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CONSCIOUSNESS 'THE Sour ( Fall 1995 Vol.15, No.4 HMMM... CONSCIOUSNESS 'THE sour. ABE ARTIFICIAL IIITELLIGENCE Exclusive Interviews with Cognitive Scientists Patricia Smith Churchland and Daniel C. Dennett BERTRAND RUSSELL Also: The Disneyfication of America Situation Ethics in Medicine 74957 Reactionar Black Nationalism FALL 1995, VOL. 15, NO. 4 ISSN 0272-0701 !ee WTI : Contents Editor: Paul Kurtz Executive Editor: Timothy J. Madigan Managing Editor: Andrea Szalanski 3 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Senior Editors: Vern Bullough, Thomas W. Flynn, R. Joseph Hoffmann, Gerald Larue, Gordon Stein 5 EDITORIALS Contributing Editors: Robert S. Alley, Joe E. Barnhart, David Berman, Notes from the Editor: Pro Ecclesia et Commercia, Paul Kurtz I H. James Birx, Jo Ann Boydston, Bonnie Bullough, Reactionary Black Nationalism: Authoritarianism in the Name of Paul Edwards, Albert Ellis, Roy P. Fairfield, Charles W. Faulkner, Antony Flew, Levi Fragell, Adolf Freedom, Norm R. Allen, Jr. / The Founding Fathers Were Not Grünbaum, Marvin Kohