rest of us: Maybe, just maybe, you curiosity cabinet alongside theosophy and transcendental ide- are wrong. Their ideas are like sparks from firework explo- alism, but it has seeped by now into the mainstream of the sions that travel away in all directions, devoid of following social sciences and humanities. It is viewed there as a tech- energy, soon to wink out in the dimensionless dark. Yet a few nique of metatheory (theory about theories), by which schol- will endure long enough to cast light on unexpected subjects. ars analyze not so much the subject matter of the scientific That is one reason to think well of postmodernism, even as it discipline as the cultural and psychological reasons particular menaces rational thought.... John Stuart Mill correctly scientists think the way they do. The analyst places emphasis noted that teacher and learner alike fall asleep at their posts on "root metaphors," those ruling images in the thinker's when there is no enemy in the field. And if somehow, against mind by which he designs theory and experiments... . all evidence, against all reason, the linchpin falls out and As the diversity of metaphors has been added to ethnic everything is reduced to epistemological confusion, we will diversity and gender dualism to create new workstations in find the courage to admit that the postmodernists were right, the postmodernist academic industry, and then politicized, and in the best spirit of the Enlightenment, we will start over schools and ideologies have multiplied explosively. Usually again. Because, as the great mathematician David Hilbert leftist in orientation, the more familiar modes of general once said, capturing so well that part of the human spirit postmodernist thought include Afrocentrism, constructivist expressed through the Enlightenment, Wir müssen wissen. social anthropology, "critical" (i.e., socialist) science, deep Wir werden wissen. We must know, we will know. fi ecology, ecofeminism, Lacanian psychoanalysis, Latourian sociology of science, and neo-Marxism. To which add all the From Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge by E. O. Wilson. ©1998 by bewildering varieties of deconstruction techniques and New E. O. Wilson. Reprinted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf and the author. Age holism swirling round about and through them. Their adherents fret upon the field of play, sometimes 10-11 brilliantly, usually not, jargon-prone and elusive. Each in his 1100111/4 own way seems to be drifting toward that mysterium tremen- 11110-4 dum abandoned in the seventeenth century by the Enlightenment. And not without the expression of considerable personal anguish. Of the late Michel Foucault, the greater interpreter of political power in the history of ideas, poised "at the summit of Western intellectual life," George Scialabba has perceptively written,

Foucault was grappling with the deepest, most intractable dilemmas of modern identity.... For those who believe that neither God nor natural law nor transcendent Reason exists, and who recognize the varied and subtle ways in which material interest—power—has corrupted, even constituted, every previous morality, how is one to live, to what values can one hold fast?

To Foucault I would say, if I could (and without meaning POSTMODERNISM

Exposing the Emperor's WHY WE WON'T LEAVE POSTMODERNISM ALONE New Clothes Jean Bricmont

Few have been more vocal in their criticism of postmodernist quotes were selected from a much larger "dossier" compiled academic discourse than Jean Bricmont and Alan Sokal. In by Alan Sokal that we decided to publish, together with com- 1996 Sokal, professor of physics at New York University, ments explaining why the statements were nonsensical, in our shook up academia by submitting a parody of postmodernist book, Intellectual Impostures (Fashionable Nonsense). thinking on natural science to the leading North American We believe that we have uncovered an extreme form of journal of cultural studies, Social Text. The parody—rife intellectual abuse—namely, academics trying to impress a with nonsense disguised as profundity—was accepted as a nonscientific audience with abstruse scientific jargon that the serious article and was published in the spring/summer 1996 academics themselves do not understand very well. Our goal issue. Later in the May/June 1996 issue of Lingua Franca, was to show that, in some sense, the "emperor is naked" and Sokal revealed the hoax, provoking comment and debate that generations of students who had to struggle in order to among scholars and scientists around the world. Bricmont, a understand obscure texts were sometimes right to suspect professor of physics at the University of Louvain in Belgium, that they were wasting their time. has also criticized what he and Sokal believe are excesses of We have distinguished, roughly, two types of abuses: postmodernist discourse—chiefly the misuses (and misun- 1.The "importing" of concepts from the exact sciences in derstandings) of science by nonscientists. psychoanalysis, semiotics, sociology, without giving any In their book, Intellectual Impostures (now published in conceptual justification. both French and English by Profile Books, United Kingdom, 2. The display of erudition, name-dropping, and plays on and to appear under the title Fashionable Nonsense, by words. This derives from the postmodernist attitude: all Picador Press, in the U.S.), Sokal and Bricmont offer numer- attempts to "do science" must be given up. ous quotations from postmodernist authors demonstrating Examples of these problems are plentiful throughout the "sloppy thinking," scientific ignorance, and impressive but relevant literature, and many of them can be found in our meaningless prose. Much of the authentic quoted material book. Here, however, I wish to briefly answer some of the sounds like Sokal's own tongue-in-cheek imitation. For exam- objections that are sometimes raised against our critique and ple, Sokal declares in his Social Text spoof that "the pi of explain why such a critique is important. Euclid and the G of Newton, formerly thought to be constant and universal, are now perceived in their ineluctable historic- ity; and the putative observer becomes fatally de-centered, ANSWERING THE COUNTER-CRITICS disconnected from any epistemic link to a space-time point Objection: Your critique is irrelevant, marginal. that can no longer be defined by geometry alone." Universal Response: Thus far, the incriminating postmodernist quotes constants no longer universal? If this is emblematic of post- that we have cited have been rather brief. But in our book, we modernist thinking on science, it's little wonder that two collect longer quotes that show that these are not just isolated accomplished scientists have declared that enough is enough. mistakes. Moreover, we quote secondary sources, which In the following, Bricmont answers common objections to amplify and analyze postmodernist writers and do so approv- his (and Sokal's) critique and explains why they bother ingly. For example, Lacan's views on mathematics are discussed by Granon-Lafont', Leupin2, Nasio', and Vapereau.4 It is true that these people are not mainly concerned with mathematics and physics. But we believe that our criticism should be an "eye opener." For example, Bertrand Russell he funniest part of the now-famous Social says that he was raised in a Hegelian tradition. When he read Text parody was not provided by the author, what Hegel says about differential and integral calculus, he but by various French and American intel- thought that it was "muddle-headed nonsense," and this Tlectuals who were quoted in the article making absurd or helped him to become more critical of Hegel.' If the authors meaningless statements about physics or mathematics. Those that we quote are really serious and deep thinkers, why are

f i fall 1998 they so sloppy when they write about the sciences? After all, the natural sciences are expressed in a highly tech- Moreover, what they say here can be compared with precise nical language, so why should philosophy or the human sci- statements and be rigorously evaluated, which is not always ences be accessible to lay readers like us? Our answer is that, the case with typical statements of Lacan, Deleuze, or Hegel. for the natural sciences, most results can be roughly explained to lay people in ways that one can more or less Objection: You miss the point. understand. For example, although we have no training in Response: The argument would be that human affairs are biology, we can follow, at some level, developments in that much more complicated than what natural scientists are used field by reading good popular books. Moreover, if we want to dealing with. And "our" authors reveal profound truths, to learn more, there is a well-defined path to follow. But we which are not easy to express in simple words. When they have never seen the analogue for the un-understandable use scientific terminology, they give to the words a meaning statements in, say, Lacan or Deleuze. Besides, many state- other than their usual one, and we fail to understand them. ments that are understandable are either confused or banal. Our answer is that this is highly unlikely. How could it So we feel free to remain skeptical about the existence of help our authors to communicate profound truths to their these deep thoughts. (usual) readers if they use a scientific terminology that most Kant already expressed the same idea, in a different context: readers do not understand (and that, very often, the authors One doesn't know whether to laugh harder at the charlatan themselves do not understand either)? who spreads all this fog ... or at the audience which naively As for the profound truths, we fail to perceive them. This imagines the reason it cannot clearly recognize and grasp is then supposed to be due to our intellectual limitations. [his] masterpiece of insight is that new masses of truth are

Sokal and Bricmont: Compiling Nonsense Are popular postmodernist writings W. W. Norton, 1977, pp. 318-320] Perhaps it is. Let us make the really as outrageous as Sokal and hypothesis that it is insofar as it Bricmont claim? Here's a rundown on It is, we confess, distressing to privileges the speed of light over some samples of such discourse other speeds that are vitally neces- see our erectile organ equated to sary to us. What seems to me to found in their new book Fashionable . This reminds us of Woody Allen, indicate the possibly sexed nature Nonsense. who, in Sleeper, objects to the repro- of the equation is not directly its gramming of his brain: "You can't uses by nuclear weapons, rather it [Jacques Lacan] returns to the same touch my brain, it's my second- is having privileged what goes the theme: [of the psychoanalytic role of favorite organ!" fastest.... [Luce Irigaray, "Sujet de la science, imaginary numbers]: * * * sujet sexue?" in Sens et place des connaissances No doubt Claude Lévi-Strauss, in [An extreme example of confusion] dans la sociéte (Paris: Centre his commentary on Mauss, wished appears in a recent article by Latour National de Recherche Scien- to recognize in it the effect of a in La Recherche, a French monthly tifique, 1987) p. 110] zero symbol. But it seems to me magazine devoted to the populariza- that what we are dealing with here tion of science (Latour 1998). Here Whatever one may think about the is rather the signifier of the lack of "other speeds that are vitally neces- this zero symbol. That is why, at the Latour discusses what he interprets risk of incurring a certain amount as the discovery in 1976 by French sary to us," the fact remains that the of opprobrium, I have indicated to scientists working on the mummy of relationship E=Mc2 between energy what point I have pushed the dis- the pharaoh Ramses Il, that his death (E) and mass (M) is experimentally tortion of mathematical algorithm (circa 1213 B.c.) was due to tubercu- verified to a high degree of precision, in my use of it: the symbol, losis. Latour asks: "How could he and it would obviously not be valid if which is still written as "i" in the theory of complex numbers, is pass away due to a bacillus discov- the speed of light (c) were replaced obviously justified only because it ered by Robert Koch in 1882?" by another speed. makes no claim to any automatism Latour notes, correctly, that it would In summary, it seems to us that in its later use... . be an anachronism to assert that the influence of cultural, ideological Thus the erectile organ comes Ramses Il was killed by machine-gun and sexual factors on scientific to symbolize the place of jouis- fire or died from the stress provoked choices—the subjects studied, the sance, not in itself, or even in the form of an image, but as a part by a stock-market crash. But then, theories put forward—is an important lacking in the desired image: that is Latour wonders, why isn't death from research topic in the history of sci- why it is equivalent to the of tuberculosis likewise an anachro- ence and deserves a rigorous investi- the signification produced above, nism? He goes so far as to assert gation. But, to contribute usefully to of the jouissance that it restores by that "Before Koch, the bacillus has this research, one must understand the coefficient of its statement to no real existence." at a rather deep level the scientific the function of lack of signifier (-1). * * * fields under analysis. Unfortunately, [Jean Lacan, "The Subversion of the Subject and the Dialectic of Let us consider, finally, an argument Irigaray's claims show a superficial Desire in the Freudian Uncon- put forward ... by [Luce] lrigaray: understanding of the subjects she scious," in Ecrits: A Selection, addresses and consequently bring trans. by Alan Sheridan (New York: Is E=Mc2 a sexed equation? nothing to the discussion.

24 being hurled at it. [Kant, Critique of Judgment, Section 47] seem to strengthen his philosophy greatly. As regards science, especially biology and physiology, I am not competent These are only metaphors or analogies. to criticize his interpretations. But as regards mathematics, Objection: he has deliberately preferred traditional errors in interpreta- Response: This is certainly true for some of the texts. But tion to the more modern views, which have prevailed among what is the point of making such analogies? Analogies may mathematicians for the last eighty years. In this matter, he certainly be fruitful between two different domains of has followed the example of most philosophers. In the eigh- knowledge. But they have to serve some purpose, e.g., the teenth and the early nineteenth centuries, the infinitesimal transfer of information—one explains a new concept by calculus, though well developed as a method, was supported, as regards his foundations, by many fallacies and analogy with a older and more familiar one. But in post- much confused thinking. Hegel and his followers seized modernist writing, the analogies are made with concepts (in upon these fallacies and confusions, to support them in their physics or mathematics) that are neither familiar to the (non- attempt to prove all mathematics self-contradictory. Thence scientific) readers nor to the writers. And since the analogies the Hegelian account of these matters passed into the cur- are made between vague theories (e.g., Lacanian psycho- rent thought of philosophers, where it has remained long after the mathematicians have removed all the difficulties analysis) and well-established ones, we can only suspect that upon which the philosophers rely. And so long as the main their real role is to legitimize the weaker theories. object of philosophers is to show that nothing can be learned by patience and detailed thinking, but that we ought rather Objection: It is all poetry. to worship the prejudices of the ignorant under the title of "reason" if we are Hegelians, or of "intuition" if we are Response: Obviously, we have no objection to the use of a sci- Bergsonians, so long philosophers will take care to remain entific terminology by artists, even if the meaning of the words ignorant of what mathematicians have done to remove the is slightly distorted. But we're dealing with people who obvi- errors by which Hegel profited.' ously want to make a theoretical work. Moreover, these texts lead to thousands of commentaries, seminars, doctoral theses, So although abuses of the sciences by "philosophers" are etc. They cannot be excused by appealing to some poetic freedom. By exposing fraudulent work, we hope, at least, to encourage people who do serious work in these WHY BOTHER? fields but who do not necessarily get the publicity Most scientists will think that our effort to take postmodernism to task that 'our authors' receive. is a waste of time. And it certainly not exactly new, they have to be exposed over and over again is, from the point of view of the natural sciences. We also by all those who do not accept the "the bankruptcy of intel- agree that our postmodernist authors would not be worth dis- lect and the triumph of intuition." cussing if they were not so famous. But we feel that there are Another issue is the broader effect on the general culture of several issues involved in our work, whose relevance will be this kind of fraudulent work: if almost anything can be said appreciated differently by different people. about the sciences, why should they be taken seriously? First of all, there are canons of "systematic thinking" and Epistemic and cultural relativism and sloppy thinking about "intellectual rigor" both in the human sciences and in the the sciences strengthen each other. We fear that skepticism and natural sciences. It is true that our understanding of "nature" hostility to science and reason, if unchecked, will ultimately is much more developed than our understanding of lead to cultural disasters. Pure skepticism won't last, and reli- "humans," but this does not mean that, in the latter subject, gious fundamentalism or other forms of deep irrationalism "Anything goes." By exposing fraudulent work, we hope, at will take its place. As pointed out by Steven Weinberg: least, to encourage people who do serious work in these As I mentioned earlier, our civilization has been powerfully fields but who do not necessarily get the publicity that our affected by the discovery that nature is strictly governed by authors receive. Some scientists have to get involved in this impersonal laws. As an example I like to quote the remark of endeavor because, although the level of physics or mathe- Hugh Trevor-Roper that one of the early effects of this dis- matics that we use here is basically that of a good under- covery was to reduce the enthusiasm for burning witches. We will need to confirm and strengthen the vision of a rationally graduate student, some specialized knowledge is needed. understandable world if we are to protect ourselves from the To put these questions in historical perspective, it is irrational tendencies that still beset humanity.' worthwhile to see what Bertrand Russell wrote 50 years ago: One of the bad effects of an anti-intellectual philosophy Finally, there is a political issue (we realize, however, that such as that of Bergson, is that it thrives upon the errors and the questions discussed here are so broad that many people confusions of the intellect. Hence it is led to prefer bad will agree with us without sharing our political orientations). thinking to good, to declare every momentary difficulty In the United States, a large part of this "postmodern" dis- insoluble, and to regard every foolish mistake as revealing the bankruptcy of intellect and the triumph of intuition. course originates from sectors of the academic Left. We do There are in Bergson's work many allusions to mathematics not wish to attack the Left as such, quite the contrary. But as and science, and to a careless reader these allusions may Sokal observed:

m fall 1998 For most of the past two centuries, the Left has been identi- minority view was always that power could be undermined by fied with science and against obscurantism; we have believed truth.... Once you read Foucault as saying that truth is simply that rational thought and the fearless analysis of objective an effect of power, you've had it.... But American depart- reality (both natural and social) are incisive tools for com- ments of literature, history and sociology contain large num- bating the mystifications promoted by the powerful—not to bers of self-described leftists who have confused radical doubts mention being desirable human ends in their own right. And about objectivity with political radicalism, and are in a mess.'° yet, over the past two decades, a large number of "progressive" or "leftist" academic humanists and social scientists And, finally, Stanislav Andreski: (though virtually no natural scientists, whatever their political views) have turned away from this Enlightenment legacy So long as authority inspires awe, confusion and absurdity and—bolstered by French imports such as deconstruction as enhance conservative tendencies in society. Firstly, because well as by home-grown doctrines like feminist standpoint clear and logical thinking leads to a cumulation of knowledge epistemology—have embraced one or another version of (of which the progress of the natural sciences provides the epistemic relativism." best example) and the advance of knowledge sooner or later undermines the traditional order. Confused thinking, on the And further: other hand, leads nowhere in particular and can be indulged indefinitely without producing any impact upon the world." One of my goals is to make a small contribution toward a dialogue on the Left between humanists and natural scientists— I will conclude with some remarks of Noam Chomsky, a "two cultures" which, contrary to some optimistic pro- self-described "child of the Enlightenment," who has main- nouncements (mostly by the former group), are probably far- ther apart in mentality than at any time in the past 50 years. tained a high level of intellectual rigor both in his profes- Like the genre it is meant to satirize—myriad exemplars of sional and in his political work: which can be found in my reference list—my [hoax] article is a melange of truths, half-truths, quarter-truths, falsehoods, non Left intellectuals took an active part in the lively working sequiturs, and syntactically correct sentences that have no class culture. Some sought to compensate for the class char- meaning whatsoever. (Sadly, there is only a handful of the lat- acter of the cultural institutions through programs of workers' ter: I tried hard to produce them, but I found that, save for rare education, or by writing best-selling books on mathematics, bursts of inspiration, I just didn't have the knack.) I also science, and other topics for the general public. Remarkably, their left counterparts today often seek to We fear that extreme skepticism and hostility deprive working people of these tools of emancipation, informing us that the "pro- to science and reason, if unchecked, will ject of the Enlightenment" is dead, that we must abandon the "illusions" of science and ultimately lead to cultural disasters. rationality—a message that will gladden the hearts of the powerful, delighted to employed some other strategies that are well-established monopolize these instruments for their own use." fi (albeit sometimes inadvertently) in the genre: appeals to authority in lieu of logic; speculative theories passed off as Notes established science; strained and even absurd analogies; rhetoric that sounds good but whose meaning is ambiguous; L Jeanne Granon-Lafont, Topologie Lacanienne et Clinique Analytique (Paris: Point Hors Ligne, 1990). and confusion between the technical and everyday senses of 2. Alexandre Leupin, "Introduction: Voids and Knots in Knowledge and English words. (All works cited in my article are real, and all Truth." In Lacan and the Human Sciences, edited by Alexandre Leupin quotations are rigorously accurate; none are invented.) (Lincoln, Neb.: University of Nebraska Press, 1991), pp. 1-23. But why did I do it? I confess that I'm an unabashed Old 3. Juan-David Nasio, 1987. Les yeux de Laure: Le concept d'objet "a" Leftist who never quite understood how deconstruction was dans la theorie de J. Lacan. Suivi d'une Introduction à la topologie psych- supposed to help the working class. And I'm a stodgy old analytique. Paris: Aubier; Nasio, Juan-David. 1992. "Le concept de sujet de scientist who believes, naively, that there exists an external l'inconscient." Texte d'une intervention realisee dans le cadre du seminaire world, that there exist objective truths about that world, and de Jacques Lacan "La topologie et le temps." le mardi 15 mai 1979. In Cinq that my job is to discover some of them. (If science were lecons sur la theorie de Jacques Lacan. Paris: Editions Rivages. 4. Jean Michel Vappereau, Essaim: Le Groupe Fondamental du Noeud. merely a negotiation of social conventions about what is Psychanalyse et Topologie du Sujet. (Paris: Point Hors Ligne, 1985). agreed to be "true," why would I bother devoting a large frac- 5. Bertrand Russell, "My Mental Development." In The Philosophy of tion of my all-too-short life to it? I don't aspire to be the Bertrand Russell, edited by Paul Arthur Schilpp. Library of Living Emily Post of quantum field theory.) Philosophers (New York: Tudor, 1951). But my main concern isn't to defend science from the 6. Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy (London: Routledge barbarian hordes of lit crit (we'll survive just fine, thank 1991). First published in 1946. you). Rather, my concern is explicitly political: to combat a 7. Steven Weinberg, "Sokal's Hoax." New York Review of Books, 43:13 currently fashionable postmodernist/poststructuralist/social- (August 8, 1996): 11-15. constructivist discourse—and more generally a penchant for 8.Alan Sokal, "A Physicist Experiments with Cultural Studies." Lingua Franca, 6: 4 (May/June 1996): 62-64. subjectivism—which is, I believe, inimical to the values and 9. Alan D. Sokal, "Transgressing the Boundaries: An Afterword" (sub- future of the Left.' mitted to Social Text, and rejected), published in Dissent (Fall 1996), 93-99. 10. Alan Ryan, 1992. Princeton Diary. London Review of Books, 26 Alan Ryan said it well: March: 21. 11. Stanislav Andreski, Social Sciences as Sorcery (London: Andre Deutsch, 1972). It is, for instance, pretty suicidal for embattled minorities to 12.Noam Chomsky, Year 501: The Conquest Continues (Boston: South embrace Michel Foucault, let alone Jacques Derrida. The End Press, 1993).

26 POSTMODERNISM

A Defense of the Absurd WE CAN LEARN A FEW THINGS FROM THIS ANTI-SCIENCE TREND Vern L. Bullough

--p immediate past it has been wrong-headed biological assumptions that account for all the erroneous beliefs pointed out above. But it was also developments in biology that eventually led to corrections in today's world. That is, the scientific ostmodernism, the radical philosophy that method ultimately works, but those damaged by past mis- claims that truth is what one says it is, is a statements are often not willing to forgive. Some of those necessary corrective to some of the past individuals who are members of groups damaged by excessive claims made in the name of science. "alleged" scientific proofs are among the most active in the Anthropologists, well into the twentieth century, tended to propagation of postmodernism. claim that Africans were inferior to Europeans, and it was But there is also another view of postmodernism that not until Franz Boaz challenged such claims in the 1920s helps explain its popularity. That is, in spite of the criticism and 30s that they were shown to be without scientific basis. it faces, it can be exhilarating and fun. It can promote a new The same statement was made by Hitler about the Jews. way of looking at an old While women were text. In a field like English clearly human, it was literature, where the chance claimed in the name of of new findings about a par- science that they were ticular author or work are intellectually and in other not very likely and most of ways inferior to males. the data base is known, it is Homosexuals and les- t / / important to periodically bians were diagnosed as reinterpret the classics in sick or mentally ill as late u light of current trends. In as the 1970s, also in the academic areas, where pub- name of science. The list lish or perish is said to be could go on. r r ~ L7 the norm for academic Of course, it is not sci- 0. i ' advancement, little more ence saying this but indi- can be said about Chaucer viduals who carried the except to offer new inter- prejudices of their day pretations. Chaucer can be and felt science backed and has been interpreted by them up. This is why it is writers influenced by Marx, important to emphasize Freud, feminism, and oth- that it is the scientific o ers, as well as by the post- method that is important J modernists. But this means and not what some indi- that postmodernism has a vidual at a particular time SISYPHUS ToDAY limit. It, too, will pass, to be claims that science says. J replaced by another new It is also true that some theory that will also open scientific fields have been better able to use the scientific up new frontiers, and the scholars using it will enjoy show- method than others. Biology, for example, was in many ways ing how the postmodernists were in error. a soft science until the development of microbiology and the In short, postmodernism is something to examine, be crit- current explosion in biological knowledge. In fact in the ical of, to play with; but ultimately, the best way to gain hard evidence is the scientific method. Enjoy postmodernism Vern L. Bullough is a Senior Editor of FREE INQUIRY and a while you can, and write articles wondering what it all Visiting Professor at the University of Southern California. means, but its passing is already being noted. fi

m fall 1998 POSTMODERNISM

Postmodernism and WHY THEORY AND REALITY DON'T MIX Universal Human Rights Xiaorong Li

Caesar: Pardon him Theodotus: he is a barbarian, and must to that extent detract from the applicability of any thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the Declaration of Human Rights to mankind as a whole.' laws of nature. Caesar and Cleopatra, Act II This is perhaps the most articulate voice of postmodern George Bernard Shaw relativism. That it came from anthropologists is not a surprise since their trade advises the preservation of indigenous cultures. Claims to universality of such values as human rights are claims to power and cultural hegenomy in disguise. Fifty years later, challenges to universality of human rights have continued and, more specifically, have flared up ast summer, President Bill Clinton's visit to in China, where government leaders have asserted particu- China renewed the worldwide larist cultural values. Confucianism and other tra- debate over the relationship ditions of thought were long derided in favor of between nations with a disparate human rights Marxism. Having faced the need to counter inter- standards. On the occasion of the Universal national criticisms of its human rights record Declaration of Human Rights' fiftieth anniversary, since 1989, the Chinese authorities now claim it is only fitting to visit the challenges posed by that their political repression is justified by tradi- postmodern ethical relativism and official govern- tional "cultural values." Replying to questions ment rhetoric. A comparison between them, their about human rights during Clinton's visit, unlikely alliance and inevitable frictions, will illu- Chinese president Jiang Zemin thus defended the minate some of the issues that face the movement government's authoritarian policies: "[t]he two of universal human rights. I will focus on China in my com- countries differ in social system, ideology, historical tradi- ments, although the same situation exists in many other tion and cultural background, the two countries have differ- countries with autocratic rulers. ent means and ways in realizing human rights and funda- In 1947, on the eve of the United Nations General mental freedoms." Official statements' have declared that Assembly's vote to adopt the Universal Declaration of China has its own unique cultural values (such as obedience Human Rights (UDHR), the American Anthropological to authority, collectivism, family, and other dispositions), Association (AAA) submitted a statement to the draft com- which are said to be opposed to human rights ideals that mittee making a strongly worded cultural relativist case cherish individual freedom and tolerance. against a Declaration. The AAA argued that respect for the Both the AAA and official Chinese statements made individual entails a respect for cultural differences since the strong relativist claims, not simply empirical ones about the individual realizes his or her personality through his culture; world's great diversity of views on right and wrong that grew that no technique of qualitatively evaluating cultures has out of diverse cultures, or about a lack of commonly been discovered. accepted criterion for judging across cultures. They made normative claims: the diverse views on right and wrong (or Standards and values are relative to the culture from which values) should not be judged by, or relocated to, other cul- they derive so that any attempt to formulate postulates that have grown out of the beliefs or moral codes of one culture tures; or, a culture should not impose on other cultures its own ideas.' For them, international human rights are merely Xiaorong Li is a Research Scholar at the Institute for disguised Western cultural ideas. Philosophy and Public Policy, the University of Maryland, As globalization now more rapidly erodes the once College Park. She is former Executive Director and current stronger traditional notions of sovereignty, domestic juris- Vice-Chair of Human Rights in China. diction, and cultural autonomy, the current debate reflects free inquiry El

pains, pride, and memories of humiliating events that are ship) would find sympathetic ears among the Confucian acutely experienced by nations undergoing radical transfor- scholars who seemed at times to have placed filial piety mation. Recognizing the great diversity of values and their above justice. Their respective views are undeniably compa- roots in cultures was once one step in the direction of moral rable or commensurable. condemnation of colonialism and brutal missionary expedi- tions. But ethical relativists' insistence on an incommensura- bility of cultural values—that each culture and its values are FLAWS IN THE ARGUMENT unique and cannot be compared with other cultures—is Cultural relativists largely rested their normative claims on rather a denial of overlapping and converging values the empirical claim that cultural and value diversity exists. between different cultures in human history. But the existence of moral diversity does no more to justify that we ought to respect different moral values than the existence of disease, hunger, torture, slavery do to justify that we UNIQUE OR UNIVERSAL? ought to value them. Empirical claims thus are not suitable Uniqueness requires that the set of values in a culture be as the basis for developing moral principles such as "Never well-defined, self-enclosed. But the task of neatly defining judge other cultures" or "We ought to tolerate different val- and clearly drawing the borders of a culture has many ues."6 Consequently, if it is proved that China had its distinct methodological problems. If cultures have fuzzy borders, as culture and values, this fact does not entail that such values they do, then, they would necessarily have something shared should not be judged by other cultures and values. with neighboring cultures. As soon as values become shared Another problem with ethical relativism has to do with a and thus comparable, then there must be some standards for "genetic fallacy," the assumption that value norms of origi- making the comparisons. nating elsewhere should not be suitable to apply here. It Fortunately, the claim to uniqueness is empirical and can be verified. For example, one can Official statements have declared that China has try to verify the propositions that relativists commonly make about its own unique cultural values, which are said to Chinese values, such as, "The be opposed to human rights ideals that cherish Chinese place the collective interest of family, community, and individual freedom and tolerance. society above that of individuals," or "In disputes, the Chinese place greater importance on assumes that a norm is suitable only to the context of its ori- subsistence than on freedom." Are these propositions gin. But the origin of an idea in one context—cultural or reli- untrue or inappropriate about any other cultures in the gious or historical—does not entail the imperative that it world? Can anyone credibly make the statement that, in no never be adapted to another context. The Chinese leaders other societies at no time in their history, people other than will contradict themselves if they claim that an idea's being the Chinese have placed collective interest above individual born or grown outside China is a reason for rejecting it from interest? There is certainly clear evidence that such state- being accepted in China. They have officially appropriated ments can be made about many communities or cultures in many foreign ideas in China, including, first, Marxism and, the world, including those in the West. now, market capitalism. Confucian sayings have often been cited to support the Considering for a moment the AAA statement that proposition that, when it comes to judging social justice, the "respect for individual differences entails a respect for cul- Chinese culture is centered on the interest of the family. If tural differences." If a disagreement exists between a culture the sage king, Shun's father, committed murder, Mencius and an individual who was born and raised in it, if conflict- advised, the moral action for Shun was that "He would have ing interpretations of some cultural code of conduct occur secretly carried the old man on his back and fled to the edge and divide up a community, how would individual differ- of the Sea and lived there happily, never again a thought to ences be respected by "a respect for cultural difference?" the Empire:" Now consider the following quote: What if the respect or tolerated culture disrespects and advocates violence against individuals who dissent? When a girl ... [F]riendship would seem to hold cities together, and leg- fights to escape female genital circumcision or foot-binding islators would seem to be more concerned about it than about or arranged marriage, when a widow does not want to burned justice. For concord would seem to be similar to friendship and they aim at concord above all, while they try above all to to death to honor her dead husband, the relativist is obliged expel civil conflict, which is enmity. Further, if people are to "respect" the cultural or traditional customs from which friends, they have no need of justice .. 5 the individuals are trying to escape. In so doing, the relativist is not merely disrespecting the individual but effectively The person who wrote this was Aristotle. Here, the values endorsing the moral ground for torture, rape, and murder. On espoused (collective interest, community, concord, friend- moral issues, ethical relativists can not possibly remain neu-

29 ® fall 1998 The Past and Future of Human Rights

This December, humanists (and strife, and environmental decay are all suit of common interests largely seen humanity) will celebrate the 50th rising rapidly since the early nineties. as a voluntary matter. anniversary of the Universal One in every 115 people is now either For the future, it would seem, two Declaration of Human Rights, migrant or displaced. In different coun- currently all-powerful realms of adopted by the United Nations and tries adult illiteracy varies between 1 deeply instilled dogma have to lose supported by humanists around the and 80%; access to safe water from their divisive power. The one, a main world. But as Xiaorong Li and others 100% to some 20% only; and popula- source of current wars and civil con- make clear, the realization of univer- tion per doctor from 570 to 13,350 flicts, fuses ethnic and national dis- sal human rights is now threatened people. Civil repression exists in at tinctions with deeply entrenched on all sides. least half the world's states, with authoritarian religious faiths. The During the Second World War ear- some 20% living under military rule. other, now outmoded for two cen- lier this century, the writer H. G. We can go on. For humans a quar- turies but silently reinforced since Wells, in a series of books, called ter of today's disease and death now 1990 to seek a new potentially global ever more insistently for an "Open seem to arise from man-made envi- and self-centered hegemonic Conspiracy," a fresh global aware- ronmental causes. Despite massive supremacy, comprises some equally ness leading to a loose post-war uncertainty about the earth's cohabit- obsolescent dogmas of political econ- world reorganization.' Wells drafted a ing life, one-quarter of mammals and omy. These are as directly opposed World Declaration of the Rights of amphibians, one-tenth of birds, one- to human rights, and a world bedrock Man. On December 10, 1948, a fifth of reptiles, and over a third of fish of justice, as they are to any optimal Universal Declaration of Human species are threatened by extinction. or effective use of our shared natural Rights was adopted by the United The prospect for humans is no less resources.' Nations, without a dissenting vote, varied, with the rich getting rapidly The fight for basic reform of the as a basis for what has since richer and the poor notably poorer. United Nations is still in its very early become a vast enactment of binding After the Universal Declaration stages. But in the years ahead it will international conventions and other came two basic Covenants—those have to be joined in earnest, and to instruments. on "Economic, Social, and Cultural succeed, if human rights and duties, Today's basic concepts of right Rights" and "Civil and Political and an overall advance of human and duty include: Rights" respectively. Other key areas potential are to retain any concrete • Individual and collective security meaning. fi under the law. The Prospect for humans is • Common access to essential no less varied, with the rich Notes conditions for physical and mental getting rapidly richer and development. the poor notably poorer. 1. H. G. Wells, Phoenix: A Summary of • The right and duty to work— the Inescapable Conditions of World freely chosen. covered include racial discrimination, Reorganization (London: Secker and • Participation in the planning and torture, genocide, discrimination Warburg, 1942); and The Open working of political institutions. against women, the rights of the Conspiracy: Blue Prints for a World Revolution (London: Gollancz, 1928). • Freedom of association and con- child, and the status of refugees, 2. Adam Swift, Global Political Ecology. tract. while further instruments and inves- The Crisis in Economy and Government • Freedom of expression, con- tigations range into such fields as (London and Boulder, Colo.: Pluto Press, science, belief, assembly, and from environmental rights, income distrib- 1993); and James Dilloway, From Cold interference in legally acceptable ution and extreme poverty, the War to Chaos? Reviving Humane self-development. nature of democratic society, rights Development (Westport, Conn.: Green- wood, forthcoming). The right to development—individ- to adequate food and housing, harm- See also the annual publication ual and collective—on which there ful traditional practices against Human Development Report, issued for already exists an important U.N. women, the right to work, problems the United Nations Development Pro- Declaration rests on the fact that of transnational corporations, rights gramme by the Oxford University Press, every individual embodies a unique of indigenous peoples, judicial inde- Oxford and New York, as well as relevant human potential. That potential—to pendence, conscientious objection, articles in World Encyclopaedia of Peace (four vols., new edition in preparation, maximize both individual and com- and much else. Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1987). mon good alike—demands an opti- Any fundamental global impact is mal provision and application of cur- hampered by two sources of weak- rently available knowledge and ness: first, by the number of state —James Dilloway resources. reservations on individual articles in Before glancing at the U.N.'s conventions; and second, the key James Dilloway, a member of the H. efforts, we ought to take the measure fact that concepts of international G. Wells Society of London, has of today's real human predicament. justice remain largely at a primitive served as an international economic Nearly 6 billion humans, growing in laissez faire level in theory, with sov- official. He has represented the number by 1.94% per year overall, are ereign rights still inhering in each International Humanist and Ethical aggregating rapidly in cities. War, civil independent state and with their pur- Union at the United Nations.

free inquiry 30 tral—they are committed either to the individual or to the rights standards, which are primarily concerned about indi- dominant force within a culture. vidual rights against the state, do not contradict the anthro- Relativists have made explicit one central value—equal pologist's intention. Modern states have been the worst respect and tolerance of other ways of life, which they insist threat to indigenous peoples. Their struggle for survival, to be absolute and universal.' Ethical relativism is thus repu- autonomy, and empowerment has much in common with the diated by itself. An ethical relativist should respect and tol- struggle for individual freedom from repressive states. In erate the differences between individuals within a culture. Asia, many indigenous groups have joined the United And in so doing, he will be endorsing individual freedom. Nations' Nongoverning Organizations' movement to demand One can recognize cultural distinctiveness without being rights both for their groups and the individuals in them. They a relativist. One may observe that "The Chinese, more than declared that "[w]e affirm that all peoples have the right to other peoples, place collective interest of family, community, self-determination. By virtue of that right, they freely deter- and society above that of individuals," and so on. This type mine their political status, and freely pursue their economic, of proposition admits that this Chinese cultural attribute is social, and cultural development. The right of peoples to comparable to an attribute in other cultures, though perhaps self-determination must, therefore, be observed by all gov- it is distributed differently and is more widespread among ernments.70 The right to self-determination is declared a the Chinese. The differences between cultures are thus in right of indigenous peoples against the state, rather than a degree and configuration. Based on such an assessment, one state's right to "trump" its citizens' rights to free association, may legitimately caution that deeply entrenched local beliefs free religious worship, and free assembly. fi may resist efforts at implementing human rights. Such a caution is not relativistic since it accepts the possibility of cross- Notes cultural comparison values. 1. American Anthropological Association, "Statement on Human Rights," American Anthropologist 49 No. 4 (1947): 539. 2. Information Office, the State Council of the People's Republic of ACADEMIC THEORY VS. POLITICS China, Human Rights In China ("The 1991 White Paper"), Beijing Review 34, no. 44 (November 4-10, 1991) and The Progress of Human Rights in Since postmodern relativism is an epistemological and socio- China ("The 1995 White Paper"), China Daily, December 28, 1995. psychological norm, while official Chinese statements are 3. The anthropologist Melville Herkovits once wrote, "[T]he need for a political, their marriage is sure to split. True, the AAA state- cultural relativistic point of view has become apparent because of the realization that there is no way to play this game of making judgments across ment is outdated since techniques of qualitatively evaluating cultures except with loaded dice." Quoted from Henry Steiner and Philip cultures have been improved,' if not perfected, and it con- Alston, ed. International Human Rights in Context (Oxford: Clarendon tained some fallacious assumptions and arguments. Yet some Press, 1996), p. 190. 4. Mencius, translated by D. C. Lau (New York: Penguin Books, 1970), of the issues it raised still exist at the end of the twentieth cen- Book VII, part A, 35, p. 190. tury, such as the psychological issue of culture as a commu- 5. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, translated by Terence Irwin nity of meaning for individuals, the philosophical issue of the (Indianapolis, Indiana: Hackett Publishing Company, 1985) 1155a22, p. 208. 6. For a discussion of this point, see Elvin Hatch, Culture and Morality: role of culture or community in formulating individual moral The Relativity of Values in Anthropology (New York: Columbia University dispositions, and the practical issue of the cultural impact on Press, 1985) chapter 4, "The Call for Tolerance." the effective implementation of human rights. 7. According to Herskovits, "[t]he very core of cultural relativism is the social discipline that comes of respect for differences—of mutual respect. Thus, while anthropologists are concerned about indige- Emphasis on the worth of many ways of life, not one, is an affirmation of nous traditions, Chinese authorities defend current political the values in each culture." Henry Steiner and Philip Alston, ed. practices and institutions. The "culture" the authorities refer International Human Rights in Context, p. 195. 8. For social scientific studies of culture and cultural comparisons, see to is supposed to speak for the whole society or nation, Gabriel A. Almond and Sidney Verba, The Civic Culture, abridged ed. which, as the anthropologists know well, includes a diverse (Boston: Little, Brown, 1965); International Social Survey Programme, range of indigenous cultures. Critics have made serious intel- Role of Government-1985 Codebook ZA-NO. 1490 (Ann Arbor: ICPSR, University of Michigan); Frederick W. Frey, "Cross-Cultural Survey lectual efforts to question the assumption of one uniformed Research in Political Science," in Robert T. Holt and John E. Turner, The and changeless set of Chinese or Asian values. Confucianism Methodology of Comparative Research (New York: Free Press, 1970). For is only one cultural, intellectual tradition, and itself has studies of Chinese political culture using social scientific methods, see Lau Siu-kai and Kuan Hsin-chi, The Ethos of the Hong Kong Chinese (Hong embodied diverse interpretations and ideas. It is difficult to Kong: The Chinese University Press, 1988); Andrew Nathan, China's dismiss the significance of Buddhism, Taoism, Moism, Transition (New York: Columbia University Press, 1997), particularly, chap- Legalism, and even Marxism in Chinese political thinking ters 10 and 11 (with Tianjian Shi). 9. See Yash Ghai, "Human Rights and Governance: The Asian Debate," and intellectual discourse. Moreover, among the diverse val- The Occasional Paper Series, No. 4, produced by the Asia Foundation's ues that are embraced by Asians, one finds plenty so-called Office of Public Affairs, November 1994; Amartya Sen, "Our Culture, Their Western values.' Culture," the New Republic, April 1, 1996; Tatsuo Inoue (1996), "Liberal Democracy and Asian Values"; and this author, "Asian Values and the If one takes seriously the AAA position on equal respect Universality of Human Rights," Report from the Institute for Philosophy & to indigenous peoples and tribes, one should oppose the Public Policy, vol. 16, no. 2, Spring 1996. Chinese state's discriminatory policies and destructive prac- 10. The Bangkok NGO Declaration on Human Rights (Bangkok, March 27, 1993), a document adopted at the Asian Regional NG0 Preparation tices toward officially unrecognized religions and ethnic Conference for the Vienna International Conference on Human Rights in minority cultures. One would find that international human June 1993.

® fall 1998 POSTMODERNISM

Is Morality a Matter of Taste? WHY PROFESSIONAL ETHICISTS THINK THAT MORALITY IS NOT PURELY `SUBJECTIVE' Theodore Schick, Jr.

SUBJECTIVISM Subjectivism claims that what makes an action right is that a person approves of it or believes that it's right. Although sub- 'though the notion that reality is socially con- jectivism may seem admirably egalitarian in that it takes 1 structed strikes many as decidedly odd, it hardly everyone's moral judgments to be as good as everyone else's, raises an eyebrow. Many who vehemently deny it has some rather bizarre consequences. For one thing, it that we can make something true by simply believing it to be implies that each of us is morally infallible. As long as we so readily agree that we can make something right by simply approve of or believe in what we are doing, we can do no believing it to be right. The view that belief makes right is wrong. But this cannot be right. Suppose that Hitler believed known as "subjectivism" or "relativism." Despite its popularity, that it was right to exterminate the Jews. Then it was right for there are probably fewer subjectivists among professional ethi- Hitler to exterminate the Jews. Or suppose that Stalin cists than there are creationists among professional biologists. believed that it was right to assassinate his enemies. Then it Why? Because as ethical theories go, subjectivism is about as was right for Stalin to assassinate his enemies. Subjectivism bad as they come. To see this, it's necessary to understand sanctions any action as long as the person performing it something about the nature and purpose of ethical theorizing. approves of it or believes that it's right. But what Hitler and One of the central questions of ethics is "What makes an Stalin did was wrong, even if they believed otherwise. So action right?" Ethical theories try to answer this question by believing something to be right can't make it right. identifying the features that distinguish right actions from Not only does subjectivism imply that everyone is wrong ones. That is, they try to determine what all and only morally infallible, it also implies that moral disagreement is right actions have in common. In other words, they try to next to impossible. Suppose Jack says that homosexuality is identify the logically necessary and sufficient conditions for right, and Jill says that it's wrong. You might think that Jack an action's being right. and Jill disagree with one another. But you would be mis- The data that ethical theories try to explain include our taken. According to subjective relativism, Jack is saying that considered moral judgments and our experience of the moral he believes that homosexuality is right while Jill is saying life. We all make moral judgments, we all get into moral dis- that she believes that homosexuality is wrong. But this does- putes, and we all act immorally from time to time. Any ade- n't constitute a disagreement because neither is denying quate theory of morality must be consistent with this data. If what the other is saying. In order for Jill to disagree with an ethical theory sanctions obviously immoral actions, if it Jack, she would have to say that Jack doesn't believe that denies that there can be any substantive moral disagree- homosexuality is right. But it's difficult to see how she could ments, or if it implies that we never act immorally, there's ever be in a position to make such a claim because, presum- good reason to believe that it's mistaken. ably, no one knows Jack's mind better than Jack. An ethical theory should also be workable—it should help Subjectivism, then, fails to meet the criteria of adequacy us solve moral dilemmas. We desire an adequate ethical the- for ethical theories: it sanctions obviously immoral actions, ory because we want to do the right thing. If an ethical theory it implies that people are morally infallible, and it denies that doesn't give us specific guidance in specific situations, it fails there are any substantive moral disputes. Because it is incon- to meet one of the primary goals of ethical inquiry. sistent with our considered moral judgments and our experience of the moral life, it is not an acceptable ethical theory. Theodore Schick, Jr., is Professor of Philosophy at Muhlen- berg College and coauthor (with Lewis Vaughn) of How to Think about Weird Things (Mayfield, 1995) and Doing CULTURAL RELATIVISM Philosophy: An Introduction Through Thought Experiments When we say that an action is right, we cannot merely be (Mayfield, 1999). saying that we approve of it or believe that it's right. What

free inquiry are we saying then? Many believe that we're saying that our true culture. If we can't identify our true culture, however, culture approves of it or believes that it's right. we can't use cultural relativism to solve our moral problems. Our moral beliefs tend to reflect the culture in which we Given cultural relativism's many failings, why is it so grew up. For example, if we grew up in India, we may believe popular? Part of the answer is that many people believe that that it's morally permissible for wives to be burned alive it promotes tolerance. Anthropologist Ruth Benedict, for along with their dead husbands on a funeral pyre. If we grew example, claims that, by accepting cultural relativism, "we up in Syria, we may believe that it's morally permissible to shall arrive at a more realistic social faith, accepting as have more than one wife. And if we grew up in the Sudan, we grounds of hope and as new bases for tolerance the coexist- may believe that it's morally permissible for young women to ing and equally valid patterns of life which mankind has cre- have their clitorises surgically removed. If we grew up in ated for itself from the raw materials of existence."' But to America, however, we are likely to believe that none of these explicitly advocate cultural relativism on the grounds that it practices are morally permissible. Since people in different promotes tolerance is to implicitly assume that tolerance is cultures have different moral beliefs, the conclusion that an absolute value. If there are any absolute values, however, morality is relative to culture seems unavoidable. cultural relativism is false. Cultural relativism, unlike subjectivism, does not imply The most a cultural relativist can consistently claim is that that individuals are morally infallible. But it does imply that her culture values tolerance. But other cultures may not. In cultures are morally infallible. Since cultures make the moral fact, fundamentalists of almost every stripe do not tolerate law, cultures can do no wrong. those who disagree with them. From a cultural relativist If cultures were morally infallible, however, it would be point of view, then, their intolerance is perfectly justified. impossible to disagree with one's culture and be right. Social reformers Since cultures are not morally infallible—since couldn't claim that a socially approved practice is wrong because if, society they can sanction immoral practices—cultural approves of it, it must be right. If soci- relativism cannot be correct. ety approves of slavery, for example, then slavery is right. Anyone who suggests otherwise is sim- Thus any attempt to justify cultural relativism by an appeal ply mistaken. Thus cultural relativism would have us believe to tolerance is bound to fail. that William Lloyd Garrison advocated an immoral position Another reason that cultural relativism is so popular is when he advocated the abolition of slavery. But this is not that it seems to be the only ethical theory that is consistent what we believe. We believe that the practice of slavery was with the anthropological evidence. The inadequacy of cul- wrong even though our culture approved of it. Since cultures tural relativism suggests that this conclusion is mistaken, are not morally infallible—since they can sanction immoral however. To see why, let's examine the anthropological argu- practices—cultural relativism cannot be correct. ment in more detail. Unlike subjectivism, cultural relativism does not rule out all forms of moral discourse. Since individuals can be mistaken about what their society approves, there can be legiti- THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL ARGUMENT mate grounds for moral disagreement. But since whatever The anthropological argument for cultural relativism says that, society approves is right, all moral disagreements must be because people in different cultures disagree about the moral- about what society approves. People who disagree about the ity of various actions, there are no universal moral standards. morality of abortion, for example, must really be disagreeing But the fact that people disagree does not, by itself, imply that about whether society approves of abortion. But is this plau- there are no absolute moral standards. Only in conjunction sible? When people argue about whether abortion is morally with certain other assumptions can that conclusion be reached. permissible, are they really arguing about what their society By making these assumptions explicit, we can better judge the believes? Could the abortion controversy be solved by means soundness of the anthropological argument for cultural rela- of an opinion survey? Of course not. Thus cultural relativism. Here's one way of spelling out the argument: tivism, too, is inconsistent with our considered moral judg- 1. People in different societies make different moral judgments and our experience of the moral life. ments regarding the same action. Even if cultural relativism provided a plausible account of 2. If people in different societies make different moral ethical disagreement, it would still be an inadequate theory judgments regarding the same action, they must accept dif- of morality because it is unworkable. It doesn't help us solve ferent moral standards. moral dilemmas because there is no way to identify one's 3. If people in different societies accept different moral true culture. Suppose you were a black, Jewish, communist standards, there are no universal moral standards. living in Bavaria during Hitler's reign. What would be your 4. Therefore, there are no universal moral standards. true culture? The blacks? The Jews? The communists? The This is a valid argument because the conclusion follows Bavarians? The Nazis? Each of us belongs to many different from the premises. The question is, are the premises true? cultures, and there is no way to establish one culture as our Premise 1 is certainly true, for it has been confirmed by

® fall 1998

anthropological investigation many times over. What about from both a moral standard and certain factual beliefs, a dif- premise 3? It states that if people disagree about what makes ference in moral judgments does not necessarily imply a dif- an action right, there can be no correct answer to the ques- ference in moral standards. tion, "What makes an action right?" But this doesn't follow. Although moral disagreement is widespread, we do seem From the mere fact that people disagree, we can't conclude to be making moral progress. We have abolished slavery, that none of the parties to the disagreement is correct. given women the vote, and made tuna dolphin-safe. This Premise 3 is not the only questionable premise in this constitutes progress, however, only if there are fixed moral argument, however. Premise 2 says that whenever people standards against which we can judge our actions and poli- disagree about the morality of an action they must accept dif- cies. If there were no such standards, we would have no ferent moral standards. In other words, it says that, whenever grounds for thinking that things are better now than they there is a difference in moral judgments, there is a difference were before. The best explanation of the fact that we are in moral standards. But moral judgments do not depend on making moral progress, then, is that there are universal moral moral standards alone. standards. To derive a moral judgment from a moral standard, we Where do these standards come from? No one, not even must have some beliefs about the facts of the case. Without God, can make an action right by simply believing it to be such information, no moral judgment can be made. The for- right. Many, including the founders of this country, believe mula for a moral judgment, then, can be expressed as follows: that moral standards can justify themselves! "We hold these truths to be self-evident" proclaims the Moral standard + Factual beliefs = Moral judgment Declaration of Independence. A self-evident truth is one that is such that if you understand it, you are justified in believ- Since moral standards alone do not imply moral judging it. Consider, for example, the statement whatever has a ments, it is not necessarily true that, whenever there is a dif- shape has a size. If you understand that statement—if you ference in moral judgments, there is a difference in moral know what shape and size are—you are justified in believing standards. Any difference in judgment could also be due to a it. You don't need any additional evidence to support your difference in factual beliefs. belief. What makes self-evident truths self-evident is that Some anthropologists believe that this is often the case. they do not stand in need of any further justification; they justify themselves. The best explanation of the fact that we are It is widely believed that there are self- making moral progress, then, is that there are evident truths in logic, such as the statement that everything is identical with universal moral standards. itself. But are there any self-evident truths in morality? Consider the statement, "Unnecessary suffering Solomon Asch writes: is wrong" This statement does not say that suffering is wrong or that no one has suffered unnecessarily. What it says It has been customary to hold that diverse evaluations of the is that whenever one is made to suffer unnecessarily, a wrong same act are automatic evidence for the presence of different principles of evaluation. The preceding examples point to an has been committed. To anyone who understands what suf- error in this interpretation. Indeed, an examination of the rela- fering and wrong are, this statement should be self-evident. tional factors point to the operation of constant principles in If you do not believe that this statement is true, the burden situations that differ in concrete details.... Anthropological of proof is on you to provide a counterexample. If you are evidence does not furnish proof of relativism. We do not unable to do so—if you cannot cite a situation in which know of societies in which bravery is despised and cowardice held up to honor, in which generosity is considered a vice and unnecessary suffering is right—then your claim that it is ingratitude a virtue. It seems rather that the relations between false is irrational, for you have no good reason to make it. valuation and meaning are invariant.' There are a number of such self-evident ethical truths, such as equals should be treated equally and the unnecessary According to Asch, people in different cultures arrive at dif- destruction of value is wrong. These principles do not con- ferent moral judgments, not because they have different stitute a theory of morality because they do not specify what views about the nature of morality, but because they have all and only right actions have in common. But they do serve different views about the nature of reality. as boundary conditions that any theory of morality must Consider the abortion controversy. Pro-life people believe meet. If a moral theory would sanction violating one or more that abortion is wrong while pro-choice people believe that it of these principles—as would subjectivism or cultural rela- is right. Does this mean that they have different views about tivism—it is unacceptable. fi the nature of morality? No, because they both believe that murder is wrong. What they disagree about is the nature of Notes the fetus. Is the fetus the sort of thing that can be murdered? Their disagreement, then, is about the reality of the fetus, not 1.Ruth Benedict, Patterns of Culture (New York: Pelican, 1934), p. 257. 2.Solomon Asch, Social Psychology, (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, about the morality of murder. Since moral judgments follow 1952), pp. 378-79.

free inquiry 34 Redeemed? Miami. Heistheauthorof press). Niinilvoto, M.Sintonen,and J.Wolenski,eds.,(Kluwer,in Harvey SiegelisProfessorof PhilosophyattheUniversityof "Relativism," toappearin 1987), given thing"istomesuchasitappearsme,andisyou character ofsuch"neutrality"isaddressedbelow.) in termsofsomefair,encompassingmeta-standard.'(The is themeasureofallthings" who isportrayedinPlato's themselves beneutrallyevaluated alternative standardscannot - such claims,andfurtherthat knowledge-claims) isrelativeto standards. Sotherelativist'sbasic standards ofevaluationfor the standardsusedinevaluating thesis isthataclaim'sstatusas tures, societies,epochs,etc. accept differentsetsofback- ative inthisway,accordingtothe between thesealternativesetsof no neutralwayofchoosing society, culture,historicalepoch,conceptualschemeor rational justifiabilityofsuch relativist, becausedifferentcul- ground principles,criteria,and/or knowledge (and/orthetruthor knowledge-claims, andthereis what countsasknowledge(ortrueorjustified)depends framework, ortopersonaltrainingconviction—inthat these variables.Knowledgeisrel- upon thevalueofoneormore F The doctrineofrelativismisusuallytracedto Educating Reason - 1 AND WHYNON-RELATIVE,ABSOLUTEJUDGMENTISPOSSIBLE (Routledge, 1997).Thisarticle istakenfrom pistemological'relativismmaybedefined justification) isrelative—totime,place, as theviewthatknowledge(and/ortruthor Why EverythingIs (Routledge, 1988),and Theaetetus ("homo Handbook ofEpistemology, Relativism Refuted mensura"), Not as holdingthat"Man Harvey Siegel and thatany POSTMODERNISM (D. Reidel, Rationality Protagoras, Relative 1. doctrine canbe false,theverydistinctionbetween truthand since accordingtorelativismnoclaimorthesiscanfailany claim canfailtobetrueor justifiablyjudgedtobefalse. But ifthereisnopossibilitythat a(sincerelyheld)claimor seems test ofepistemicadequacyor bejudgedunjustifiedorfalse.' merit ofcontentiousclaimsandtheses—includingitself— truth, justificatorystatus,or,moregenerally,theepistemic him towhomitseemsso"(emphases added),thennosincere seems truetoanyoneisforhimwhomitso. such asitappearstoyou."'Plato'sSocratescharacterizes since fortheProtagoreanthereisnostandardhigherthan culture, framework,etc.—withreferencetowhichclaims individual—with herownspecificlocationintime,place, is bestunderstoodasamoregeneraldoctrinethanthe ing thedoctrinerequiresonetogiveitup.Thereareseveral This viewisaformofrelativisminthesensejustexplained, truth (andsoknowledge)canbeadjudicated.Butrelativism that relativismprecludesthepossibilityofdetermining Protagorean relativismasconsistingintheviewthat"what versions oftheincoherencecharge.Themostpowerful is Take Protagoreanrelativism asanexample.If"what true [orjustified]toanyone

TIM JORDAN THE PROBLEMOF INCOHERENCE standards ratherthan(asfor influential versionsofrela- self-refuting, most fundamentalisthe tivism. Protagorean versionofit, have mademanycriticisms Opponents ofrelativism of thedoctrine;byfar of personalopinionorper- relativism atthelevelof charge thatrelativismis characterizes morerecent, ception, andassuchaptly which placesthesourceof the Protagorean)atlevel referentially incoherent is true [orjustified]for f i in thatdefend- fall 1998 self- or " 4 falsity is given up; a "false" belief is reduced simply to one stood as asserting the relativity of standards of rightness' and which is not believed. While Protagorean relativism is in the justification as well as those of truth. If read in this way, it first instance a doctrine about the relativity of truth, it is read- follows from this form of relativism that there is no possibil- ily extended to matters of epistemic appraisal generally (as ity that a belief sincerely judged by a person to be right or the bracketed insertions in the just-quoted expression of justified can be wrong or unjustified. The end result is that Protagorean relativism are meant to illustrate), and under- the very notions of truth, rightness, and justifiedness are The Possibility of `Neutral' Judgment

The argument that relativism is inco- reasons to reject the epistemic putes, might be evaluated and, at herent relies at key junctures on the authority of all these proposed stan- least in principle, resolved. Of course possibility and accessibility of neutral dards; likewise, any proposed meta- the two meta-standards noted, logic standards in accordance with which standard that favors Galileo's pre- (or "reason") and explanatory ade- knowledge-claims can be adjudi- ferred standard, telescopic observa- quacy, are not neutral with respect to cated. But relativists often reject the tion, will be judged as unfair by his all possible disputes. In particular, possibility of such standards, since opponents, who claim to have good they might fail to be neutral with relativism, as defined above, results reasons to reject that proposed stan- respect to disputes concerning the (according to the relativist) in part dard. In this way, the absence of neu- character and force of logic, and to because there are no neutral stan- tral (meta-)standards seems to make disputes concerning the character of dards available by which the claims the case for relativism. explanation and its possible tie to or criteria of rival perspectives can be However, it does not. The "no neu- truth (although establishing this fairly evaluated. That is, if you and I trality, therefore relativism" argument would require considerably more have a dispute—concerning a given just rehearsed has an ambiguity at its extensive discussion). Still, while not claim's status as knowledge, or its heart that undermines its ability to neutral simpliciter, they are in the rel- truth or justificatory status, or the support relativism. Let us grant that evant sense neutral in the Galileo standards to which we should appeal there is no standard that is neutral case insofar as both sides both in deciding such matters—the rela- generally, i.e., neutral with respect to explicitly accept them and rely upon tivist's contention that such disputes all possible disputes. There may nev- them in the execution of their respec- can be resolved only relative to our ertheless be standards that, while tive cases. If in the end one side respective standards (and not not neutral in that sense, are neutral measures up less well against them "absolutely") rests on her contention in the weaker sense that they do not than the other, that is a result which that there are no "meta-" or higher- unfairly prejudice any particular, live that side will not like, but such a order standards available to which we (at a time) dispute. So, for example, result in itself is no reason to think can appeal that will fairly or non-ques- both Galileo and his opponents rec- such standards unfair, biased, or oth- tion-beggingly resolve our dispute. ognized logic (or, more broadly, "rea- erwise objectionable. Thus, consider the famous dispute son") as a standard to which either The neutrality required to avoid rel- between Galileo and the Church con- disputant may fairly appeal. Both ativism is thus not some sort of uni- cerning the existence of moons orbit- sides also agreed that, were Galileo versal neutrality—neutrality with ing Jupiter. Not only did the two par- able adequately to explain the work- respect to every possible dispute or all ties disagree as to the truth of the ings of his newly invented telescope conceivable conceptual schemes—but relevant claim—Galileo affirmed the (something he could not do at the only neutrality with respect to the existence of the moons, while his time of the dispute), that explanation issue at hand. Such neutrality, further, opponents denied it—they also dis- would undermine his opponents' does not require that standards can- agreed about the relevant standards rejection of the proposed Galilean not discriminate among better or (telescopic observation? naked eye standard of telescopic observation— worse competing views, but rather observation? Scripture? Aristotle?) to thus acknowledging adequate expla- simply that such discrimination must which appeal should be made in nation as a relevant meta-standard be fair to competing views, i.e., cannot order to resolve their disagreement. for evaluating first-order standards be prejudicial toward or irrelevantly The relativist here claims that such (i.e., those relevant to the resolution biased against one or another of disputes admit of no non-relative res- of first-order disputes).1 them. There is no reason to think that olution, precisely because there is no Consequently, there is no reason this weaker sort of neutrality cannot, neutral, non-question-begging way to to think that there were not—let in principle, be had. — H.S. resolve the dispute concerning alone could not be—neutral (meta-) (meta-) standards. Any proposed standards available, in terms of Note meta-standard that favors regarding which both the first-order dispute naked eye observation, Scripture, or between Galileo and his opponents 1. This is obviously a very superficial the writings of Aristotle as the rele- concerning the existence of the account of "The Galileo Affair," offered here for illustrative purposes only. For a vant standard by which to evaluate moons, and the second-order dispute more serious treatment, see M. A. "The moons exist" will be judged by between them concerning the appro- Finocchiaro, ed., The Galileo Affair: A Galileo as unfairly favoring his oppo- priateness of the various proposed Documentary History (Berkeley: University nents, since he thinks he has good standards for judging first-order dis- of California Press, 1989).

IIMMTECIMIN EJ undermined. But if this is so, relativism itself cannot be true, b). Similarly, the embrace of b forces the rejection of a: if no right, or justified. general, non-relative view of knowledge is possible or defen- Relativism is thus incoherent in that, if it is true (or right sible (i.e., b), then it cannot be that relativism is epistemi- or justified), the very notion of truth (or of rightness or justi- cally superior to its rivals (contrary to a). Here again the fiedness) is undermined, in which case relativism cannot argument strongly suggests that the assertion and defense of itself be true (or right or justified). This undermining results relativism is incoherent.' because the relativism of standards alleged by the relativist renders it impossible to distinguish truth (or rightness or justifiedness) from its (their) contrary (-ies). The assertion and ANOTHER KIND OF TRUTH? defense of relativism requires one to presuppose neutral stan- This incoherence charge is by far the most difficult problem dards in accordance with which contentious claims and doc- facing the relativist. It is worth noting that attempts to over- trines can be assessed; but relativism denies the possibility of come the problem by appealing to the notion of relative truth evaluation in accordance with such neutral standards. Thus appear not to succeed. Many versions of relativism rely on the doctrine of relativism cannot be coherently defended—it such a notion, but it is very difficult to make sense of it. An can be defended only by being given up.' Relativism is thus assertion that a proposition is "true for me" (or "true for impotent—incapable of defending itself—and falls to this members of my culture") is more readily understood as a fundamental reflexive difficulty. Defending relativism non- claim concerning what I (or members of my culture, scheme, relativistically is logically impossible, in that any such etc.) believe than it is as a claim ascribing to that proposition defense must appeal to that to which the relativist cannot some special sort of truth. Constructing a conception of rel- appeal except by giving up relativism; while "defending" relative truth such that "P is relatively true" (or "P is true for S," ativism relativistically is not defending it, i.e., providing any or "P is true for members of culture C") amounts to some- reason for thinking it to be in any way epistemically superior thing stronger than "S believes that p" (or "Members of cul- to non-relativism, at all.' ture C believe that p"), but weaker than "P is true (sim- To put this fundamental difficulty facing the relativist in a somewhat different way: insofar as she is taking issue with her non-rel- Whether the relativist's conception of truth ativist philosophical opponent, the relativist is relative or non-relative, the assertion and wants both (a) to offer a general, non-relative view of knowledge (and/or truth or justifica- defense of relativism appears to remain tion), and assert that that general view, i.e., that knowledge is relative, is epistemically self-refuting, and so incoherent. superior and preferable to its rivals; and also (b) to deny that such a general, non-relative view is possible pliciter)," has proved to be quite difficult, and is arguably or defensible. But the relativist cannot defend the view of beyond the conceptual resources available to the relativist.10 knowledge offered in a, according to which relativism is Moreover, even if a viable conception of relative truth epistemically superior to non-relativism, in a way consistent could be developed, versions of relativism based on it would with her own commitment to relativism. On the other hand, apparently still fall to the incoherence argument rehearsed "defending" relativism in a way that does not assert its epis- above. In particular, a defense of relativism that rests on the temic superiority is not to defend it at all; neither is it to notion of relative truth appears doomed to fail insofar as it engage seriously the cluster of issues that divides the rela- seeks either to defend the notion of relative truth as superior tivist from her non-relativist philosophical opponent. to its "absolutist" contrary, or to defend any particular relative Embracing b, i.e., denying that a general, non-relative view truth p as in any way epistemically superior to equally rela- of knowledge (including the relativist view) is possible or tively true not-p or arbitrary relative truth q. For any such defensible, similarly precludes the relativist from seriously defense would presuppose neutral, fair standards by appeal to engaging the issues to which her relativism is a response. which such epistemic superiority might be established, and Moreover, defending b requires a commitment to a, which such standards are precisely those to which the relativist, by commitment a commitment to b itself precludes. virtue of her own commitment to that doctrine, cannot appeal. In short: the relativist needs to embrace both a, in order to Furthermore (as above), to decline to offer a defense— see her position both as a rival to, and, further, as epistemi- "You have your conception of truth, I have mine, and there is cally superior to, the position of her non-relativist opponent; no question of one being `better' than the other," or "You and b, in order to honor the fundamental requirements of rel- have your relative truths, I have mine, and there is no ques- ativism. But the mutual embrace of a and b is logically inco- tion of any relative truth being `epistemically superior' to herent. For the embrace of a forces the rejection of b: if rel- any other"—is to fail to acknowledge (or take seriously) the ativism is the epistemically superior view of knowledge (i.e., philosophical issues that divide the relativist from her non- a), then one general view of knowledge is both possible and relativist opponent. For if there is no sense, according to the defensible as epistemically superior to its rivals (contrary to relativist, in which her general epistemological view, her

ELI ® fall 1998 conception of truth, and/or the particular relative truths she should assume, unless it is explicitly indicated otherwise, that all mentions embraces—in particular, her embrace of the relative truth of of `relativism" below are to epistemological relativism. For discussion of other varieties of relativism, see (e.g.) M. Krausz and J. W. Meiland, eds., relativism itself—are epistemically superior to their alterna- Relativism: Cognitive and Moral (Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre tives, it is hard to understand the dispute between relativists Dame Press, 1982) and R. Harre and M. Krausz, Varieties of Relativism and non-relativists as a philosophical dispute. In this case, (0xford: Blackwell, 1996). 2. It is important to distinguish relativism from related but distinct epis- the relativist seems to be saying "I'm a relativist, you're not, temological positions with which it is frequently confused, e.g., skepticism, but your view is just as good (epistemically) as mine " If the fallibilism, pluralism, nihilism, etc. For an instructive guide to the relevant relativist does say this—if she declines to defend her view on distinctions, see W. M. Knorpp, Jr., What Relativism Isn't (in press). 3. Plato, Theaetetus, trans. E. M. Cornford, in E. Hamilton and H. the grounds that she does not regard it as epistemically supe- Cairns, eds., The Collected Dialogues of Plato, Bollingen Series (New York: rior to non-relativism—it is unclear why she should be Pantheon Books, Random House, 1961), p. 152a. regarded as a relativist at all; let alone why the non-relativist 4. Ibid., p. 170a. 5. For others see Harvey Siegel, Relativism Refuted: A Critique of should be bothered by such a seemingly inert "challenge." Contemporary Epistemological Relativism (Dordrecht: D. Reidel Here we see again the problem of impotence, which arises Publishing Company, 1987). with the relativist's declining to defend relativism just as 6. I use this term in deference to Nelson Goodman's (Ways of Worldmaking, Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Co., 1978) unique form of surely as it results from her inability to do so. relativism; I regret that I cannot consider Goodman's version of relativism Thus relying on the notion of "relative truth" seems not to further here. For discussion of Goodmanian (relativistic) "rightness," and help the relativist here; indeed, the centuries-old preoccupa- Goodman's "radical relativism within rigorous restraints" more generally, see Siegel 1987, ch. 7. tion with the viability of that notion seems to be mainly irrel- 7. As M. Levin ("Reality Relativism," in Aspects of Relativism: Moral, evant to the question of the viability of relativism when the Cognitive, and Literary, ed. J. E. Bayley [Lanham, Md.: University Press of latter is understood as a general epistemological doctrine. America, 1992], p. 72) engagingly puts it, in attempting to defend relativism, the relativist commits "dialectical suicide?' Whether the relativist's conception of truth is relative or non- 8. Siegel, Relativism Refuted, chap. 1. relative, the assertion and defense of relativism appears to 9. The relativist can respond by denying that she is engaged in the pro- remain self-refuting, and so incoherent." fi ject of defending relativism, and asserting that relativists have other purposes in mind when arguing for relativism. For discussion and references, see Siegel, Relativism Refuted, pp. 21-23. She can also respond by holding that the argument purporting to demonstrate the incoherence of relativism Notes just rehearsed in fact begs the question against the relativist by presuppos- ing an "absolute" conception of truth. For discussion, see below; also Siegel, 1. There are many sorts of relativism other than the epistemological Relativism Refuted, pp. 23-25. sort—moral, axiological, cultural, etc.—that are not addressed here. I typi- 10. Ibid., pp. 9-18. cally do not use the modifier epistemological in what follows, but the reader 11. Ibid., pp. 18-20. John Searle on Postmodernism

What does the renowned philosopher encounter the world through percep- of a particular culture; I have access John Searle think about the postmod- tion and we describe it in language. to the real world through my point of ernist's antipathy toward the idea of But again we can't make sense of our view, from the point of view of the objective truth? perception or language without the culture in which I was brought up. "I think it's ridiculous," he says. assumption of access to the real But that does not prevent objectivity. "The difficulty is that most of our dis- world. And once you've got this kind The earth is 93 million miles from course, and indeed most of our life, of access, the possibility of an objec- the sun. I couldn't state that fact if I presupposes that we are dealing tive truth is presented immediately. If didn't have a language or if I didn't with an objective real world. If you words refer and perceptions are for have a system of measurement, but ask me how to get to the next town, perceiving, then there must be real it is a totally objective fact. I gleaned or what time the plane leaves, or ask objects in a real world that we can this fact from science, which is the the doctor if you have cancer, or just have knowledge of. Anyway, you can't most successful system that the ask me to pass the salt, there's no make sense of your life or your rela- human intellect has ever produced way that any of these utterances are tionships with other people without for getting knowledge of how the intelligible without the presupposi- the assumption of objective truth. world works. And, if we're talking tion that there is a real world. This "I think that different cultures do about disciplines like physics and view—that there's a world that exists give you different points of view, and chemistry, science is absolutely tran- independently of us—is called 'exter- within our culture there are lots of scultural—it's valid for any culture. It nal realism.' different points of view. The mistake isn't that hydrogen changes its "But then the question arises: is to suppose that objective truth chemical composition as we move what kind of access do we have to requires no point of view at all. Of from Africa to Asia; hydrogen atoms the real world? Then we get into per- course that's impossible. I am a sit- have one electron, and it doesn't ception and language. We normally uated being in the world; I'm a child matter where you are."

THE FI INTERVIEW

God, Mind, and AN INTERVIEW WITH JOHN SEARLF Artificial Intelligence

John R. Searle, the Mills Professor of the Philosophy of God wouldn't be as important because the world has already Mind at the University of California, Berkeley, is one of the become demystified for us. Essentially our worldview would pre-eminent philosophers of our time. remain even if we discovered that we had been wrong, that His many books include The God did exist. Rediscovery of the Mind; Minds, Brains, FI: Would you call yourself a secular humanist? and Science and The Construction of SEARLE: Well, I've not bothered to worry too much about Social Reality. In the following inter- labels. I'm always reluctant to use these pigeonholes. But I view with FREE INQUIRY Deputy Editor suppose I do fit this description, which I first saw discussed Matt Cherry, Searle explains his views in a book 25 years ago by an old friend of mine, Paul Kurtz. on the philosophy of mind, as well as FI: Could you summarize your views on consciousness? discussing religion and ethics and his latest work on the role SEARLE: Consciousness simply consists of our inner of reason in constructing our social world. states and processes of sentience or awareness. By "inner" I just mean inside the brain. These states go on all day until REE INQUIRY: We're a secular humanist magazine, you fall into dreamless sleep or become otherwise uncon- which means that we like to think of ourselves as the scious. Dreams are a form of consciousness, too, so these F children of the Enlightenment. So we must ask—do states can happen even in sleep. There is a qualitative differ- you personally believe in God? ence between dreams and ordinary, wide-awake conscious- JOHN SEARLE: I don't. Actually, the best remark made ness. about this was by Bertrand Russell at a dinner I attended But the important thing to remember about consciousness when I was an undergraduate. Russell was 85 years old. We is that it's a biological phenomenon. We're talking about the were all a bunch of kids, and we thought, he's not going to capacity of human and animal brains to produce conscious- live much longer, and he's a famous atheist, so let's really put ness in the same way that biological systems produce diges- it to him. So we asked him, What would happen if you were tion. Consciousness is caused by operations in the brain, it wrong about the existence of God? What would you say to goes on in the brain, and in my view there's nothing myste- Him? That is, suppose you died and you went to heaven and rious about it or metaphysical about consciousness—it's just there you were in front of Him—what would you say? part of the ordinary biological world. Russell didn't hesitate a second. He said, "I would say, 'You FI: So what is your view on the mind/body problem? didn't give us enough evidence.'" And I think that's my atti- SEARLE: Well that's it, actually, I just solved it for you. tude. On the available evidence we have about how the world The traditional question known as the mind/body problem is, works, we have to say that we're alone, there is no God, we how does the mind relate to the body? And the answer I'm don't have a cosmic friend, we're on our own. I might be proposing to that is (a) the essence of the mental is conscious wrong about that, but on the available evidence, that's the sit- states, (b) these conscious states are caused by processes in uation we're in. So I guess that makes me a kind of agnostic. the brain—they're caused by neurobiological processes, and FI: And you have no belief in the supernatural? (c) they are higher level features of the brain—they're fea- SEARLE: None. But you see, there's something else that tures of the brain in the way that the solidity of the table is a is, in a way, more important in this issue of the supernatural. feature of the table even though it's caused by the behavior Intellectuals in our culture have become so secularized, of the particles. there's a sense in which the existence of the supernatural Now, there's a hard question that we don't know the wouldn't matter in the way that it mattered a hundred years answer to, namely, how exactly does the brain do it? I don't ago. Suppose we discovered that we're wrong, that there know the answer to that, and neither does anybody else. But really is this divine force in the universe. Well then, most if we know anything about how the world works, we know intellectuals would say, okay, that's a fact of physics like any that the brain does produce consciousness. other—instead of just four forces in the universe we have a FI: Some people believe that we can draw an analogy fifth force. In this sense, our attitude about the existence of between the mind and computers. That is, they want to say

39 ® fall 1998 that the mind is just the software that your brain runs. So any difficulty in principle with the idea of building artificial would you say that the mind and mental processes are equiv- intelligence. But if you're talking about actual conscious alent to software? thought processes, you can't do it with a computer. SEARLE: No, I wouldn't. I think that's one of the dumbest FI: Not even a very sophisticated, very fast computer? analogies that has ever cropped up in this whole debate, SEARLE: Well, it depends on your definition of computa- because the relationship between the brain and conscious- tion. I'm going with the definition of computation used now, ness is one of causation. Brain processes have to cause con- which was essentially Turing's definition. Computation is sciousness, but the relationship between the computer—the defined in terms of mathematics and mapping inputs onto hardware—and the software is one of implementation, not of outputs according to a certain set of procedures or a certain causation. That is, with computers, it's a matter of imple- set of computational rules. But, of course, you can redefine menting a certain symbolic sequence in a set of hardware computation any way you want to. You can say that we're processes. going to redefine computation to mean the brain processes The key point is this: the computer processes are compu- that produce consciousness. Then, trivially, you've solved tational processes—they are defined purely in virtue of their your problem. But now as we understand computers— symbolic, or their formal or syntactical properties. That is, whether they're the machines that you and I normally use or the implemented program consists purely of syntactical or these so-called connectionist machines—computation is symbolic processes, usually thought of as sequences of defined independently of the underlying medium. It's zeros and ones, but any symbols will do. Now, we know that defined in terms of formal, abstract symbolic processes, and something more than that goes on in the brain because we those will never be enough to produce a mind because know that our thought processes have more than uninter- they're not enough to cause consciousness or intentionality. preted formal symbols. They actually have mental contents. That's what the Chinese room argument shows. As I often explain it, the syntax of the computer program FI: So however complex computers get, there will never be an emergence of conscious thought? `If we knew how the brain produced SEARLE: That's right. You see, the point is, there might be some other reason why a computer has consciousness, we could eventually consciousness: maybe God decides he's going to make all Macintoshes conscious. I can't argue with produce it artificially.' that. But what I'm going to say is it doesn't matter how complex the program is, or what state of tech- isn't sufficient for the semantics of actual human thought nology you're at, or how fast the processors are. The pro- processes. gram—defined in terms of syntactical processes—would Years ago I gave a proof of that- walled the "Chinese never be sufficient to guarantee the presence of conscious- room argument"—and the way it works is this: just imagine ness because the processes are defined independently of con- that you're the computer, and you're carrying out the steps in sciousness, purely in terms of symbolic manipulation. Now a program for something you don't understand. I don't the system might be conscious for some other reason, but the understand Chinese, so I imagine I'm locked in a room shuf- consciousness wouldn't be guaranteed by the program, and it fling Chinese symbols according to a computer program, and doesn't matter whether the program's simple or complex. It I can give the right answers to the right questions in Chinese, doesn't matter if it runs fast or slow; it's all the same. Syntax but all the same, I don't understand Chinese. All I'm doing is not enough to guarantee the presence of semantics. That's is shuffling symbols. And now, and this is the crucial point: the basic idea. if I don't understand Chinese on the basis of implementing FI: There has been a lot of progress in the field of artifi- the program for understanding Chinese, then neither does cial intelligence and the neuro-sciences in general. And it's any other digital computer on that basis because no com- fed into a lot of philosophical debate. What do you think has puter's got anything I don't have. It's the simplest argument been the most important development in these areas in the in history, but you'd be surprised how many people have fits last 10 years as it relates to the study of the mind? about it. SEARLE: Well, as you probably know, I am a cognitive FI: Do you think there ever could be an artificial intelli- scientist, a member of the Cognitive Science Group at gence that has consciousness? Berkeley. From this perspective, I make a distinction SEARLE: I don't see why not. If we knew how the brain between cognitive neurobiology and computational cogni- produced consciousness, we could eventually produce it arti- tive science. I think computational cognitive science is use- ficially. Let's suppose that we actually discover that con- ful as a tool; it's a useful device to perform thought experi- sciousness is produced by a certain electrical sequence in the ments, test hypotheses, and so on. So I have no objection to brain, and we build a machine that would have that electrical artificial intelligence so construed. But to my mind, if we sequence. Such an achievement might be medically useful include neurobiology within cognitive science, the greatest because if my brain was starting to decay they might be able advances in the past 10 years have been in our advanced to replace it with these electrical gimmicks. So I don't have knowledge of the brain. I think that this is the most exciting

free inquiry 40

area of scientific research right now. This knowledge is what is the nature of the human capacity to think and act incremental. It's not that we've had some fantastic break- rationally? To what extent is it dependent on language? To throughs, but if you look at the textbooks today and compare what extent is it constituted by linguistic phenomena, by them with the textbooks of 20 years ago, we just know a semantic phenomena? Is it a separate faculty like the faculty whole lot more than we used to know. Now, there's a whole of perception or the faculty of acquiring a language that chil- lot of other stuff going on that I think is pretty useful too, and dren have, or is it already built into the structure of those fac- this is not at the level of neurobiology, but at a higher level. ulties? Why is it we don't have a formal logic of practical We are, for example, understanding perception better. To me rationality in the way that classical logic seems to give us the these two areas are the most exciting. formal logic of theoretical rationality? So it is a whole pile FI: Looking forward a bit, if we have this interview in 10 of questions that I'm working on. I think it's an exciting field years time, what would you anticipate as being the most because I believe that our traditions handed down from likely area for new discovery? Aristotle have been mistaken. SEARLE: I think that substantial progress will be made in FI: Mistaken? Can you elaborate on that? the study of the brain. My brain scientist friends are always SEARLE: Well, it's difficult to summarize, but it's some- frustrated by how slow it is. But I'm a philosopher; we've thing like this: in practical rationality, essentially we have been at this 2,000 years. I don't expect a solution overnight. thought that practical reasoning—reasoning about what to It would be wonderful if we knew in 10 years time how the do—was in the end reasoning about how to satisfy desires. brain caused consciousness. I don't think we will. And I'm So, as Hume says, reason is and ought to be the slave of the afraid probably not in our lifetime. But just to get closer to passions. Aristotle says reasoning is always about a means to understanding it would be a tremendous achievement. an end. There are a whole lot of slogans in our traditions that FI: What excites you the most in your own work? articulate this idea. In any case, rationality is always about SEARLE: I just finished a book called The Construction of satisfying desires. Social Reality. It's about how conscious agents create an Now Kant labored mightily to overcome this tradition, objective reality of money, property, government, marriage, and it's a hell of an effort. The guy was fantastic, but I don't universities, language, and institutions. I think there ought to think he succeeded. And what I want to suggest is that there's be more research in this area, and I hope to do a lot of that a much simpler answer to at least a part of the question, work. though it doesn't answer the whole question. A part of the Another area about which I'm writing a book is rationality. answer is that we have this remarkable capacity to create I think that it's kind of a scandal that philosophers regard ratio- desire-independent reasons for action. The classic case of nality as so important yet don't really have a good theory of it. course is promising, where you can do something now that I'm trying to work on that, but again it's slow going, and I may will create a reason for you to do something in the future, not succeed. I have been working on that for some years. even if in the future you'd rather not do it. Anyway, I think FI: What would a theory of rationality involve? that's a kind of entering wedge for me into cracking the SEARLE: It would involve answering such questions as: whole tradition of practical rationality. fi

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41 al fall 1998 God and the Philosophers

FROM FIDEISM TO PRAGMATISM: PART 2 OF A THREE-PART SERIES Paul Edwards

In the Summer 1998 issue of FREE INQUIRY, noted philosopher Paul religious topics. Kant managed to circumvent the censor in con- Edwards launched his comprehensive survey of the thoughts of nection with his Religion innerhalb der Grenzen der blossen philosophers about God with "God and the Philosophers: Part 1, Vernunft (Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone) which From Aristotle to Locke." In Part 2 below, Edwards picks up the appeared in 1793. In October 1794 he received a peremptory story with an examination of the work of David Hume and notice from the King: Immanuel Kant in the late eighteenth century. The development of atheism, materialism, and agnosticism are followed, and Edwards Our most high person has for a long time observed with great ends with a description of the pragmatist approach of William displeasure how you misuse your philosophy to undermine and debase many of the most important and fundamental doctrines James. Part 3 will appear in FREE INQUIRY'S Winter 1998/99 issue. of the Holy Scriptures and Christianity; how, namely, you have Edwards teaches at the New School of Social Research. He is done this in your book, Religion innerhalb der Grenzen der the editor of The Encyclopedia of Philosophy and a contributor to blossen Vernunft, as well as in other smaller works.... We The Encyclopedia of Unbelief, The Encyclopedia of Ethics, and demand of you immediately a most conscientious answer and the Oxford Companion to Philosophy. expect that in the future, towards the avoidance of our highest disfavor, you will give no such cause for offense, ... If you continue to resist, you may certainly expect unpleasant conse- HUME, KANT AND FIDEISM quences to yourself.

Kant answered that his book had been misunderstood. So far from criticizing Christianity he had declared that the Bible was the best vehicle for moral instruction. He concluded with a avid Hume (1711-1776) has sometimes been pledge not to publish anything that might give the slightest called a deist, but in fact he was what we would offense: "I hereby, as Your Majesty's most faithful servant, now call an agnostic. His posthumously pub- solemnly declare that henceforth I will entirely refrain from all lished Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion contain some of public statements on religion, both natural and revealed, either the most incisive criticism of the cosmological and the teleologi- in lectures or in writings." cal arguments. In connection with the former he observes that a In fairness to the King, it must be conceded that what Kant causal series is nothing over and above the members of the series, had advocated was certainly not Christianity. He championed a so that, if we have explained the origin of each member, there is "religion of morality," and, although such a religion demands nothing left to explain. The teleological argument rests on dubi- belief in God and immortality, he did suggest that many of the ous analogies, and in any case it would not give us the omnipo- beliefs peculiar to Christianity were without value and perhaps tent and perfectly good creator of the Universe. We also have no even positively immoral. According to Anthony Quinton, Kant reason to suppose that there was a time when order of the kind was in fact "an atheist tricked out in some positively diaphanous described in our scientific laws did not characterize the universe. relics of Christian piety." Be this as it may, conservative Although not as radical as Hume, Immanuel Kant Christians must have found a great deal in his works highly (1724-1804) had much greater influence on subsequent devel- unpalatable. There was, of course, The Critique of Pure Reason opments. His Critique of Pure Reason contains a devastating with its rejection of the arguments for the existence of God. examination of the ontological, cosmological, and teleological There was the repeated insistence that morality is autonomous arguments. Hume's discussion of the latter two arguments was and not in need of either religious or utilitarian grounding. And greatly superior, but Kant's refutation of the ontological argu- there was also the explicit praise of Enlightenment and ment, which Hume barely touched, was masterful. Frederick the Great, its loyal champion. Kant's 1784 essay As long as Frederick the Great was alive there was no offi- "What Is Enlightenment?" begins with a definition of cial interference with Kant's publications. Frederick died in Aufklärung (Enlightenment) as the "liberation of man from the 1786 and was succeeded by his religiously orthodox nephew, self-imposed bondage of the mind" and proclaims the motto Frederick William II. Frederick William appointed a bigoted "Sapere ande" (Dare to be wise), to which Kant added, "have opponent of the Enlightenment by the name of Wöllner as his the courage to use your own reason:' Kant cannot have been dis- "culture" minister. In 1788 Wöllner issued two edicts—the pleased when the King suddenly died in 1797 and when, fol- Religionsedikt, which threatened dismissal of all civil servants lowing the King's death, Wöllner was dismissed and his edicts (including university teachers) who deviated in any way from cancelled. Kant interpreted his pledge as applying only to adherence to biblical doctrines, and the Zensuredikt, which Frederick William and not to the Prussian state and wrote again required an official imprimatur for all publications dealing with as he pleased. Kant has been criticized for his abject surrender,

free inquiry 42

but it should be remembered that he was 71 years old and had ing Hume, the second Voltaire, and the third presumably the devil every right to live out his life in peace. himself. The poet Oliver Goldsmith, a great admirer of Voltaire, Hume did not receive a menacing letter from a king, but he castigated the painter for "degrading so high a genius as Voltaire too had his troubles on the religious front. Quite early he devel- before so mean a writer as Dr. Beattie," adding that after 10 years oped a technique of concluding his anti-religious pieces with Beattie would be forgotten but "the fame of Voltaire will live for- professions of piety whose irony could not be lost on the reader ever to your disgrace as a flatterer." The same of course applies to and which infuriated the zealots. After the most damaging Hume. Who today knows James Beattie except as a "flatterer" attack on the belief in miracles he concludes with fulsome who defamed a beautiful man and a great philosopher? praise of the virtues of faith: The work of Hume and Kant no doubt helped to pave the way for agnosticism and atheism, but it also had a significant impact . we may conclude, that the Christian Religion not only was on Christian and Jewish philosophy, resulting in the widespread at first attended with miracles, but even at this day cannot be adoption of a position known as "fideism"—belief in God (or believed by any reasonable person without one. Mere reason is insufficient to convince us of its veracity: And whoever is moved other religious propositions) on the basis of faith alone. Fideistic by Faith to assent to it, is conscious of a continued miracle in his believers are ready to concede that the arguments for the exis- own person, which subverts all the principles of his understand- tence of God are not valid, but they commonly add that this is not ing, and gives him a determination to believe what is most con- necessarily a cause for concern. Faith, in the words of John Hick, trary to custom and experience. "stands ultimately upon the ground of religious experience and is not a product of philosophical reasoning." Soren Kierkegaard "Of the Immortality of the Soul," which was meant to do for life (1813-1855), a leading figure in the fideist tradition, went so far after death what the earlier piece had done for miracles, ends as to maintain that those who tried to prove the existence of God with a tribute to the importance of revelation: "Nothing could are enemies of true faith. Faith, on Kierkegaard's view, involves set in a Fuller light the infinite oblig- ations which mankind have to Divine Hume has sometimes been called a deist, but in revelation; since we find that no other medium could ascertain this great and fact he was what we would now call an agnostic. important truth" The essay on immortality was planned to be part of a volume risk, but there would be no risk if the existence of God or immor- entitled Five Dissertations, which was to appear in 1755 and tality were as solidly established as mathematical theories or sci- also to include "The Natural History of Religion," "Of the entific laws. Passions," "Of Tragedy," and "Of Suicide." Several copies of Kierkegaard is also responsible for the doctrine that truth is Five Dissertations were actually printed, one of which reached subjectivity, which he uses to justify religious belief. He distin- Bishop William Warburton, a fanatical enemy of "infidels" in guishes between objective and subjective truth. A person is general and Hume in particular. Warburton urged the authorities objectively "in the truth" if what he believes is in accordance to prosecute Hume and his publishers, and the book was there- with the facts. He is subjectively in the truth if he is sincere and upon withdrawn. One of the copies of the original book had passionately involved, even if what he believes is not in accor- reached Paris, however, and in 1770 the essays on suicide and dance with reality. In religious questions, what matters is sub- immortality were published in a French translation. It appears jective truth, and, hence, the believer need not be concerned that that Hume, who was not mentioned as the author, never knew there is no good objective evidence for his belief. This new about this publication. Hume was a kind and patient man but "interpretation" of "the idea of truth" has been hailed as a Warburton and "his Flatterers" were too much for him. In his momentous contribution to philosophy and religion. A little account of his own life, written shortly before his death, Hume reflection shows, however, that it is nothing but a confusing referred to one of Warburton's abusive pamphlets as displaying redefinition. From the fact that a person sincerely and passion- "all of the illiberal petulance, arrogance, and scurrility, which ately believes in God, it does not follow that there is a God, and distinguishes the Warburtonian School." He always refused to the disagreement between the believer and the unbeliever obvi- reply to Warburton on the ground that he would be "ashamed to ously concerns the latter question. As we shall see shortly, engage with ... such a low Fellow." Kierkegaard's attempt to save religion by redefining "truth" In 1770 James Beattie published a venomous attack on Hume reappears in William James, and Kierkegaard is also a forerun- in his Essay on the Nature and Immutability of Truth; in ner of various contemporary philosophers who deny that there Opposition to Sophistry and Scepticism, which went through five is such a thing as objective truth. editions by 1776, the year of Hume's death. He described Hume's Fideism flourished in the nineteenth century and is still works as "those unnatural productions, the vile effusions of a vile widely adopted at the present time, but it goes back at least as and stupid heart, that mistakes its own restlessness for the activ- far as Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), who, in a famous passage in ity of genius, and its own captiousness for sagacity of under- his Pensées, asserted that "the heart has reasons which reason standing." Beattie's book was not well received in Scotland, knows not of." Pascal's heart, needless to say, told him that there where Hume was extremely popular in spite of his views on reli- is a God, that there is life after death, and that he himself was gion, but enjoyed a great vogue in England. Among its admirers going to inherit eternal bliss. It did not occur to him that other were Dr. Johnson, Edmund Burke, and George III, who pro- people's hearts might tell them very different things and that we claimed that Beattie had "cut Mr. Hume up by the root" Beattie's would then have the problem of whose heart is to be trusted. "victory" led to a painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds entitled "The Rousseau, too, was a champion of faith and the heart. "I have Triumph of Truth" Truth, symbolized by an angel, is depicted as suffered too much in this life not to expect another," he wrote in pushing three demons into a bottomless pit—the first represent- a published rebuttal to Voltaire's Poème sur le désastre de

43 all fall 1998 Lisbonne—"all the subtleties of metaphysics will never make and the call for revolution against the oppressors of the com- me doubt for a moment the immortality of the soul and a benef- mon people. The complete text of Meslier's Testament was icent providence. I feel it, I believe it, I want it, I hope for it, I finally published in Amsterdam in 1864. There has been no will defend it to my last breath" Skeptics have generally not English translation to this day. been unduly impressed by such outbursts and have dismissed Just as not all atheists were materialists, so not all material- fideism as nothing but a species of wishful thinking that ought ists were atheists. A prominent illustration is Joseph Priestley, to have no place in serious philosophy. the discoverer of oxygen. Priestley was both a materialist and a sincere Christian. He saw that bodily resurrection was the only form of immortality he could consistently endorse. "Whatever is ATHEISM AND MATERIALISM decomposed" Priestley wrote, "may certainly be recomposed by The open advocacy of atheism effectively began during the mid- the same Almighty Power that first composed it." He noted but dle of the eighteenth century in France. Diderot, d'Holbach, La did not really answer the problem posed by cannibals with Mettrie, and d'Alembert were the most famous defenders of athe- which Voltaire used to tease believers: if a person is eaten by a ism in opposition not only to Christianity but also to deists like cannibal, how can both of them be "recomposed"? There is also Voltaire and Rousseau. All these atheists were also materialists, the problem of people whose bodies are burnt. It is not easy to but atheism is not necessarily connected with any metaphysical see how even the Almighty Power could recompose them. He system. Fichte and Schopenhauer, for example, were atheists who could produce a replica or duplicate, but this involves one in subscribed to metaphysical idealism. Not all the French materi- grave difficulties concerning personal identity, and in any event alists meant the same thing by "materialism," and there was a ten- Priestley did not believe in the replica theory. dency to shift from more to less radical versions. Diderot seems to have held the view that thinking and feeling are bodily states. La Mettrie's view is that mental states, although sui generi, are FEUERBACH AND STRAUSS attributes of the body, which seems to have been what Collins Hegel has sometimes been described as a pantheist, but his pronouncements on the subject of God are so The work of Hume and Kant had a significant obscure and contradictory that it is impossible to know where he stood. This is not impact on Christian and Jewish philosophy, true, however, of some of his disciples, notably those known as "Left Hegelians"— resulting in the widespread adoption of a Marx, Engels, Feuerbach, and Strauss. position known as `fideism'—belief in God (or Marx and Engels were not primarily philosophers and will not be discussed other religious propositions) on the basis of here. Ludwig Feuerbach (1804-1872) studied theology at Heidelberg and Berlin, but faith alone. in Berlin he subsequently transferred to the faculty of philosophy where he attended also meant. Occasionally, some of these writers meant no more Hegel's lectures. In 1828 he began to teach at Erlangen, but than that mental states cannot exist without the brain and that sur- soon lost his position as the result of his Gedanken über Tod and vival after death is therefore an impossibility. Voltaire frequently Unsterblichkeit (1830), in which he denied immortality and attacked what he called "materialism," but he himself emphati- described Christianity as an egoistic and inhumane religion. The cally subscribed to the last of these theories. book had been published anonymously, but Feuerbach's author- An early atheist whose ideas strongly influenced the ship was quickly discovered. He retired to the rural town of Encyclopedists was the Abbé Meslier (1664-1729), a country Bruckberg, where he lived until the end of his life. He supported priest who, while living an outward life of conformity, was a himself partly from the royalties of his books, which achieved complete unbeliever with an intense hatred for the Christian considerable popularity, and from the income of a pottery fac- religion. In the 1720s he decided to write down his ideas but tory owned by his wife. to keep them secret during his lifetime. In addition to an Feuerbach's most famous book is Das Wesendes uncompromising attack on Christianity, his Testament con- Christentums (1841), translated by George Eliot as The Essence tains defenses of atheism, materialism, and political revolu- of Christianity (1954). Its main idea is summarized by tion. Unlike the later attacks on religion by the Encyclo- Feuerbach's dictum "All theology is psychology." The objects pedists and by Hume, Meslier's criticisms have a distinctive of the senses are "outside" of man but God is inside of him. The Marxian flavor. Religion in his view is basically an instru- attributes of God, especially His love, are projected by human ment for the control of the poor and weak masses. The more beings onto the cosmos: ardent their faith, the less likely they are to rebel and overthrow their masters. In a passage that has often been quoted, The historical progress of religion consists in this; that what by he expressed his wish to abolish injustice by "hanging and an earlier religion was regarded as objective, is now recognized as subjective; that is, what was formerly contemplated strangling with the bowels of the priests all the nobles and and worshipped as God is now perceived to be something rulers of the world." Extracts from Meslier's Testament were human. What was at first religion becomes at a later period published by Voltaire in 1762. Voltaire dwelled on the idolatry; man is seen to have adored his own nature.... The "melancholy fact that such a powerful indictment of essence of religion, hidden from the religious, is evident to the Christianity should have been written by a priest." Voltaire thinker, by whom religion is viewed subjectively, which it can- did not include Meslier's defense of atheism and materialism not be by its votaries.

free inquiry 44 Once it is recognized that religious predicates are only "anthro- ure in German liberalism. He wrote a number of historical pomorphisms," only "faint-heartedness and intellectual imbecil- works on earlier champions of freedom of thought—the coura- ity" will prevent a person from denying the existence of the sub- geous sixteenth-century opponent of Catholicism Ulrich von ject of the predicates. Hutten (1858), the eighteenth-century deist Reimarus (1862), Most of Feuerbach's works are written in a turgid and and also Voltaire (1870). In an earlier section, I quoted Strauss's extremely repetitious style. Occasionally, however, he delivers fully justified objections to Voltaire's evasive discussions of life ringing and highly quotable endorsements of this-worldliness or after death. This book is the best study of Voltaire's philosophy what is now often called "humanism." The following is a passage known to me, and it is for the most part a defense of Voltaire's occurring in Lectures on the Essence of Religion: views. Marx derided Strauss as a bourgeois idéologue. Engels, however, was enthusiastic about Strauss's works, at any rate in My only wish is ... to transform friends of God into friends his earlier days. "I have sworn fealty to the flag of D. F. of man, believers into thinkers, devotees of prayer into devo- Strauss," he wrote in a letter to Marx and "have become a first- tees of work, candidates for the hereafter into students of the class mythologist. Strauss is a grand fellow—his genius and world, Christians who, by their own admission, are "half ani- subtlety are beyond comparison." mal, half angel" into persons, into whole persons. Unfortunately, Strauss became something of a reactionary in his last years. He became caught up in the nationalistic mad- Marx and Engels, whose early work was strongly influenced ness that gripped Germany at the time of the Franco-Prussian by Feuerbach, eventually jibed at him as a "pious" atheist. war of 1870. Strauss's last book, Der Alte and der Neue Glaube "Feuerbach, stopped halfway," Engels wrote, "the lower half (1872) published in English translation as The Old Faith and of him was materialist, the upper half idealist." What they the New (1873), is a combination of radical views in philoso- meant, of course, was that he did not analyze the social causes phy and religion with extremely conservative views in politics. of reactionary ideology; and we may add that he also failed to offer a critical examination of traditional morality. Fideism flourished in the nineteenth century George Eliot is alleged to have remarked in response to the motto and is still widely adopted at the present time. "God, Immortality, Duty"—"how inconceivable the first, how unbelievable the second, but how Strauss now openly declared that no educated person could peremptory and absolute the third." Most nineteenth-century believe in Christianity any more and that there are natural unbelievers, especially in England, would have endorsed her explanations for all phenomena. He explains and defends remark about the absoluteness of morality. It remained for Darwin's evolution, and he also champions what he calls mate- Nietzsche and later Freud and the much-maligned Wilhelm rialism with its corollary that there is no life after death. It Reich to question the life-denying morality that has always should be explained, however, that by "materialism" Strauss, gone hand in hand with Christian theology. like several other writers of the period, does not mean the view Like Feuerbach David Strauss attended lectures by Hegel that mental states are material but the milder proposition that and was greatly influenced by him. In 1832 he began to teach they cannot exist without a physical foundation, i.e., without at the University of Tübingen, from which he was dismissed the brain. On the political side, he blames the recent war in 1835 on the publication of a two-volume work—Das Leben entirely on the French ("a vain and restless people") and asserts Jesu kritisch bearbeited (translated by George Eliot as Life of that the German decision to fight back had been entirely ratio- Jesus Critically Examined (1848). The book caused a storm nal. War in general is not undesirable. Strauss claimed that the of indignation on the part of Christian believers who were nations of Western Europe have made greater progress than becoming less numerous but who were still extremely power- those of Africa because of the "constant wars" in which they ful in such matters as teaching appointments. On the basis of had engaged. Strauss strongly supported the institutions of a careful historical analysis, Strauss concluded that the New family and the state and advocated monarchy as a superior Testament stories about Jesus are totally untrustworthy: they form of government to a republic. It will come as no surprise are not history but "myths" or legends. Das Leben Jesu had a that he also fully backed capital punishment. vast influence on Protestant theologians throughout the Der Alte and der Neue Glaube had enormous sales and world, many of whom, while remaining Christians in some received several laudatory reviews. There were, however, dis- attenuated sense, abandoned any belief in the literal truth of senting voices. Nietzsche, who was just setting out on his liter- the New Testament. The late Brand Blanshard, who was ary career, was appalled by the smugness of the book and in his brought up as a Quaker, once told me that reading Strauss was essay David Strauss der Bekenner and der Schriftsteller (David a devastating experience, causing him to give up Christianity. Strauss the Confessor and the Writer) launched a furious attack. In an unsuccessful attempt to pacify the authorities Strauss He was an admirer of Strauss's book on Jesus, but he had a included a final chapter in which the virgin birth, the resur- loathing for Bismarck and Prussian nationalism. Nietzsche sent rection, and the ascension are accepted as "eternal truths" a copy to Strauss, who expressed great astonishment that some- although not based on historical fact. Strauss's later works are body whom he had never personally injured should express such free from such double talk, and in any event it did not prevent passionate hatred. Strauss was already very ill at the time, and his dismissal. he died six months later. Nietzsche wrote to his friend Gerstorff: Strauss commanded a clear and attractive prose style, and he "I very much hope that I have not aggravated the end of his life." had no difficulty supporting himself by journalism and royalties Strauss was accustomed to criticism, and it is doubtful that from his numerous books. For some years, he was a leading fig- Nietzsche's essay hastened his death.

45 ® fall 1998 AGNOSTICISM Agnosticism is most commonly defended by referring to the limits of the human understanding, but occasionally other argu- T. H. Huxley has given us a full account of how he came to coin ments have also been used. John Tyndall (1820-1893), a distin- the term agnosticism. "When I reached intellectual maturity:' he guished physicist, concluded his paper "Matter and Force" by wrote in an article entitled `Agnosticism": relating the story of a conversation between Napoleon and some of the atheistic scientists who accompanied him to Egypt: I ... began to ask myself whether I was an atheist, a theist, or a pantheist; a materialist or an idealist; a Christian or a free- Napoleon looked aloft to the starry heavens, and said, "It is all thinker; I found that the more I learned and reflected, the less very well, gentlemen; but who made all these?" That question ready was the answer; until, at last, I came to the conclusion that still remains unanswered, and science makes no attempt to I had neither art nor part with any of these denominations, answer it. As far as I can see, there is no quality in the human except the last. intellect which is fit to be applied to the solution of the problem. It entirely transcends us. All these "good people" were quite sure that Tyndall then compares the mind of man to they had attained a certain "gnosis,"—had, more or less suc- cessfully, solved the problem of existence; while I was quite sure a musical instrument with a certain range of notes, beyond which that I had not, and had a pretty strong conviction that the prob- in both directions we have an infinitude of silence. The phenom- lem was insoluble. ena of matter and force lie within our intellectual range, and as far as they reach we will at all hazards push our inquires. But behind, Huxley coined the term agnostic and above, and around all, the real mystery of this universe lies unsolved, and, as far as we are concerned, is incapable of solution. as suggestively antithetic to the "Gnostic" of Christian history, who professed to know so much about the very things of which In much the same vein Clarence Darrow, after pointing out the I was ignorant. weaknesses of the First Cause Argument, observed that the position of the atheist is just as vulnerable. If, he wrote

The open advocacy of atheism effectively the atheist answers the question, "What is the origin of it all?" by saying that the universe always existed, began during the middle of the eighteenth he has the same difficulty to contend with as the believer when he is asked the question "Who made century in France. God?" To say that "the universe was here last year, or millions of years ago," does not explain its origin. This is still a mystery. As to the question of the origin Huxley noted that "to his great satisfaction" the terni took. of things, man can only wonder and doubt and guess. Indeed it did, and not only among scientists and philosophers but also among educated people generally. This argument should be rejected for at least two reasons. In the The position Huxley called "agnosticism" was of course first place, questions about the origin of something make sense much older and had usually gone under the name of "skepti- only in relation to things that are known to have had a beginning. cism." Hume was an agnostic and so were some of the ancient The principle of the conservation of matter and energy teaches philosophers. Huxley had no difficulty in converting Charles that the same total quantity has always been the same. In its older Darwin to his view. John Tyndall, W. K. Clifford, Leslie version this is known as "the eternity of matter." Now, if matter, Stephen, and Herbert Spencer were some of the other prominent or mass and energy have always existed the question of their ori- nineteenth-century agnostics in England, though, as we shall gin does not arise. Furthermore, one can know that a given see, Spencer's position was not quite identical with that of the answer is false or senseless even if one does not know the true others. Many leading nineteenth- and twentieth-century free- answer. A notorious gangster by the name of Serge Rubinstein thinkers in the United States, notably Robert Ingersoll, Clarence was murdered in New York City in the early 1950s. This crime Darrow, and H. L. Mencken wrote in defense of agnosticism. In has never been solved, but, although we do not know who killed Germany the leading supporter of this view was the celebrated Serge Rubenstein, we can be quite certain of a great many peo- biologist Emil DuBois-Reymond, who concluded his lecture ple that they were not the culprits. An atheist can quite consis- Über die Grenzen des Naturerkennen ("On the Limits of tently maintain, "I have no idea how the origin of the universe is Knowledge of Nature") with the jubilant exclamation to be explained, but the theological theory cannot be the right "Ignorabimus" (We shall not know). On Spencer's view we can answer in view of such facts as the existence of evil." and do know that there is a reality beyond the observable world, DuBois-Reymond and Clifford have sometimes been classi- but we cannot know any of its features. He quite appropriately fied as atheists rather than agnostics. Near the end of his "ignor- referred to this transcendent reality as "the Unknowable" always abimus" lecture, DuBois-Reymond briefly discusses "the using the capital U, but the very nature of the capital U implies assumption of a world-soul." Before he can "allow a psychical more than his theory allows. Spencer is largely forgotten, but he principle to the universe:' he wrote, was immensely famous in his day, being frequently compared with Aristotle. In her autobiographical work, My the student of nature will demand to be shown somewhere Apprenticeship, Beatrice Webb reports that educated young peo- within it, embedded in neurine and fed with warm arterial blood ple of her generation had given up belief in God, replacing Him under proper pressure, a convolution of ganglionic globules and with Unknowable and treating Herbert Spencer as its prophet. nerve tubes proportioned in size to the faculties of such a mind.

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Can we regard the universe or that part of it immediately sur- value, or because, as La Place put it in his famous exchange rounding us, asks Clifford in his essay "Body and Mind," as a with Napoleon, there is no need for this "hypothesis." Atheism vast brain and therefore the reality that underlies it as a con- in this broader sense remains distinct from agnosticism, which scious mind? Needless to say the answer is that there is no such advocates suspense of judgment. It is surely possible to justify cosmic brain, no such "gigantic ganglionic globule," to be found atheism in this broader sense without having to "examine every anywhere and hence there cannot be a cosmic mind. This argu- object in boundless space and eternal time." ment was ridiculed by a number of nineteenth-century writers. James Martineau, a prominent Unitarian minister who had studied in Germany and who wrote extensively on philosophical WILLIAM JAMES AND PRAGMATISM subjects, protested that if DuBois-Reymond were One of the prime targets of Bertrand Russell's anti-religious writings was William James, who offered defenses of belief in ever to alight on the portentous cerebrum which he imagines, I God and also in life after death in numerous articles and books. greatly doubt that he would fulfill his promise and turn theist at For contemporary readers the most interesting of these is prob- the sight: that he had found the Cause of causes would be the last inference it would occur to him to draw. ably the one based on the "pragmatic" theory of truth, which is offered in his Pragmatism (1907). "On pragmatistic principles," he writes in the last chapter of this book, "if the hypoth- Martineau is partly right and partly wrong. We have to distin- esis of God works satisfactorily in the widest sense of the word, guish between the view that God is the First Cause of the universe and the claim that God is a Super-Person who is active in it is true" (p. 192). Experience, he adds, shows that "whatever its residual difficulties may be," the hypothesis of God "cer- the world right now. The DuBois-Reymond argument does not tainly does work." Earlier in Pragmatism we had been told that show that there is no divine First Cause, but it does show that true beliefs "have only this quality in common, that they pay" there is no Super-Person; and it is the Super-Person to whom (James's italics) and—what presumably means the same—"the believers address their prayers and from whom they hope to `true' is only the expedient in the way of our thinking, just as receive help in this life and bliss in the hereafter. A superficially plausible argument against atheism and in favor of agnosticism was put for- The position Huxley called "agnosticism" ward by the late astronomer Carl Sagan. The was of course much older and had usually atheist, he tells us, does not recognize gone under the name of "skepticism." our collective ignorance on the subject of God... . An atheist is someone who is certain that God does not exist, the `right' is only the expedient in the way of believing." someone who has compelling evidence against the existence of For James what worked was a "meliorist type of theism" in God. I know of no such compelling evidence. Because God can which God is viewed as "but one helper, primus inter pares, in be relegated to remote times and places and to ultimate causes, the midst of all the shapers of the great world's fate" He we would have to know a great deal more about the universe than we do now to be sure that no such God exists. To be certain expresses his hope that this is the kind of belief that is "exactly" of the existence of God and to be certain of the nonexistence of what his readers also "require." Depending on their background, God seem to me to be the confident extremes in a subject so rid- various of his readers will undoubtedly "require" something dled with doubt and uncertainty as to inspire very little confi- else. Rather different-beliefs or ideas will "work" for them, i.e., dence indeed. give them help or hope or satisfaction. Christians will undoubtedly require belief in an infinite and not a finite God as well as It is not clear what kind of evidence would have satisfied Sagan the divinity of His son, Jesus Christ. Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, that there is no God. Suppose that he could have traveled to the Taoists, and the adherents of various other religions will outer regions of space, what would he have had to experience to "require" still other things. Nor are agnostics and atheists to be decide the question? Would he be looking for something like the forgotten. DuBois-Reymond, T. H. Huxley, and numerous cosmic brain of Clifford and DuBois-Reymond? If not, what? agnostics appear to derive a great deal of smug self-satisfaction Sagan's argument is quite similar to one of the standard objec- from their "Ignorabimus." Nietzsche jubilantly announced the tions used by nineteenth-century Christian apologists. "The non-existence of God and the unjustly forgotten German atheist," in the words of Thomas Chalmers, "would have to walk philosopher Nicolai Hartmann also regarded atheism as morally the whole expanse of infinity to make out his case." "To know elevating. Some contemporary philosophers, it seems, enjoy the that there is no trace of God in eternal time and boundless insight that most talk about God is meaningless. space," according to Robert Flint, "a man would have had to All these views "work"—they give satisfaction and are in examine and to comprehend every object that ever existed." this way "useful." Clearly, however, they cannot all be true. Surely we do not have to "walk the whole expanse of infinity," Usefulness is a relative notion but truth is not. An unbeliever can to know that the evil in the world is incompatible with the exis- quite consistently admit that belief in God is often useful. tence of an all-powerful and perfectly good deity. And right here Moreover, the believer in God believes that God has objective and now we can see that talking about something that is sup- existence. When he believes in God, to quote Bertrand Russell, posedly purely mental does not make sense. Atheism may be "he believes in Him as he believes in the existence of Roosevelt defined as the view that "God exists" is a false statement. But or Churchill or Hitler; God, for him, is an actual Being, not there is also a broader sense in which an atheist is someone who merely a human idea which has good effects. It is this genuine rejects belief in God, not necessarily because such belief is belief that has the good effects." James's "pragmatistic princi- judged to be false. It may be rejected because it is incoherent or ples" do not vindicate the believers' belief in God, including his meaningless, because it is too vague to be of any explanatory own "melioristic" type. fi

47 ® fall 1998 SCIENCE AND RELIGION

that the Sun was the center of the universe. As Alexander Koyré, William The Bible and Shea, and other historians of science have noted, most of Galileo's arguments were no better empirically than those of Ptolemy, and definitive confir- Astronomy mation of the Copernican system was found long after Galileo's death. Galileo's certainty seems to have rested on the assumption that mathe- Hector Avalos matical simplicity is a guide to truth. Even if two otherwise contrary systems ong before telescopes and argue that, for modern astronomy to be could account for heavenly motions, sophisticated instruments, an- born, biblical cosmology had to die. the simpler mathematical model should T cient peoples looked to the heav- be preferred. Galileo's faith in mathe- ens for answers to the basic questions of matical simplicity is evident in his GALILEO VS. PTOLEMY (ANI) life. From the very first verse, the Bible, famous Dialogo (after 1744 titled the most influential collection of books THE CHURCH) Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief in Western civilization, purports to pro- Galileo took one of the first steps lead- World Systems, Ptolemaic and vide answers to some of these ques- ing toward the death of biblical cos- Copernican): tions, claiming that the Hebrew god cre- mology by mounting a systematic ated the heavens (Genesis 1:1) and that challenge to the biblical notion that the Who is going to believe that nature ... has chosen to make an immense number of very huge bodies move Many scientists would argue that, for modern with incalculable speed, to achieve what could have been done by a astronomy to be born, biblical cosmology had moderate movement of one single to die. body around its own center? But even if Galileo's mathematically he made the Earth for human beings to Earth was the center of the universe. simple model did not constitute proof inhabit (Isaiah 45:18). Heavenly lumi- The centrality of Earth had long been that the universe actually worked in this naries were formed to provide light for associated with the cosmologies of manner, Galileo announced other dis- Earth and markers for the seasons Aristotle and Ptolemy that had been coveries that cast doubt on Aristotelian- (Genesis 1:14-16). The Earth was the adopted as the official teaching of the Ptolemaic cosmology. Such discoveries center of the biblical universe. Church. These cosmologists held that were facilitated by Galileo's innovative The relationship between the Bible an immovable Earth was orbited by use of the telescope to explore the heav- and modern astronomy has been very concentric spheres in which the various ens beginning around 1609. Galileo complicated and often turbulent. For planets and stars were embedded. A showed, for example, that the Moon's most of the last two thousand years, complex series of circular motions by surface has mountains and valleys, and any research on astronomy had to fol- each sphere and the associated celestial is not perfectly smooth as Aristotle pos- low the biblical interpretation of the bodies was purported to account for all tulated; that the Sun has spots, not a Church, as the case of Galileo in the observable heavenly motions, includ- homogeneous surface; and that Venus seventeenth century illustrated. ing the apparent retrograde motion of has phases, which would not be Accordingly, many scientists would some planets. The heavenly bodies, expected if Venus moved uniformly such as the Moon and Sun, were per- around the Earth. Hector Avalos is Associate Professor of fectly homogeneous in their composi- The Church reacted against such Religious Studies at Iowa State tion and structure. challenges by placing Copernicus' De University in Ames, where he was In contrast, Galileo sought to con- Revolutionibus on the index of prohib- named the 1996 Professor of the Year. firm the theory, most forcefully pre- ited books in 1616, 73 years after its He also serves as Executive Director sented in the sixteenth century by the publication and indicating that the for the Committee for the Scientific Polish astronomer Copernicus in his De Church saw no early threat by this Examination of Religion. Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium, "revolutionary" work. In 1633 Galileo

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was tried and found guilty of teaching lical scholar, I also see the continuing, ASTRONOMERS' the Copernican system. His sentence and in my opinion misguided, MISUNDERSTANDINGS included imprisonment, which was attempts by some modern astronomers Many modern astronomers evince mis- commuted to house arrest at his home to harmonize astronomy and the understandings of biblical cosmology. near Florence for the remaining years Bible. of his life. For example, Robert Jastrow writes in God and the Astronomers: "The details Eventually, modern cosmology differ, but the essential elements in the established the validity of the helio- A PRIMER IN BIBLICAL astronomical and biblical accounts of centric theory. Moreover, modern cos- COSMOLOGY(IES) Genesis are the same: the chain of mology showed that the sequence of The most common view found in the events leading to man commenced cosmogonic events in Genesis 1, if biblical texts indicates that the suddenly and sharply at a definite interpreted literally, is not correct. Hebrews thought of a tri-partite uni- moment in time, in a flash of light and Stars were formed on the fourth day verse (heaven, Earth, and under- energy." of creation in Genesis 1:16, whereas world), with the sky as a sort of metal- Another possibly misguided effort modern astronomy has established lic dome. On the other side of the centers on providing scientific expla- that stars are still being formed today. walls of this dome were the store- nations for what may be purely liter- Water on Earth exists before any other houses for rain and snow. Rain ary phenomena. One case involves the principal component in Genesis occurred, for example, when the Sun and Moon standing still in 1:1-3, whereas in modern cosmology doors or windows of these store- Joshua's battle at Gibeon (Joshua our watery planet is a relatively late houses were opened by God as in 10:12-13): product. Even the need for a creator Genesis 7:11-12. The edge of this has been challenged. In his introduc- dome, outlined by the horizon, rested On the day when the Lord gave the tion to Steven Hawking's A Brief History of Time, Carl Sagan observed that Hawking outlines "a universe Modern cosmology showed that the sequence with no edge in space, no beginning of cosmogonic events in Genesis 1, if or end in time, and nothing for a Creator to do." interpreted literally, is not correct. In addition, developments in biblical scholarship, especially in the nine- on pillars or mountains which had Amorites over to the Israelites, Joshua spoke to the Lord; and he teenth century, undermined the idea of roots extending deep into the Earth said in the sight of Israel, "Sun, a unified biblical cosmology. Most (see Job 26:11). The Earth, which was stand still at Gibeon, and Moon, in modern biblical scholars identify at declared to be immovable (Psalm the valley of Aijalon." And the sun least two different creation stories in 104:5), was a disk supported on water. stood still, and the moon stopped, Genesis, one in Genesis 1:1-2:4a and Rivers were often seen as originating until the nation took vengeance on their enemies. Is this not written in another in Genesis 2:4b-2:25. Among in this underground water. See the Book of Jashar? The sun stopped a number of differences, the first story Genesis 2:6 where "stream" rather in midheaven, and did not hurry to places the creation of all animals than the "mist" of the King James set for about a whole day. before the creation, on the sixth day, of Version is a better translation. man and woman together. The second The Hebrew god and his divine ret- This command by Joshua is most creation story has a different sequence: inue inhabited the heavens, although probably a literary motif also found in the human male (Gen. 2:7), then all the he also visited the Earth to see what many other battle accounts of the animals (Gen. 2:19), and finally the human beings were doing (Genesis ancient Near East. Consider in the human female (Gen. 2:21-22). 11:5). The idea of persons living in Iliad, the famous Greek epic of the Biblical cosmology is preserved in heaven was an idea popularized by early first millennium B.C.E., that some circles, most notably in the writ- Christianity. However, the books Agamemnon, the king of the Greeks, ings of Henry Morris, John attributed to a figure called Enoch requests Zeus grant that "the sun set Whitcomb, and other fundamentalist reflect the existence of a vigorous pre- not, neither darkness come upon us Christians known as "creationists." Christian Jewish literature which until I have cast down in headlong ruin Most creationists still uphold the basic speaks of temporary visits and tours of the halls of Priam." sequences and chronology of Genesis the heavenly realms. These narratives Astronomers have also sought to 1, not Genesis 2, as the paradigmatic are usually viewed as works of the explain the Star of Bethlehem creation story even if they disagree on imagination and theology by biblical (Matthew 2:2-10) without any appar- whether to interpret the length of the scholars, but they have become evi- ent attention to possible literary moti- days literally, or as more prolonged dence of space travel in antiquity for vations. For example, a recent article periods of time. And, as a secular bib- many UFO enthusiasts. in Popular Mechanics reports that Ivor

49 ® fall 1998 Bulmer Thomas has attempted to link ory of gravitation. The theological, the ethical, and the the Star of Bethlehem with a conjunc- A similar situation obtains in Isaiah practical are so conjoined in the tion of Jupiter and Saturn in May of 7 40:22, which is sometimes cited to sup- Bible with the statements about B.C.E., or a conjunction of Mars, port the idea that biblical authors knew Nature or creation that it is impossible to separate them, and to impugn Jupiter, and Saturn in 6 B.C.E. Another of the spherical shape of the Earth: "It is one is to impugn the other. astronomer argues on the basis of he who sits above the circle of the Earth, Chinese records, however, that a nova and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; In other words, if the Bible cannot be occurring in the spring of 5 B.C.E. may who stretches out the heavens like a cur- trusted concerning its truth claims about be a more probable explanation. tain, and spreads them like a tent to live the origin, structure, and purpose of the As is the case with references to in." Some argue that knowledge of the universe, how can it be trusted to pro- eclipses, it is certainly possible that the Earth's sphericity is more than can be vide reliable information about ethics? author of Matthew was referring to an expected in ancient times, and that such Any scientific disconfirmation of bibli- authentic astronomical event in a gen- knowledge must therefore be attributed cal cosmology will result in the devalu- eral sense—a conjunction of luminar- to some supernatural source. However, ation of the biblical ethical system. ies. It is also well known, however, that the Hebrew word translated here as "the In general, for scientists who do not in the ancient world astronomical signs circle" most probably refers to the circle think that ethics should be built on a biblical foundation, the harmony of the Astronomers and biblical scholars need to Bible with astronomy is not important. interact more than ever in order to avoid ACROSS THE GREAT DIVIDE some basic misunderstandings of both the Galileo was finally exonerated by Pope Bible and astronomy. John Paul II in 1992, which is yet another signal that the literal biblical interpretation of the origin and struc- were associated, almost routinely and traced by the horizon and is not refer- ture of the universe has been largely without much precision, with people ence to the sphericity of the Earth at all. overthrown. Yet biblical ideas have not favored by the authors. Attempting to Languages related to Hebrew have the disappeared completely. In their most provide scientific explanations for same word-root to refer to the horizon. vigorous form, they are still found in these literary motifs may be as mis- Moreover, even if the Hebrew authors the writings of the so-called creation- guided as providing scientific explana- knew about the sphericity of the Earth, ists. In a weakened form, they are still tions for how Superman flies or which such knowledge would not require any found in the work of some respected astronomical event corresponds to the supernatural explanation. After all, astronomers. Both forms seem to be explosion of the planet Krypton. Eratosthenes of Alexandria, an ancient motivated by the desire to preserve two Greek mathematician active in the third important institutions, science and reli- century B.C.E., not only knew that the THEOLOGIANS' gion. It is often the case that such world was round but also used trigo- MISUNDERSTANDINGS astronomers do not use the same degree nometry to measure the size of its cir- of rigor and critical approach to the Perhaps more often than scientists who cumference to a respectable degree of Bible that they might use in their own seek to correlate the Bible and science, accuracy. field, and the case is the same for many religious commentators will attempt to biblical commentators who seek to use harmonize new scientific discoveries astronomy to buttress religious claims. with biblical references. After the for- WHY HARMONIZE THE BIBLE AND ASTRONOMY? Astronomers and biblical scholars need mulation of the law of gravitation, a few to interact more than ever in order to conservative biblical commentators The motives for attempting to harmo- avoid some basic misunderstandings of sought to explain "chains" and "cords" nize astronomy and the Bible are com- both the Bible and astronomy. fi in the Job 38:31 passage, "Can you bind plex. A common one is to unify ethical the chains of the Pleiades, or loose the and scientific systems of "truth." The Note cords of Orion?" as reflecting biblical desire to validate the social and ethical All biblical quotations are from the New Revised knowledge of gravitational bonds. The policies of the Bible is clearly at the Standard Version, National Council of Churches problem is that we really do not know heart of some attempts to show that the of Christ in the United States of America, that the relevant Hebrew words referred Bible is reliable in all that it teaches. (Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson Publishing, 1989). to those specific constellations, if any at Protestant theologian Bernard Ramm all. "Cords" and "chains" may refer to provides and example of this line of This article is published with the permission of the author and adapted from his "Heavenly some design that the ancients saw, like reasoning in The Christian View of Conflicts: The Bible and Astronomy," which Orion's starry belt, rather than any the- Science and Scripture: appeared in the March-April 1998 Mercury.

50 The Goldhagen Controversy, E. D. Cohen; On CATCH UP ON WHAT Witchcraft, H. Sebald, P Stevens, Jr., The Incredible Flimflams of Margaret Rowen, Part 3, M. Gardner. Winter 1996/97, Vol. 17, no. 1—Euthanasia YOU'VE MISSED IN Policy at the Crossroads, R. A. Lindsay, P A. Admiraal; Catholic Primate Clings to Evolution, H. J. Birx; The Pope, Evolution, and the Soul, M. Bunge; Humanist World Meets in Mexico City, M. Cherry; BACK Humanism in Eastern Europe, T J. Madigan, A. Flis; Student Freethought Group, D. Araujo; Universal ISSUES Declaration of Humanist Values, A. So omon; Camp free inquiry Quest 96, V Uchtman; The Infomedia Revolution, P Kurtz; Dr. Persinger's God Machine, I. Cotton. • 20% discount on orders of 10 or more • $6.95 each Fall 1996, Vol. 16, no. 4—Defining Humanism: The Battle Continues, P Kurtz, D. A. Summer 1998, Vol. 18, no. 3—Re-Discover- Fall 1997, Vol. 17, no. 4—Sexual Freedom, T. Noebel, M. Matsumura, S. Porteous, M. Olds, T W ing Happiness, M. Matsumura, P. Kurtz, J. Madigan, W. McElroy, L. Sloan, R. A. Tielman, V. Flynn, J. E. Smith, T. J. Madigan, R. Firth, H. A. M. Csikszentmihalyi, J. F. Schumaker, T. J. L. Bullough, J. A. Haught; Islam and Women's Rights, Tonne, L. Mondale; The Enlightened Cynicism of Madigan, D. B. Ardell; God and the Philosophers, N. R. Allen, Jr., I Warraq, S. J. al-Azm, T. Nasrin; A Ambrose Bierce, G. Odden; The Incredible Part l , P Edwards; Clergy and the Sin of Silence, Humanist Education, J. Nickell; Is Faith Good for Flimflams of Margaret Rowen, Part 2, M. Gardner; G. A. Larue; Notorious Notary, H. Silverman. You?, H. Avalos; Interview with Wole Soyinka. Gordon Stein—In Memoriam, J. Nickell, P Kurtz; Spring 1998, Vol. 18, no. 2—Science vs. Summer 1997, Vol. 17, no. 3—Cloning India, M. Cherry, L. Fragell, C. Hitchens. Religion, M. Cherry, P. Kurtz, R. Dawkins, E. C. Humans, T. J. Madigan, R. Dawkins, R. A. Lindsay, R. Summer 1996, Vol. 16, no. 3—The Scott, R. P. Feynman, B. Ehrenreich and J. McIntosh, T. Hull; Exposing the Religious Right's 'Secret' Unlimited Cosmos—A Personal Odyssey, A. Hale; P. Atkins, M. Ruse, H. Bondi, Q. Smith, M. Weapon, G. Alexander-Moegerle; Can Science New Age Physics, V J. Stenger; In Honor of Bonnie Matsumura; Interview with Conor Cruise O'Brien on Prove that Prayer Works? H. Avalos; Morality Bullough, G. A. Larue, P. Kurtz; Abortion, V L. Thomas Jefferson; Free Will, L. Vaughn and Requires God . .. Or Does It? T. Schick, Jr.; Interview Bullough, H. Morgentaler, S. Porteous, E. Digby, N. T Schick, Jr.; The Shroud of Turin, J. Nickell. with Albert Ellis; When Humanists Embrace the Arts, Hentoff, N. W Smith, J. K. Taylor, T W Flynn; Winter 1997/98, Vol. 18, no. 1—The J. Herrick; What's Wrong with Relativism, L. Vaughn; Religious Belief in America, H. Tonne, G. R. Humanist Hope, T. J. Madigan, P. Kurtz, M. Cherry, Secularists, Rise Up and Celebrate! R. Greeley. Bergman, L. Conyers, P D. Harvey; Post-Marxism M. Matsumura, M. Gorbachev, Members of the Spring 1997, Vol. 17, no. 2—Tampa Bay's and Humanism, S. Stojanovie, L. Yong-Sheng. Academy of Humanism; Mother Teresa's House of 'Virgin Mary Apparition,' G. Posner; Those Tearful Illusions, S. Shields; A Scientist and a 'Saint,' J. Icons, J. Nickell; The Honest Agnostic, J. A. Naught; To order, or for a complete listing of our Hayes; Farewell to God, C. Templeton; Can a Robot The Freedom to Inquire, G. D. Smith, D. Berman, L. back issues Have Moral Rights? T. Schick, Jr.; Dumping Limbo, Hickman, S. Porteous, R. Riehemann, M. Bunge; W. "Voltaire"; An Interview with Barbara Ehrenreich. K. Clifford's Continuing Relevance, T J. Madigan; CALL 800-458-1366

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® fall 1998 GREAT MINDS CLASSIC VOICES OF FREETHOUGHT ` l'he Age of Reason Thomas Paine

Founding Father Thomas Paine's (1737-18O9) commitment to winning freedom for the common man led him to France at the end of the eighteenth century. While there, he began writing The Age of Reason. The following excerpt is taken from Part 1, written in 1794. Paine was inspired by France's abolition of government-ordered religious observances, "lest, in the general wreck of superstition, of false systems of government, and false theology, we lose sight of morality, of humanity, and of the theology that is true."

do not believe in the creed professed the system of religion. The adulterous to words, I will, before I proceed fur- by the Jewish church, by the Roman connection of church and state, wher- ther into the subject, offer some other Ichurch, by the Greek church, by the ever it had taken place, whether Jewish, observations on the word revelation. Turkish church, by the Protestant Christian, or Turkish, had so effectually Revelation when applied to religion, church, nor by any church that I know prohibited, by pains and penalties, means something communicated of. My own mind is my own church. every discussion upon established immediately from God to man. All national institutions of creeds, and upon first principles of reli- No one will deny or dispute the churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or gion, that until the system of govern- power of the Almighty to make such a Turkish, appear to me no other than ment should be changed, those subjects communication, if he pleases. But human inventions, set up to terrify and could not be brought fairly and openly admitting, for the sake of a case, that enslave mankind, and monopolize before the world; but that whenever this something has been revealed to a cer- power and profit. should be done, a revolution in the sys- tain person, and not revealed to any I do not mean by this declaration to tem of religion would follow. other person, it is revelation to that per- condemn those who believe otherwise; Every national church or religion son only. When he tells it to a second they have the same right to their belief has established itself by pretending person, a second to a third, a third to a as I have to mine. But it is necessary to some special mission from God, corn- fourth, and so on, it ceases to be a revelation to all those persons. It is revela- My own mind is my own church. tion to the first person only, and hearsay to every other, and, consequently, they the happiness of man, that he be men- municated to certain individuals. The are not obliged to believe it... . tally faithful to himself. Infidelity does Jews have their Moses; the Christians When Moses told the children of not consist in believing, or in disbe- their Jesus Christ, their apostles, and Israel that he received the two tables of lieving; it consists in professing to saints; and the Turks their Mahomet, as the commandments from the hands of believe what he does not believe. if the way to God was not open to God, they were not obliged to believe It is impossible to calculate the every man alike. him, because they had no other authority moral mischief, if I may so express it, Each of those churches show certain for it than his telling them so; and I have that mental lying has produced in soci- books, which they call revelation, or no other authority for it than some histo- ety. When a man has so far corrupted the word of God. The Jews say, that rian telling me so. The commandments and prostituted the chastity of his their word of God was given by God to carry no internal evidence of divinity mind, as to subscribe his professional Moses, face to face; the Christians say, with them; they contain some good belief to things he does not believe, he that their word of God came by divine moral precepts, such as any man quali- has prepared himself for the commis- inspiration; and the Turks say, that fied to be a lawgiver, or a legislator, sion of every other crime... . their word of God (the Koran) was could produce himself, without having Soon after I had published the pam- brought by an angel from Heaven. recourse to supernatural intervention.* phlet, "Common Sense," in America, I Each of those churches accuse the saw the exceeding probability that a other of unbelief; and, for my own part, *It is, however, necessary to except the declaration which says that God visits the sins of the revolution in the system of government I disbelieve them all. fathers upon the children; it is contrary to every would be followed by a revolution in As it is necessary to affix right ideas principle of moral justice.

free inquiry When I am told that the Koran was celestially begotten. The trinity of gods have fallen to the ground... . written in Heaven, and brought to then followed was no other than a But the resurrection of a dead per- Mahomet by an angel, the account reduction of the former plurality, son from the grave, and his ascension comes too near the same kind of which was about twenty or thirty thou- through the air, is a thing very different hearsay evidence and second-hand sand; the statue of Mary succeeded the as to the evidence it admits of, to the authority as the former. I did not see statue of Diana of Ephesus; the deifi- invisible conception of a child in the the angel myself, and therefore, I have cation of heroes changed into the can- womb. The resurrection and ascension, a right not to believe it. onization of saints; the mythologists supposing them to have taken place, When also I am told that a woman had gods for every thing; the Christian admitted of public and occular demon- called the Virgin Mary, said, or gave Mythologists had saints for every stration, like that of the ascension of a out, that she was with child without thing; the church became as crowded balloon, or the sun at noon day, to all any cohabitation with a man, and that with the one, as the pantheon had been Jerusalem at least. A thing which every her betrothed husband, Joseph, said with the other; and Rome was the place body is required to believe, requires that an angel told him so, I have a right of both. The Christian theory is little that the proof and evidence of it should to believe them or not; such a circum- else than the idolatry of the ancient be equal to all, and universal; and as the stance required a much stronger evi- Mythologists, accommodated to the public visibility of this last related act, dence than their bare word for it; but purposes of power and revenue; and it was the only evidence that could give we have not even this—for neither Joseph nor Mary wrote any such mat- All national institutions of churches appear ter themselves; it is only reported by others that they said so—it is hearsay to me no other than human inventions, set upon hearsay, and I do not choose to rest my belief upon such evidence. up to terrify and enslave mankind, and It is, however, not difficult to monopolize power and profit. account for the credit that was given to the story of Jesus Christ being the son yet remains to reason and philosophy sanction to the former part, the whole of God. He was born when the heathen to abolish the amphibious fraud... . of it falls to the ground, because that mythology had still some fashion and Jesus Christ wrote no account of evidence never was given. Instead of repute in the world, and that mythology himself, of his birth, parentage, or any this, a small number of persons, not had prepared the people for the belief thing else; not a line of what is called more than eight or nine, are introduced of such a story. Almost all the extraor- the New Testament is of his own writ- as proxies for the whole world, to say dinary men that lived under the heathen ing. The history of him is altogether the they saw it, and all the rest of the world mythology were reputed to be the sons work of other people; and as to the are called upon to believe it. But it of some of their gods. It was not a new account given of his resurrection and appears that Thomas did not believe the thing, at that time, to believe a man to ascension, it was the necessary counter- resurrection; and, as they say, would have been celestially begotten; the part to the story of his birth. His histori- not believe without having occular and intercourse of gods with women was ans, having brought him into the world manual demonstration himself. So nei- then a matter of familiar opinion. Their in a supernatural manner, were obliged ther will I, and the reason is equally as Jupiter, according to their accounts, to take him out again in the same man- good for me, and for every other per- had cohabited with hundreds; the story ner, or the first part of the story must son, as for Thomas. fi therefore had nothing in it either new, wonderful or obscene; it was con- formable to the opinions that then prevailed among the people called OPEN SOMEONE'S MIND ... Gentiles, or Mythologists, and it was Give a Subscription to the Magazine those people only that believed it. The Jews, who had kept strictly to the belief free inquiry that Celebrates Reason and Humanity of one God, and no more, and who had always rejected the heathen mythology, SAVE 20% — $22.95 for first subscription never credited the story. SAVE 25% — $20.95 for the second It is curious to observe how the the- SAVE 30% — $19.95 on all others ory of what is called the Christian Church, sprung out of the tail of hea- Mail orders to: FREE INQUIRY, P.O. Box 664, Amherst, New York 14226-0664 then mythology. A direct incorporation For quickest service, use your Visa or MasterCard took place in the first instance, by and call TOLL-FREE 24 hours/50 states and Canada. 1-800-458-1365 making the reputed founder to be You may also fax Visa and MasterCard orders to: 1-716-636-1733

rze ® fall 1998

APPLIED ETHICS

When milk is produced in large farms, the cows are treated as The Limits Of machines. The calves are taken away from their mothers soon after birth, and most of the male calves are slaughtered for food immediately. The cows are Ethical often stimulated to produce 10 times the volume of milk they would secrete naturally; they are given hormones, antibiotics, and sometimes offal. The cows are killed at the end of their Vegetarianism "working" lives. It is difficult to avoid entanglement with unacceptable practices of farming when one consumes Harold Hillman milk or milk products. Most vegetarians do not wear fur eople choose to become vege- believe that fish dragged out of the sea coats. Minks may be farmed, but "nat- tarians for a variety of reasons. are not extremely distressed by ural" furs often come from hunted or p Some think that it will make asphyxia, or that they do not suffer trapped animals. A fox is caught by a them healthier, a position that has pain when hooks are pulled out of their limb and dies in pain after prolonged been borne out by some studies. palates. Physiologists know that all hunger and cold. Nowadays, synthetic However, vegetarians tend to eat, animals, including marine species, substitutes for fur are widely available. smoke and drink less and exercise have very complex and sensitive ner- However, an ethical vegetarian should more than the population at large, so vous systems. not wear leather shoes, belts, or watch one cannot know for certain whether If it is unethical to kill animals, straps, or buy such items as wallets, their improved health is due to their then one should not eat foods that con- handbags, baseballs, footballs, or way of life or to their diets. Other peo- tain even the smallest proportion of cricket balls. Glue is usually derived ple become vegetarians because they animal tissues. These include: foods from animal bones, intestines, or skin feel that breeding animals for slaugh- with gelatin from bones, such as jellies and is widely used in the manufacture ter is not the most efficient way of and sweets, cheese made with rennet, of furniture and in binding books. I am using land to produce food. Ethical and lecithin in chocolates. Nowadays, not sure whether there are any alterna- vegetarians feel that it is morally some of these ingredients can be tives to the manufacture of these prod- wrong to kill animals to eat when one obtained from plant or microbiological ucts at present. can live a healthy life without doing sources. so. Their concerns suggest that some Eating eggs and drinking milk pre- ENTERTAINMENT EXPLOITATION guidelines for humanists to follow sent particular moral problems for veg- The idea that killing animals can be an regarding the treatment of animals are etarians. In Britain about 90% of eggs enjoyable sport is totally unacceptable desirable. eaten come from battery hens; the por- to the vegetarian conscience, especially tion in the United States is about the in an era in which more popular nonan- FLAWED CHOICES same. The animals are induced to grow imal sports are available than at any Some people who call themselves veg- unnaturally fast by unbalanced diets other time in history. But abuses that are etarians abstain from only red meat, and antibiotics. They are crowded not obvious occur in other sports but eat fish and seafood. Their attitude together in unhygienic conditions, and involving animals, such as horse racing. may arise from deep psychological their beaks are clipped. These circum- Horses are bred in relatively luxuri- aversion to blood and guilt and about stances are not acceptable to ethical ous conditions of space, exercise, diet, eating "higher" animals. There is vegetarians, who eat only free range and hygiene. They are trained by con- absolutely no reason whatsoever to eggs. Unfortunately, even free range ditioning, involving mostly rewards, hens are often fed on supplements con- although the whip is also used to Harold Hillman is the Director of the taining fish meal. Today, most restau- encourage them during the races. Unity Laboratory of Applied Neuro- rants and food manufacturers use bat- Trainers maintain that horses enjoy biology, Guildford, Surrey, United tery eggs, because they are cheaper running competitively, but it is difficult Kingdom. than free range. to find out how they know. A race is a

54 considerable strain on the horses' experiments on animals. Of course, a Humanists, however, regard animals, lungs, hearts, and limbs. Often when researcher should use the minimum including fish and invertebrates, as they have an accident, they have to be number of animals and treat them as being capable of feeling, and there is shot ("put down") to avoid further suf- humanely as possible. Those who use plenty of physiological evidence that fering. cosmetics and domestic products tested this is so. We should not only condemn Animal rights' campaigners have on animals have to ask themselves unequivocally all acts of cruelty to ani- regarded circuses as targets. Until whether they should continue to do so. mals, but we should not be implicated recently, most large circuses featured in the cruelty by using such products performing lions, tigers, elephants, and THE HUMANIST STANCE derived by being cruel to them, includ- horses. Animals have been trained In Genesis, we are told that God gave ing many foods, clothes, perfumes, from an early age, and sometimes their man "dominion over the fish of the sea, fashion accessories, ornaments, etc. I conditioning has involved cruelty. In and over the fowl of the air, and over would suggest that humanists follow addition, the constant travelling and the cattle, and all over the earth, and these guidelines: the cramped living conditions of the upon every creeping thing that creep- 1. We should avoid all pain to ani- animals are also matters of concern. eth upon the earth." It was denied that mals and the use of products requiring Circus people maintain that the ani- animals had souls or felt suffering. animals to suffer. mals are kept in good conditions for Despite this belief, in the Middle Ages, 2. When animals have been used for safety and optimal performance. The animals are very expensive to look Humanists should condemn unequivocally all after. Undoubtedly, different circuses demonstrate a range of treatment of acts of cruelty to animals. animals, but the vegetarian ethos is somewhat disturbed by this mode of cats, pigs, cows, and sheep were tried medical research, experiments should exploitation of animals. for such crimes as stubbornness, dam- be designed to minimize the number of Vegetarians can have no objection age to property, lack of respect, etc. animals to be used and to avoid the to people keeping pets under humane They were punished by hanging, flog- animals' suffering. conditions because it is of mutual ging, and whipping. 3. Where there is a choice of ani- advantage to the animals and their Religions, as far as I know, no mals to be used, one should choose "owners" Vegetarian diets can be longer punish animals, but neither do those lower in evolution in preference developed for dogs and cats. they condemn cruelty to them. to the higher. fi

SCIENCE AND ANIMALS Experiments on animals fall into two HELP THE categories: those designed to understand the physiology and biochemistry CAMPUS FREETHOUGHT ALLIANCE! of human beings and animals and to advance medical treatment and those The goal of the Campus Freethought Alliance (CFA) is to establish testing the safety of household products a freethought group on every campus in the nation. The CFA has and cosmetics. Many, perhaps most, already made major gains since its founding in August, 1996. The vegetarians oppose experiments on ani- number of CFA affiliate groups has doubled since the first annual mals. They say that many animal CFA conference. To maintain our momentum, the CFA needs your experiments duplicate findings already help. If you are on staff at a university, college, or high school and known and assert that medical research are interested in helping bright young students start a freethought has not been advanced by animal group at their school, please call experiments because they cannot necessarily be applied to humans. They Tim Madigan at the Center for Inquiry, (716) 636- also say that man has no right to put his 7571, or e-mail [email protected]. interests above those of animals. I doubt that whether those who voice their objections would be willing to accept a lower standard of medical care as a consequence. As a medical researcher, I believe that medical and CAMPUS biological advances—to the advantage °1 of human beings and animals alike— FREETHOUGHT ALLIANCE could not have been made without

m fall 1998 MEDIA SCAN

by a panel of 100 people as resembling the popular stereotype of a criminal— Participatory unattractive with crooked nose and small eyes. In contrast, the defendant in the other film had been judged as not resembling this stereotype; he was Science and the more attractive with a baby-face and had large blue eyes. Again, there was a huge response, with over 64,000 people phoning in. Forty-one percent of viewers found the Mass Media stereotypical defendant guilty while only 31% picked the nonstererotypical Richard Wiseman defendant. In short, there was a difference of a highly statistically significant he media frequently report new about his favorite films. In one inter- 10% simply because of the defendant's scientific breakthroughs, but view, he consistently told the truth; in appearance. Tthey rarely report how these the other he consistently lied. A slightly different version of the breakthroughs came about. As a result, Transcripts of these interviews were same experiment was carried out in the the public knows little about the scien- printed in the national newspaper the Daily Telegraph. Different editions of tific method. This is unfortunate, as it Daily Telegraph, broadcast on BBC the paper carried evidence about corpo- prevents people from using the method national radio, and shown on rate fraud. In much the same manner as in their daily lives or being able to "Tomorrow's World" (a BBC national the "Tomorrow's World" experiment, properly assess the conclusions science program). For each medium, the article was accompanied by a pho- reached by researchers claiming to the public was asked to choose which tograph of one of two defendants. have conducted a properly controlled of the two interviews they believed Again, the face of one defendant had investigation. contained the lies and to record their been judged as resembling the criminal Over the past few years, the decision by telephoning appropriate stereotype, while the other did not. A MegaLab UK initiative has tried to numbers. special print run ensured that in any address this issue by encouraging the There was a huge response from the stack of that days newspapers, half of public to participate in huge scientific public, with over 41,000 people phon- the papers contained a photograph of experiments carried out in the mass ing in their decisions. Lies were one face while the other half contained media. The unusual nature of MegaLab detected by 73.4% of the radio listen- the other. The newspaper article asked UK can perhaps best be illustrated by ers, 64.2% of the newspaper readers, readers to telephone whether they describing two of the experiments that and 51.8% of the television viewers. thought the defendant was guilty or I designed for the initiative. The first All three groups could detect the lies at not. This time, 33% of readers found was called "The Truth Test" and exam- above chance levels, and there were the stereotypical defendant guilty, ver- ined whether the public was better able hugely significant differences between sus only 27% for the nonstereotypical to detect lies on television, on the radio the detection rates of the three groups. defendant. or in newspapers. The second experi- The Justice Experiment also took ment was labeled "The Justice place on BBC1's "Tomorrow's World" BENEFICIAL RESULTS Experiment" and looked at whether program. Viewers were shown a film jurors' decisions of guilt or innocence summing up a court case and asked to These demonstrations helped to com- are influenced by a defendant's appear- telephone their decision whether the municate some key aspects of science. ance. defendant was guilty or not. Unknown First, the public was shown some of the In The Truth Test, well-known to viewers, the country had been basic building blocks involved in British political commentator Sir divided into two groups and a different experimental design. Both the Truth Robin Day was interviewed twice film was broadcast to each. The two Test and the Justice Experiment intro- films contained exactly the same evi- duced the important notion of compar- Richard Wiseman is a Professor of dence about a burglary. However, in ing performance across different condi- Psychology at the University of Hert- one film the defendant was played by tions. In addition, the Truth Test illus- fordshire, England. an actor who had been previous judged trated the importance of "blind" judg-

free inquiry 56

ing (i.e. of not knowing in advance (Letters, cont'd. from p. 19) torted John Adams quote, which makes which of Sir Robin Day's interviews it appear that the second president contained the lies). Clearly, the designs honors those who cling to belief (faith) believed religion to be a negative force. of the demonstrations were not perfect. in the absence of evidence (or even in In fact, Adams believed just the oppo- For example, in both experiments, all the face of contrary evidence), and sci- site, which is apparent if one simply of the judgments made by the public ence, which honors those who have the consults the original source and com- were based on relatively short inter- evidence. pletes the quotation. In his April 19, views with just one person. Also, in The fact that a majority of 1817, letter to Jefferson, Adams did neither experiment was it possible to Americans are theists only shows how indeed state: randomly allocate individuals to the far we have to go in teaching ourselves, conditions. Unfortunately, this was the young and old, how to think. Science ... I have been on the point of break- price that had to be paid for running a cares not about opinion polls, only ing out "this would be the best of all study using large numbers of people possible worlds if there were no reli- about evidence. gion in it.... But in this exclamation and actual media. However, despite Jerome Shedd I would have been as fanatical as these problems, the demonstrations Woodbury, N.Y. Bryant or Cleverly. Without religion produced striking results that repro- this world would be something not duced the findings of better controlled Scott's thesis is flawed by her depen- fit to be mentioned in public company—I mean hell. laboratory studies, and it seems unrea- dence on the fact that nobody can logi- sonable to conclude that they are not, cally prove a negative. If I claim there This last sentence was overlooked at least to some extent, valid. are organisms at the center of the earth by Edwards and numerous other free- Second, the public were shown how that live on molten metal, that assump- thinkers, all of whom probably used scientific experiments could be used to tion cannot be disproved. But the real secondary sources. help answer interesting and important point is that complete certainty is irrel- Obviously the deist Adams believed questions. The results of the Truth Test evant—what is relevant is going by the religion to be a socially functional suggested that individuals wishing to evidence. Daily thousands of people, institution. It is most troubling that detect deceit might be better off con- good, bad, indifferent, men, women, ignorant freethinkers have continually sciously paying more attention to ver- and children, meet fates that are clearly employed a distorted version of his bal or vocal, as opposed to visual, random; a saint is just as likely to die of statement to make it seem he believed cues. Results from the Justice a horrible disease as a serial killer; a the opposite. Experiment showed that under some church is just as likely to collapse in a John George circumstances the jury system may be quake as a torture-chamber. So the real Professor of Political Science far from fair. question is, which theory most closely and Sociology Third, both experiments were car- fits all the facts: a mostly random uni- University of Central Oklahoma ried out on live television. As such, verse, or one ruled by a caring god? Edmond, Okla. they helped to convey one of the main Ninety-nine percent of the evidence attractions of the scientific enterprise, supports the former; there is no evi- namely, the feeling of excitement and dence at all for the latter. No two the- Paul Edwards replies: discovery associated with actually car- ologians agree on the nature of God; all rying out an experiment to help answer about him is purely speculative and Of course John George is right and 1 an important scientific question. varies widely among religions. Nobody was wrong. / trusted the quotation I Finally, the results of both experi- can say what he, she, or it will do had seen from John Adams. I will make ments yielded genuinely interesting tomorrow, whereas science is highly the correction in my upcoming book, data. The findings of The Truth Test predictive. So the answer to the ques- God and the Philosophers (Prometheus were published in Nature (volume 373, tion, Does God exist?, is that the evi- Books). page 391). dence overwhelmingly implies the neg- The MegaLab UK initiative repre- ative, and that's more than good sents an innovative way of helping to enough for a sound conclusion. Getting Evolution communicate scientific methods to the Arthur Porges public. In addition, scientists can Pacific Grove, Calif. Wrong rarely carry out experiments with such large cross-sections of the populations While it is obvious to any educated and actual media, so the results can Getting Adams Right person who has read Philip Johnson's also have real scientific value. As is book Darwin on Trial that his igno- often the case, in trying to inform oth- Paul Edwards's excellent "God and the rance about evolution and evolutionary ers we have perhaps learned something Philosophers, Part 1," (FI, Summer theory is complete, I had not known his important ourselves. fi 1998) was marred by the use of a dis- sense of humor and wit is just as barren

f i fa ll 1998 as his "scholarship" (Letters, FI, Summer 1998). Any "prejudices" the The Sin Slighting `Alternative "Darwin Recrucified" artwork may of Silence Medicine' ? hint at is that the magazine has a sense of humor, which I'm sure its readers Professor Gerald A. Larue's article In the essay, "Misleading the Patient appreciate. ("When Clergy Commit the Sin of for Fun and Profit" (FI, Summer When Johnson showed up briefly Silence," FI, Summer 1998) was very 1998), Lewis Vaughn has taken a very in the Internet newsgroup talk.ori- revealing, but one point was not men- complex subject and treated it superfi- gins, he refused to answer his critics' tioned that I feel is integral. cially. For instance, the author needed complaints about how he had misrep- Theologians tend to fancy themselves to define both conventional and alter- resented evolution and evolutionary as shepherds who do not wish to lead native medical practice more carefully theory. (Johnson appears to believe their flocks astray and that, if they do, before launching into a derisive label- that "Darwinism" is equal to evolu- the sheep will no longer have a reason ing of the latter as unscientific. Indeed, tionary theory: it is not.) Indeed, he or a basis for moral behavior. In other after exhaustive study, the Con- virtually ignored every request from words: Why not go out and commit gressional Office of Technology his detractors for clarification on most murder (as an extreme example), Assessment concluded that only 21% of his false claims. As one talk.ori- assuming one can avoid legal prosecu- of the treatments that conventional gins contributor put it (after Johnson tion, if there is no god and, therefore, practitioners administer have any sci- fled the newsgroup), how can anyone no afterlife? So they prefer to perpetu- entific basis as regards their safety and defend Mr. Johnson's poor and nonex- ate the Lie to preserve society's efficacy. How much worse can alterna- istent scholarship when he himself morals, not realizing that there are tive remedies and practices be? refused to do so? All requests that he other valid ways to justify moral Many alternative approaches are come back to the newsgroup and behavior through democracy as aimed at promoting wellness, rather defend his false claims have been informed by humanism. I agree with than emulating the conventional med- refused or ignored. Nietzsche that a "revaluation of all val- ical goal of curing disease. To compare Reverend David Rice ues" is necessary, since god is, indeed, the merits of professionals going down Mariner's Ministries dead; and this revaluation will spring these different paths is like comparing San Clemente, Calif. from a new platform, based on truth apples to oranges. and humanism. Robert M. Goldberg Frank T. Strada Jericho, N.Y. Religious fundamentalists are so dog- Overland Park, Kan. matic about their beliefs in the supernatural that they violate the last six I am not a critic of alternative medicine commandments, mainly those pertain- In his footnotes Larue mentions and herbal remedies. The surgical pro- ing to honesty, to maintain the first Bishop John Shelby Spong of the fession particularly, taking advantage of four, which are on belief in the super- Episcopal Diocese of Newark, New Medicare and other insurance programs, natural. Jersey, who has written a number of is performing far more heart bypasses, According to fundamentalists, sci- books on the illogic of much of bibli- angioplasties, and prostate operations, to entists claim that Darwinism is a fact. cal scripture. His Rescuing the Bible mention only a few, than are actually This is completely false. from Fundamentalism is well worth necessary. This 80-year-old has ignored Darwin's theory of evolution is reading, as is his most recently pub- the advice of professionals to have falsifiable, not sacred. As long as the lished book Why Christianity Must prostate surgery (most of my friends empirical evidence satisfies the the- Change, or Die. He says God might have gone the Roto-Rooter route), and ory better than any other, the theory not be separate from us, but rather, has survived with his prostate intact, survives. Darwinism has survived deep within us. The Quakers too thanks to alternative medicine. since 1859. If a better theory appears, believe there is some of God in every Traditional practitioners, the huge then goodbye Darwin. So far, it has human being. Bishop Spong says true drug companies, the Food and Drug not happened. Still I know of no sci- Christianity ultimately issues a Administration, all are doing their best entist that claims that Darwinism is a deeper humanism. To be a humanist to instill in the public distrust of prod- fact. Any statement to the contrary on is to affirm the sacredness of life. It ucts and procedures not approved or the part of the fundamentalists is may be wise for us as humanists to sanctioned by "recommended standard either due to ignorance or lack of join forces with the clergy who are practice?' Strangely enough, even the ethics in their campaign against trying to find their way out of biblical AMA is finally coming around to see Darwinism. mythology. the value of therapeutic doses of certain Miguel Melgar Ruth Hoepfner vitamins, minerals, herbs, and other Sweetwater, Fla. Bridgeton, N.J. natural products—about 20 or 30 years

after they have been proven effective a decade ago by James Reston in refer- few, if any, of the "Native" peoples had by alternative medicine practitioners. ence to presidential politics (New York any concept of Original Sin, of Man's Fred Peters Times, August 29, 1988): "I wish to Depravity, and the like. Indeed, Silver Spring, Md. propose for the reader's favorable con- depending on local circumstances, sideration a doctrine which may, I fear, abundance of food and game, etc., appear wildly paradoxical and subver- sometimes these people even appeared Lewis Vaughn responds: sive. The doctrine in question is this: to be living thoroughly happy lives, as That it is undesirable to believe a propo- if they had never been cast out of the Robert Goldberg presents a very old sition when there is no ground whatever Garden of Eden. To say the least, this argument in defense of "alternative for supposing it is true" confused the Europeans, and the more medicine": Since conventional medi- George Smith intelligent and sensitive of them began cine uses a lot of unproven treatments San Francisco, Calif. to question the universality of their (just as unconventional medicine does), own fundamental beliefs. By the mid- the use of unconventional medicine is dle of the eighteenth century, the com- acceptable. But this is fallacious. Lack placent worldview of Christianity was of scientific evidence for some treat- More on Relativism seriously being challenged on a very ments cannot justify the lack in others. Lewis Vaughn's ("What's Wrong with wide front indeed. Modern historians All treatments—conventional or uncon- Relativism?," FI, Summer 1997) attack like Marvin Harris trace the origins of ventional—should be carefully tested on relativism as a core concept of post- anthropology back to this period. before they're promoted as cures. Any modernism got me to thinking about its In addition, within the world of the treatment that fails the testing should origins as a philosophical position. physical sciences, the old certainties be abandoned. In addition, the notori- Actually, some of the Greeks already were being challenged. Non-Euclidean ous claim that "only 21% of conven- had a form of this concept: as a histo- geometry showed that axioms like par- tional treatments have any scientific rian, Herodotus was notably fascinated allel lines never crossing weren't nec- basis" is a myth. The inspiration for by Near Eastern and Egyptian cultures. essarily true; if they were twisted, as in this number is the well-known 1978 Xenophanes recognized that different a Möbius strip, they could cross while Office of Technology Assessment report societies produced different deities: "the remaining parallel. The old decimal (which actually used the figures 1O to Ethiopians make their gods black and system of the Romans could be 2O%). The figures were offered off-the- snub-nosed; the Thracians say theirs replaced by a duodecimal system cuff by Kerr L. White, M.D., for heuris- have blue eyes and red hair." However, (indeed, various "primitive" peoples tic purposes, but they ended up in the these relativist ideas were later sub- had long ago developed their own final report, much to White's dismay. sumed by an overarching "Christian quite usable arithmetical systems). In Fred Peters offers the familiar asser- consensus," with the dogmatic philoso- physics, Einstein argued that time and tion that the medical "establishment" phies of Augustine, Aquinas, and so on. space were elastic, and Heisenberg opposes unconventional practices sim- To be sure, even then the Catholic posited his uncertainty principle. ply because it has a bias against any- Church was adept at incorporating cer- Instead of the ordered, regular world of thing that isn't standard. Here is an tain "pagan" deities, transforming them Kepler and Newton, modern physics alternative hypothesis: conscientious into saints, etc., but by the High Middle was a world in which all bets were off. medical people oppose the promotion Ages, this consensus may fairly be said I remember gazing in wonder at the of practices that have no scientific sup- to have developed a powerful, if not large charts of the elements in chem- port. The clinical experiences of indi- always secure hegemony. istry class in high school—how stable vidual practitioners—whether conven- With the "discovery" of the "New and firm and clear it all was—only to tional or "alternative" prove very lit- World" by the European explorers, the learn that atomic physicists could now tle and are no substitute for science. immediate results were destruction of change elements at will, and that I too favor wellness approaches and "Native" cultures, and sometimes total indeed, over eons, the radioactive ones open-minded exploration of new thera- extermination, which led to the need were decaying naturally. pies. But it is science that can help us for imported slaves from Africa. Even The point of this review of the his- the most in sorting out all of the alter- in America, the Catholic Church con- torical background is not so much to natives. tinued to be adept in assimilating vari- argue with Vaughn as to try to show ous local sacred sites into shrines. But how relativism developed. All these over the long run (and this was several different strands have produced a Relevant Russell centuries), travelers began to bring world in which all the old certainties back reports of diverse belief systems, have been questioned, if not exploded "The Improbability of God" by Richard sexual practices, and the like, which outright. Conservatives, of course, Dawkins (FI, Summer 1998) recalls a sharply contrasted with the dominant long for the "good old days" when the proposition by Bertrand Russell quoted beliefs of the Europeans. For instance, "Western Classics" were all that one

59 111 fall 1998 (Humanist Politics, cont'd. from p. 5) scale. Humanists have in the past crit- have an obligation, not only to the icized narrow egalitarian policies, totality of humankind on the planet, should support all efforts to open the especially where they seek simply to but to future generations yet unborn. communications media to the expres- distribute equal shares of the same This means that humanists can play a sion of a wide range of opinions. pie; a viable alternative is to expand vital role in helping to define a global Unfortunately, powerful conglomer- the pie, thus increasing the total ethic and advancing the cause of a ates increasingly dominate or control amount of goods and services that are genuine planetary community, thus the news business, often leaving little available. Today as national transcending ancient differences that room for the dissemination of dissent- economies become global and jobs are no longer relevant in the post- ing viewpoints. are exported to cheaper labor markets industrial information age. Second, we should be concerned, overseas, the disparities widen even I submit it is time that humanists as humanists, with the growing dis- further. Third, since humanists are organize a new humanist coalition — parities in wealth and income deeply concerned with our planetary planetary in scope—comprising all between individuals within societies habitat, preservation of the ecology those who agree with the humanist and with the widening gap between and population control should be at outlook, humanist ethics, and our basic rich and poor nations on the global the top of our list of priorities. We commitment to global democracy. fi needed to know. ing, employment, and so forth, placing Hence, interpreting these doctrines at For myself, I believe we can still the concept of Rights on an entirely new face value we are forced to conclude retain love and respect for much of the basis. Our own Bill of Rights, by con- that one idea is really no more plausible European tradition in culture and trast, mostly defines what the govern- than another and that reality cannot be thought, but it can no longer be ment cannot do, rather than what it differentiated from illusion. This leaves regarded as hegemonic, or entitled to ought to do and guarantee to the people. human beings hopelessly enthralled in any kind of special authority is claimed Where I live, the Kansas City a state of schizophrenia. to have an exclusive hold on the truth. Progressive Network has published a Needless to say, I find such a posi- That goes for the Christian Church, as Charter 2000, which proposes a new set tion rather unsavory. I think that the well as Euro-American philosophers. of political and social principles to New Age people would find it unsa- As Vaughn notes, humanists have guarantee employment, housing, med- vory, too, if they would only have the been good "rejectors," but our record is ical care, free education, etc., parallel- intellectual honesty to give a moment's less solid as builders. The various ing the South African initiatives. thought to the matter. humanist manifestoes have been To return to the challenge that Actually, modern science has attempts to build, to adopt a construc- Vaughn posits: how then do we move already refuted the absurd claims of tive stance with each other and the beyond relativism, which in many the radical relativist. This involves the world. But some of our principles, how- ways is not an adequate philosophy, to respective functions of the right and ever laudable, are really not self-evident some new form of universalism, based left hemispheres of the brain. The right (as Jefferson confidently claimed for on principles widely agreed to and hemisphere synthesizes information the principles of the Declaration of lived by? Paradoxically, relativism into a patterned view of the whole Independence), so we have to develop may have helped to show us the path, while the left hemisphere subjects data our own rationale for them. And in the by allowing us to grow and expand to logical analysis. As we make our course of that effort, I think that there is beyond Eurocentric belief systems, way through life the right hemisphere much to be learned from the diversity of and to have respect for the great range tests its syntheses against the analyses cultures and peoples all over the world, of cultures in the world. of the left hemisphere and makes mod- including their many efforts to create a Fred Whitehead ifications and changes as deemed nec- just society under harsh circumstances. Kansas City, Kan. essary. Hence, we are not moved by The Freedom Charter of the African facts, i.e., raw stimuli as the relativist National Congress, adopted in 1955, contends, but rather by thought synthe- took four decades to find victory against Radical relativism is simply the intel- ses of the whole, i.e., beliefs and the most ruthless and severe repression, lectual handmaiden of two other patent hypotheses which we test against facts. and we may note that there are many absurdities of the twentieth century, This is the basis of the scientific interesting points of convergence namely, logical positivism and reduc- method. It is the core of enlightened between the Charter and the Humanist tionist psychology. Both of these posi- civilization. Radical relativism (post- manifestoes, especially II. The new tions view human endeavor as irrevoca- modernist style) is the core of nihilism Constitution of South Africa fulfills the bly determined by genetic and environ- and human destruction. promise of the Charter, and provides mental stimuli with no avenue for cog- John L. Indo numerous concrete guarantees of hous- nitive processing or creative thought. Bellaire, Tex. fi

free inquiry 60

REVIEWS

in practice. For the early Hook, The Relevance of Sidney Marxism should be viewed both in theory and practice as a method for Hook Today achieving a social revolution. Phelps attacks the post-revolution- A good interpretation of ary Hook, especially from 1938 onwards. He considers him to be a neo- Hook's work still awaits conservative reactionary. Thus, for example, he excoriates Hook for accepting the Medal of Freedom from Paul Kurtz President. Ronald Reagan in 1985, and he condemns Hook for helping to lead Young Sidney Hook: Marxist and Pragmatist, by Christopher an "anticommunist crusade," for being Phelps (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1997, ISBN 0-801- an "apologist" for the capitalist estab- CHRISTOPHER PHELPS 43328-2) 257 pp. Cloth $35.00. lishment, and by implication the "house writer" for the New York Times. Hook, who died a decade hostility to scientific inquiry. I myself first met Sidney Hook in ago was, during his lifetime, and But in Young Sidney Hook, 1948 as a student at New York Sidneapparentlyy still is today, one of Christopher Phelps, a visiting assistant University in his class on the the most controversial figures in professor of history at the University of Philosophy of Democracy. I main- American intellectual life. He was, in Oregon, heralds the fact that Hook tained contact with Hook for 40 years his early years, a Marxist, perhaps the began his career as a revolutionary until his death in 1989, beginning espe- leading Marxist philosopher that socialist. Indeed, young Phelps's inter- cially in 1959 when my wife and I America has yet produced. As a bril- pretation of Hook's philosophical spent six weeks with Ann Hook and liant student of John Dewey, he career is so patently biased, as seen Sidney Hook at the East/West became an exponent of pragmatism through his own ideological prisms, Philosophers' Conference in Hawaii. and experimental naturalism. In his that he can hardly qualify as an objec- For long periods of time I kept in close earliest writings he attempted to unify tive biographer and historian. This is touch with Hook either by letter or by Marxism and pragmatism and to particularly the case, given Phelps's phone, often on a weekly basis. I emphasize what they held in common. entirely derogatory view of the later remember when he was about to As he matured, Hook's major focus Hook. Nonetheless, we can learn much receive the Medal of Freedom. He was on the democratic society and the about Sidney Hook from Phelps's ren- chuckled and asked me, "Did Reagan methods of scientific intelligence. dition of his career. know that I am a secular humanist and Hook was also a secular humanist. a socialist?" Hook deplored the "neo- Indeed, he was one of the founders of he young Hook visited the Soviet conservative" label that some of his the Council for Secular Humanism and 1 Union and Germany in 1928-29, students such as Irving Kristol had a charter subscriber to FREE INQUIRY edited the works of Lenin, and assumed, and he maintained through- magazine. The first issue of FREE strongly defended revolutionary class out that he was a committed social INQUIRY (Winter 1980/81) contained an action. In 1933, Hook published democrat and a sociologist. article by Hook entitled "The Ground Towards the Understanding of Karl In Young Sidney Hook Phelps criti- We Stand On: Democratic Human- Marx: A Revolutionary Interpretation. cizes the two festschrifts that I edited in ism." In it he remonstrated that the Phelps considers this book to be Hook's honor, claiming that I distorted forces and institutions of intelligence Hook's most original contribution to Hook's position by maintaining that and democracy are on the defensive leftist ideology and Marxist scholar- there was a unity in the thought of the throughout the world, and he deplored ship, and a guideline for today. For early and later Hook.* I pointed out the growth of religious fundamental- Hook, dialectical materialism was not that during Hook's entire philosophical ism as a strong political force and its to be viewed as an "objective law of career he never abandoned his commit- history" or a "dogma," but as a Paul Kurtz is Professor Emeritus of "method of social action." Hook, like *Sidney Hook and the Contemporary World: Philosophy at the State University of Dewey, was concerned with pragmatic Essays on the Pragmatic Intelligence (New York: John Day and Company, 1968); and Sidney Hook: New York at Buffalo and Editor-in- action, and he attempted to test ideas Philosopher of Democracy and Humanism Chief of FREE INQUIRY. experimentally by their consequences (Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 1983).

fall 1998

REVIEWS

ment to experimental naturalism, sci- nal problems given the power of the legal right of opposition, a free press, entific method, or his devotion to global economy. I do not think that due process of law, etc.) is a necessary democracy, socialism, and human- Marx's solution for these problems is precondition of any just society. Hook ism—whereas Phelps insists that there in any sense adequate. Surely we have maintained throughout his life that he was a sharp rupture between the early learned that from history, as did Sidney was a democratic socialist. He was and later Hook. Hook, though evidently not Phelps. highly critical of the laissez faire eco- It is only the early revolutionary nomics of Friedrich A. Hayek, Ludwig Hook of which Phelps approves. "The ook did change his views about van Mises, and Milton Friedman, for American Left," says Phelps, "is once the Soviet Union, Lenin, and rev- he thought that both economic and again in need of hope to carry it olution. Although never a member of social democracy were essential for through hard times. The questions that the Communist Party, he was an early the democratic society. Hook considered in his writings on ardent supporter of its programs. He Many on the Old and New Left revolution and democracy remain broke with the CP-USA and Earl have never forgiven Hook for his vital, and many of the solutions he put Browder in 1933, as he details in his attacks on Leninist-Marxists over the forward years ago have remarkable rel- autobiography Out of Step: An Unquiet decades, but in retrospect, Hook proved to be right about the nature of the Soviet Union, and he has been vin- It is not the revolutionary Hook, I submit, but dicated by history. Many of his former comrades-in-arms also never forgave the democratic and humanist Hook that him for defending George Meany, the needs special attention today. AFL-CIO, the Social Democratic Party, the League for Industrial Democracy, and the Congress for evance today" (p. 242). Phelps believes Life in the Twentieth Century (New Cultural Freedom, for they were all that Hook's earlier insistence on the York: Harper and Row, 1987): he viewed as "anticommunist." Many on need of working people to change would not take orders from the Central the New Left later criticized Hook society and to control their lives is Committee and he became acutely because he opposed student violence again meaningful. aware of the contradictions between the on the campuses and sought to defend I quite agree with Phelps that the ideals of dialectical theory and actual academic freedom and integrity in the liberal-left forces and the working political practice. Hook's views about face of it, or his view that Ho Chi Minh class in America (and the world) are in the nature of Stalinism soon led him to was not simply a "democratic agrarian disarray, given the massive expansion denounce the Soviet gulag. No doubt nationalist" but a Stalinist. of global capitalism, and that there Hook, like so many other intellectuals Hook recognized that market needs to be a new coalition; but I am on the left, was influenced in this economies generally enjoyed higher skeptical of Phelps's own Marxist regard by Leon Trotsky. In 1938, Hook standards of living than socially sympathies and his implication that was instrumental in organizing a spe- planned or nationalized economies, revolutionary means are today an cial commission in Mexico City, and there had to be a significant free option for social change. I concur that headed by John Dewey, to investigate market sector. But he wished to sup- it would be a mistake to ignore Marx's Stalin's charges against Trotsky. That plement this with welfare policies, an insightful sociological interpretation of commission declared that Trotsky as idea that has become unfashionable in history entirely—that the forces and well as the defendants of the Moscow the United States since the Reagan relationships of production are key show trials were innocent, and that years, but is still supported by the determinants of social change. Marx's these were trumped-up charges— democratic socialist parties of Western analysis of the tendency for mergers though both Dewey and Hook deplored Europe. and acquisitions to lead to greater con- Trotsky's defense of terrorism and his There is much in Phelps's book that centration of ownership—which he abandonment of democracy. is fascinating. He describes in great saw in the nineteenth century—contin- With the rise of fascism and detail many factional quarrels that ues unabated today. The decline of real Stalinism and the Nazi-Soviet pact of embroiled the left in the 1930s. Hook wages, the increasing disparities in 1939, Hook came to believe that the was a master polemicist. He was able income and wealth, and the fact that primary conflict facing the world was to demolish his foes in the internecine the labor movement is held hostage by not the conflict between capitalism and squabbles. It is also revealing to learn the threat of exporting jobs abroad are socialism, but between totalitarianism how many of those who were devoted all serious problems. Indeed, no coun- and democracy. He insisted that polit- to communism as the wave of the try is today able fully to solve its inter- ical democracy (free elections, the future later became disillusioned.

free inquiry 62

REVIEWS

here is at the present juncture a have done far better if he had learned writings. Inasmuch as Sidney Hook Tneed for new political directions. to appreciate the pragmatic liberal contributed mightily to the philoso- These, I submit, are not to be found democratic methodology of Dewey phy and practice of pragmatic liberal by turning back to either Marx or Mill and the mature Hook, a position far democracy, a fairer reappraisal of of the nineteenth century, but by more relevant to the current American Hook's middle and later works would developing new principles and meth- scene—given the dominance of doc- be most relevant to current realities. It ods appropriate to the global society trinaire right-wing religious ideol- is not the revolutionary Hook, I sub- of the twenty-first century. Phelps is ogy—but also pertinent to the world mit, but the democratic and humanist evidently sympathetic to romantic at large. Fortunately, there is currently Hook that needs special attention revolutionary Marxism, but he would a strong revival of interest in Dewey's today.

a Jew, was forbidden to lecture by Nazi HEIDEGGER, NAZISM, AND legislation, Heidegger didn't lift a finger to help him. He didn't even attend his POSTMODERNISM funeral. Heidegger joined the Nazi Party in May 1933, only four months after MARLIN BIII Cooke HEIDEGGER Hitler's rise to power. He was by now • Martin Heidegger: Between Good and Evil, by Rüdiger Safranski Rector of Freiburg University and had (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1998, ISBN 0-674-38709-0) enthusiastically launched into a pro- 474 pp. Cloth $35.00. gram of reorganizing the university on

Heidegger, Philosophy, Nazism, by Julian Young (Cambridge: Nazi principles. This included compul- sory military training for students, a Cambridge University Press, 1997, 0-521-58276-8) 232 pp. Cloth BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL $49.99. militarist code of honor for the staff, and active encouragement of book- t is one of the features of the FASCIST ROOTS burning at the university. Heidegger depressed state of end-of-millen- also abolished all of the university's Inium philosophy that Martin Heidegger was born into a staunchly governing bodies. Heidegger (1889-1976) should be Catholic family of modest means in the Those at the heart of the ideological experiencing a tremendous upsurge southwestern corner of Germany in power centers of National Socialism in popularity. Heidegger, once rele- 1889. Acknowledged early on to be suspected Heidegger was merely "play- gated to a chapter in the literature on brilliant, he was nurtured through the ing at National Socialism," and they existentialism, has recently re- Catholic education system of his region. appointed other people to important emerged as a central intellectual In his youth he repaid that confidence positions in German curriculum and influence on the current fashion of by advocating a very conservative, university administration. After about a postmodernism. authoritarian Catholicism. During the year in the job Heidegger resigned as At the same time, the extent of First World War, Heidegger worked in Rector, although he retained his party Heidegger's collaboration with Hit- the censorship office, reading soldiers' membership. lerism has become even clearer. This mail. It is widely thought he used his After the war the de-Nazification has developed to such an extent that position to read the mail of colleagues commission banned Heidegger from David Harvey, a Marxist postmod- and rivals for the various academic lecturing until 1949 and holding any ernist, has admitted Heidegger's Nazi posts he was applying for at the time. official university position. It was past (and that of Paul De Man, another After the war Heidegger came under decided that his support of the Nazi prominent postmodernist thinker) to the influence of Edmund Husserl regime had been significant because his be a "major embarrassment" for post- (1859-1938), at the time Germany's international reputation as a philoso- modernism. most influential living philosopher. pher had given the Nazis respectability Husserl recognized Heidegger's genius that helped cement their control of the Bill Cooke is a lecturer in the School of and lobbied extensively on his behalf to country in those early months. Art and Design, Manukau Institute of secure an academic position. Within Heidegger remained bitter about his Technology in New Zealand. He is the weeks of securing the position at treatment, feeling that he had been sin- author of Heathen in Godzone, a study Freiburg that he had coveted, Heidegger gled out unfairly. But he never retracted of Rationalism in New Zealand. stopped visiting Husserl. When Husserl, any of the statements he made during

63 ® fall 1998 REVIEWS

his years as an active Nazi. He actually is bound in one's rootedness in blood metanarratives renders them unable to reaffirmed them as late as 1966. and soil. Many völkish thinkers dreamt make any judgment call that isn't an The question that developed was: Is of the overthrow of modernity and the arbitrary mark in the sand. Nazism intrinsic to Heidegger's phi- re-establishment of contact with cos- Heidegger found this out when the losophy? Into this situation stepped mic and natural forces that would Nazis cast him aside. His philosophy two scholars: Julian Young, based in bring about a renewal of society. was powerless to explain, let alone Auckland, New Zealand, and Rüdiger Young has no doubt that Heidegger's combat, the peril he had helped to Safranski, from Berlin. It was Young's authoritarianism is essentially a völk- unleash. Safranski's claim that intention in Heidegger, Philosophy, ish totalitarianism. Heidegger's philosophy helped release Nazism to undertake a "de- Safranski differs from Young when him from National Socialism ignores Nazification of Heidegger." Safran- he acknowledges that, even after his the obvious point that it was ski's book, Martin Heidegger: departure from the Rectorship, Heidegger's philosophy that also led Between Good and Evil, is an attempt Heidegger continued to see himself as him into it. And whether Young is cor- at a comprehensive intellectual biogra- an authentic National Socialist. rect or not in arguing that Heidegger phy of Heidegger. Whereas until 1934 he saw himself as can, with careful re-reading, be put to Young's job is perhaps the more dif- "the herald of a historical-political and, use in the cause of liberalism and ficult, as he is running against the cur- simultaneously, philosophical epi- democracy, I for one would prefer to rent philosophical tide. He admits phany"; after that time, he dropped the use the thoughts of people such as early on that Heidegger's involvement directly political aspect to his heraldic John Dewey and Bertrand Russell, with Nazism was "much deeper and hymn of Being. This is why Heidegger whose words were matched by deeds much less honourable than the official never apologized for his commitment and whose philosophy opposed story makes out." Heidegger was, at to Nazism. It wasn't his fault the National Socialism before, during, and least for two years "a real Nazi: his German people spurned his prophetic after that period. involvement was a matter of convic- message. tion rather than compromise, oppor- tunism, or cowardice." Safranski THE APPEAL TO TOWARD UNITY OF agrees: "To Heidegger the National Socialist seizure of power was a revo- POSTMODERNISTS KNOWLEDGE lution. It was far more than politics; it What is it about this singularly unpleas- Consilience, by Edward O. Wilson (New was a new act in the history of Being, ant man that appeals to postmod- York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998, ISBN 0-45077- the beginning of a new epoch. Hitler, ernists? Gianni Vattimo best illustrates 7) 331 pp., cloth $39.95. to him, meant a new era." the thought-process involved. The most Having gone this far, Young now imposing trait of postmodernism, This excellent book by a distinguished sets himself the task of clearing Vattimo declares, is its effort to "free biologist addresses what may be the Heidegger's philosophy of any essen- itself from the logic of overcoming, most important conceptual question tial taint of fascism, and to add that one development, and innovation." Hei- facing modern humanity. History can be a Heideggerian and a commit- degger's importance lies in his "attempt demonstrates that human beings have ted liberal and democrat. But it is to prepare a post-metaphysical kind of long sought a mental model of reality important to note that Heidegger him- thought" ("The Structure of Artistic that satisfies both our intellectual and self was in no doubt that his partisan- Revolutions" in Thomas Docherty, ed., our emotional needs. A satisfying ship for National Socialism lay in the Postmodernism: A Reader, Helmel model goes a long way toward giving essence of his philosophy. He made Hempstead: Harvester Wehatsheaf, meaning to our lives. Traditionally, this observation in 1936, two years 1993, p. 117). religion has been the primary provider after he was supposed to have aban- Many postmodernists are attracted of such a model, including, until the doned any direct commitment to to Heidegger's attempt to fend off rise of science in the modern era, most National Socialism. modernity by conjuring up an anti- of the popular explanations of even Young insists that after two years of rational re-enchantment, using the physical phenomena. In this view, active involvement in the Nazi regime tools of the poet and artist. This is not called "transcendental" by Wilson, Heidegger returned to his more normal to say that postmodernism is tanta- God was behind everything. volkish, anti-democratic cultural chau- mount to fascism. The problem is not However, there has long existed vinism. The basis of Heidegger's that postmodernism courts fascism, but among some thinkers an opposing thought, in Young's mind, is the con- that it does not care that Heidegger did. view, starting in the Western world ception of völk, which is a romantic And even if the postmodernists did with a few Greek philosophers, and notion that the essence of being human care, their having spurned reason and reaching a high-water mark during the

64 REVIEWS

eighteenth-century Enlightenment. RESILIENT ILLUSIONS However, much of this good work is This view claims that all reality, other undermined by the book's weak foun- than the mental constructs generated All About Adam and Eve: How We Came to dations, which consist of an uncritical by our brains, is exclusively physical. Believe in Gods, by Robert Gillooly (Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 1998, acceptance of J. G. Frazer and Wilson refers to this as the "empirical" ISBN 1-57392-187-4) 275 pp., cloth Sigmund Freud, particularly Freud's view. The term empirical also suggests $28.95. theory of religion as wishful thinking. the means of acquiring knowledge, Stewart Guthrie and others have which in practice is usually investiga- Robert Gillooly has presented the demonstrated the problems involved in tion of all phenomena on the assump- reader with an overview of the entire this approach. That and an oversimpli- tion that its ultimate cause is physical. spectrum of religious belief and expe- fied division between science and reli- An advocate of this approach, Wilson rience. Gillooly has summarized the gion weaken the book and make defines "consilience" as the tying nature and effects of prayer, baptism, Gillooly very vulnerable to the charge together of all fields of knowledge as miracles, asceticism, and every other of scientism. Indeed, his book is fuel to the natural consequence of physical facet of religious life, in both Eastern the fire of critics who like to demon- processes in an exclusively "material" and Western religions in 21 short, well- strate that rationalist criticism of reli- world. The reader will discover that organized chapters. gion misses the point. Wilson is modest in acknowledging The idea behind this book is Gillooly's approach is unable to that we are far from this consilient goal admirable. At each turn, Gillooly account for the recent resurgence of today and that "I (Wilson) might be demonstrates clearly the human origin traditional beliefs and superstitions, wrong" He will also discover that and evolution of the various religious which gives his book an anachronis- Wilson is bold, and knowledgeable, in notions and practices. In the face of so tic feel. This is a great pity, given the offering arguments why he believes the much ignorance and misinformation otherwise good work he does to goal can eventually be reached. about the way religions develop—and unravel so many comfortable reli- deteriorate—a book like this is sorely gious illusions. —Stuart Jordan needed. —Bill Cooke HUMANIST WORLD CONGRESS January 10-14, 1999, Mumbai, India

"Humanism For Human Development and Happiness" Speakers include: Federico Mayor, Director General of Unesco.

The next International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) Congress will be held in°Mumbai (formerly "Bombay"), India. In addition to an impressive program of speakers and seminars, there will be opportunities to see humanist social work and development programs, and to take Spart in cultural and social programs.

For Congress brochure, registration, and accommodation details, and options for post-Congress tours by Thomas Cook, write to: Dr. Indumati Parikh, Indian Radical Humanist Association, 276 Telang Road, Mumbai, 400 019, INDIA. Fax: 011-91-22-4135248. e-mail [email protected]. Mention that you area FREE INQUIRY reader.

D f i fall 1998 HUMANISM AT LARGE

Eighteen New Summer Camp Success new journal—titled Separation of Mosque and State—in the Fall of Local Groups The third annual Camp Quest—the 1998. Ibn Warraq—author of Why I secular humanist summer camp— Am Not a Muslim—is the Executive Many FREE INQUIRY readers belong to attracted 40 children to Lebanon, Ohio, Director of ISIS; distinguished Arab local groups affiliated with the for eight days of fun and learning in philosopher Marvin Zeyed is Alliance of Secular Humanist July. Bigger and longer than in previ- Chairperson; and world famous writer Societies (ASHS)—a national organi- ous years, Camp Quest included all the and feminist Taslima Nasrin (the sub- zation run by the Council for Secular traditional summer camp activities ject of an Islamic death sentence in her Humanism, publisher of FREE INQUIRY such as canoeing, horseback riding, and native Bangladesh) is the Vice-Chair. magazine. These groups provide a hiking, but also educational programs, ISIS welcomes support from all community for nonreligious people, as including a fossil-collecting trip. Camp people of goodwill. Supporters may well as exploring and promoting Quest is run by the Free Inquiry Group join ISIS and receive its newsletter, for humanist principles. FREE INQUIRY is of Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, just $20 per year. Please send checks therefore delighted to announce that 18 and sponsored by the Council for and inquiries to: ISIS, P.O. Box 229, new local groups have joined ASHS in Secular Humanism. Details about next Buffalo, NY 14215, or e-mail: the last four months. Ten of these summer's camp are available from: [email protected]. groups were already in existence but Camp Quest, P.O. Box 264, Union, KY had not belonged to ASHS, while a 41091, e-mail: further eight have just been launched. [email protected]. New President of The outstanding growth in local International Humanists groups follows the appointment of Jo Ann Mooney as Executive Director of Secularizing Islam The International Humanist and Ethical ASHS. There are now over 60 local Union (IHEU) has elected a new presi- secular humanist groups in the United A new organization has been launched dent. Levi Fragell, 59, was elected in States (a complete list of ASHS groups to promote secularism in the Muslim July to a three-year term as head of the is given on page 67). If you are inter- world. The International Society for world-wide organization. Fragell, a ested in helping form a local group in Islamic Secularization (ISIS) will pro- contributing editor of FREE INQUIRY, is your area, Jo Ann would be delighted mote human rights and secularism, a long-time leader of the Norwegian to work with you. Contact: Jo Ann present expert critiques of Islamic Humanist League, one of the world's Mooney, P.O. Box 664, Amherst, NY teachings, and unite skeptics of Islam. most successful freethought groups 14226; tel. (716) 636-7571 ext. 330; An extensive ISIS Web site is with over 60,000 members. Fragell e-mail: already up and running at: www.secu vowed to make outreach and growth his [email protected]. larislam.org. ISIS will also launch a top priority, and will work closely with the IHEU Secretariat for Growth and Development, administered by the Council for Secular Humanism. Headquartered in London, England, IHEU is the world's main umbrella organization for humanist and secular- ist groups. It has over 90 member organizations in more than 30 countries. The next IHEU World Humanist Congress will be held in Mumbai, India, from January 10-14, 1999 (see page 65 for details). For more information about IHEU write to: IHEU, 47 Theobald's Road, London, WC1X 8SP, UK; or visit its Web site at: www.secularhumanism.org/iheu. Students from across the world gathered at the Center for Inquiry International for the Second Annual Conference of the Campus Freethought Alliance (CFA), in July 1998. The CFA, formed in 1996, now has groups on over 70 campuses and contacts on over 200. —Matt Cherry

66 ALLIANCE OF SECULAR HUMANIST SOCIETIES (ASHS) The Alliance of Secular Humanist Societies is a network created for mutual support among local and regional societies of secular humanists. If you are interested in starting a group in your area, please contact: Jo Ann Mooney, P.O. Box 664, Amherst, NY 14226-0664, (716) 636-7571 ext. 330, Fax (716) 636-1733, or e-mail: [email protected].

ARIZONA - Arizona Secular Humanists, P.O. Box GEORGIA - Atlanta Freethought Society Secular Humanist Society of New York 3738, Scottsdale, AZ 85271 (602) 582-6990 P.O. Box 813392, Smyrna, GA 30081-3392 P.O. Box 7661, New York, NY 10150 http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Agora/8057 (770) 641-2903 - http://www.concentric.net/-theafs (212) 861-6003 Humanist Society of Greater Phoenix HAWAII - Humanists Hawaii, 1515 Nuuanu Queen Western New York Secular Humanists MSC Box 234, 9666 E. Riggs Road, Sun Lakes, AZ Tower #48, Honolulu, HI 96817 (808) 524-3872 P.O. Box 664, Amherst, NY 14226 85248-7410 (602) 802-4977 - [email protected] (716) 636-7571 ILLINOIS - Peoria Secular Humanists ARKANSAS - Arkansas Society of Freethinkers OHIO - Free Inquirers of Northeast Ohio P.O. Box 994, Normal, IL 61761, [email protected] P.O. Box 2379, Akron, OH 44309 1700 W. Dixon Road #12, Little Rock, AR 72206 Secular Humanist Society of Chicago (330) 869-2025 (501) 888-9333 - [email protected] 1023 West Vernon Park, Suite H, Chicago, IL 60607 http://home.neo.lrun.com/fino/home.html CALIFORNIA - Atheists and Other Freethinkers (312) 226-0420 - [email protected] Free Inquiry Group, Inc., P.O. Box 8128 P.O. Box 15182, Sacramento, CA 95851-0182 Free Inquiry Network, P.O. Box 2668, Glen Ellyn, IL Cincinnati, OH 45208 (513) 557-3836 (916) 920-7834 60138-2668 (630) 469-1 1 11 http://www.SecularHumanism.org/ashs/groups/fig/ http://www.rthoughtsrfree.org/aof/aof.htm http://www.freeinguirynetwork.com Humanist Association of Ohio, 2637 Home Acre Dr., Atheists of San Francisco Region, 88 Seventeenth Ave. KENTUCKY - Louisville Association of Secular Columbus, OH 43231-1602 (614) 890-0653 #301, San Mateo, CA 94402 (415) 648-1201 Humanists, P.O. Box 91453, Louisville, KY 40291 OREGON - Corvallis Secular Society Humanist Association of San Diego, P.O. Box 86446, (502) 491-6693 126 NW 21st Street, Corvallis, OR 97330-5531 San Diego, CA 92138-6646 (619) 280-8595 LOUISIANA - Shreveport Humanists, 9476 (541) 754-2557 - http://www.peak.org/-byersr/secular http://www.godless/org/hasd/hasd.html Boxwood Drive, Shreveport, LA 71118-4003 Humanist Association of Salem Humanist Community of San Francisco (318) 687-8175 P.O. Box 4153, Salem, OR 97302 (503) 371-1255 P.O. Box 31172, San Francisco, CA 94131 http://www.softdisk.com/comp/shume http://www.teleport.com/-Iloydk/humanist.htm (650) 342-0910 - [email protected] MARYLAND - Baltimore Secular Humanists PENNSYLVANIA - Pittsburgh Secular Humanists Rational Inquirers of Orange County P.O. Box 24115, Baltimore, MD 21227-0615 5003 Impala Drive, Murrysville, PA 15239 1931 E. Meats #115, Orange, CA 92865 (410) 467-3225 - don.evans@mc:2000.com (412) 476-5694 (949) 425-0425 - [email protected] Frederick Secular Humanists (FRESH) http://www.geocities.comshiwpa/PSHMain.html Santa Barbara Humanist Society, P.O. Box 30804, 123 W 2nd Street, Frederick, MD 21701 Santa Barbara, CA 93105 (805) 687-8619 Philadelphia Gay and Lesbian Secular Humanists (301) 631-5982 - [email protected] Secular Humanists of the East Bay P.O. Box 2141, Philadelphia, PA 19103 Maryland - DC Chapter (MDC) Of WASH, P.O. Box P.O. Box 830, Berkeley, CA 94701 (510) 486-0553 http://members.aol.com/-pgIsh/ 15319, Washington, DC 20003 (202) 546-7430 [email protected] SOUTH CAROLINA - Secular Humanists of the Low [email protected] Secular Humanists of Los Angeles Country, P.O. Box 32256, Charleston, SC 29417 P.O. Box 10517, Marina Del Rey, CA 90295 MICHIGAN - Freethought Association of West (803) 577-0637 - http://www.serve.com/SECHUMLO/ (310) 305-8135 - [email protected] Michigan, P.O. Box 649, Jenison, MI 49429-0649 Upstate South Carolina Secular Humanists http://members.aol.com/faowm COLORADO - Atheist of Northern Colorado, P.O. Suite 168, Box 3000, Taylors, SC 29687 Great Lakes Humanist Society, P.O. Box 1183, Box 2555, Loveland, CO 80539-2555 (970) 577-0015 (864) 233-0905 - http://home.earthlink.net/-joann Mt. Pleasant, MI 488021- [email protected] mooney/humanism.html CONNECTICUT - Northeast Atheist Association Secular Humanists of Detroit, 220 Bagley, Room 908, TENNESSEE - Rationalists of East Tennessee P.O. Box 63, Simsbury, CT 06070 Detroit, MI 48226 (313) 962-1777 2123 Stonybrook Rd., Louisville, TN 37777 http://www.hagware.com/naa [email protected] (423) 982-8687 - http://www.korrnet.org/reality/ Humanists Association of Central Connecticut MINNESOTA - Minnesota Atheists, PO. Box 6261, 27 Thornton St., Hamden, CT 06517-1321 TEXAS - Freethinkers Association of Central Texas Minneapolis, MN 55406-0261 (203) 281-6322 - [email protected] P.O. Box 160881, San Antonio, TX 78280 (612) 588-1597 - http://www.mnatheists.org (210) 491-6829 FLORIDA - Atheists of Florida, Inc. MISSOURI - Kansas City Eupraxophy Center http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/8317/ P.O. Box 3893, Ft. Pierce, FL 34948 (813) 839-7567 6301 Rockhill Road, Suite 412, Kansas City, Houstonians for Secular Humanism, P.O. Box [email protected] MO 64131 (816) 822-9840 - [email protected] 925872, Houston, TX 77292-5872 (713) 864-0365 First Coast Freethought Society Family Freethought Alliance, P.O. Box 260067 [email protected] P.O. Box 558, Ponte Beach, FL 32791-6481 St. Louis, MO 63126 (314) 825-6422 (904) 285-1205 - [email protected] VIRGINIA - Central Virginia Secular Humanists http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Temple/9917/ffc/ (CVSH), PO. Box 184, Ivy, VA 22945 Free Inquiry Society of Central Florida index.html P.O. Box 196481, Longwood, FL 32791-6481 (804) 979-2508 - [email protected] Rationalist Society of St. Louis, P.O. Box 2931 (407) 424-9076 Northern Virginia Secular Humanists St. Louis, MO 63130 (314) 772-5131 http://reasonworks.com/cff/veritas.htm P.O. Box 725, Lorton, VA 22199 (703) 971-0971 http://www.geocities.com/Tokr/Temple/9917/rss/.html Gainesville Humanist Society [email protected] NEVADA - Secular Humanist Society of Las Vegas 4000 SW 47th St. L-12, Gainesville, FL 32608 Richmond Area Free Thinkers, 8541 Elm Road 240 North Jones Blvd, Suite 106, Las Vegas, NV (352) 377-4505 - http://www.afn.org/.afn59918 Richmond, VA 23235 (804) 364-0633 89107 (702) 594-1125 Humanists of The Palm Beaches [email protected] 860 Lakeside Drive, North Palm Beach, FL 33408 NEW HAMPSHIRE - Secular Humanists of WASHINGTON, D.C. - Washington Area Secular Humanist Association: St. Petersburg Merrimack Valley, P.O. Box 368, Londonderry, Humanists (WASH), P.O. Box 15319, P.O. Box 8099, Madeira Beach, FL 33738-8099 NH 03053 (603) 434-4195 - [email protected] Washington, DC 20003 (202) 298-0921 (727) 391-7571 - http://homel .gte.net/HASP/ NEW JERSEY - New Jersey Humanist Network http://www.wam.umd.edu/-kaugust/asatext/wash.html Humanists Association of West Central Florida P.O. Box 51, Washington, NJ 07882 WISCONSIN - Freethought Society of Wisconsin P.O. Box 6675, Lakeland, FL 33807 (941) 701-7407 (908) 689-2813 - [email protected] P.O. Box 13204, Milwaukee, WI 53213 http://www.cris.com/-eugenio/hawcf.htm NEW YORK - Capital District Humanist Society (414) 771-0743 - http://www.teamworkweb.com/ftsm/ Secular Humanists of South Florida, 1951 NW 98th P.O. Box 2148, Scotia, NY 12302 Secular Humanists of Madison, WI, 5322 Fairway Avenue, Sunrise, FL 33322 (954) 746-0442 (518) 381-6239 Drive, Madison, WI 53711 (608) 274-2152 http://www.seflin.org/human/human2.htm http://www.globaI2000.net/org/cdhs [email protected]

• AACC IAIr1IIDV ~re n~ii fr# Afil p tinnnl Hll 'JILL II vx,J ~llc . ar 11111111.011.4. vMI1 .FF....a. 1999 nInM V M conference of the Council for Secular Humanism

COUNCIL FOR WhyReligionDoes Persist? SECULAR f i HUMANISM free inquiry FAITH, CULTURE, AND THE BRAIN Thursday, May 13 to Sunday, May 16, 1999 at the Ramada Plaza Hotel, O'Hare Airport CHICAGO, ILLINOIS Conference topics include: Why Does Religion Persist? How Humanism Can Enrich Your Life Religion and the Media Morality without God Effective Activism Raising Children without Religion

In addition to world-class intellectual discussion, the conference will feature a wide range of practical workshops, plus the annual conference of the Campus Freethought Alliance.

Conference registration is $175, but register by December 15 for early-bird rate of $149. Registration includes free luncheon, conference packet, and entrance to all sessions. Speaker luncheon, gala banquet, and trips to downtown Chicago are also available. For additional conference information visit our Web site at: www.secularhumanism.org.

YES! I/we will attend the Council for Secular Humanism's 1999 national conference "Why Does Religion Persist?: Faith, Culture, and the Brain" [ ] Registration(s) for at $149 each (Dec. 15 early bird Registration rate) $ [ ] Registration(s) for at $175 each (After December 15) $ [ ] Gala Banquet for at $50 each (Sat. May 15, evening) $ [ ] Speaker Luncheon for at $30 each (Fri. May 14) $ Accommodations: single and dou- [ ] Visa [ ] MasterCard or [ ] Check or Money Order Total $ ble rooms are $98 with conference discount at Ramada Plaza hotel; Acct. # Exp. Sig. uired with ~ ~d orders) includes courtesy transport from Name(s) Dayttiim phone it airport. Hotel contains outstanding recreational facilities: restaurants,

Address swimming pools, gym, golf, and City State/Province Zip/Postal Code tennis. Call (847) 821-5131 to reserve your room now—mention Return to: 1999 Conference, Council for Secular Humanism, P.O. Box 664, "Council for Secular Humanism" to Amherst, NY 14226-0664. Charge orders may be faxed to 1-716-636-1733. receive your discount rate.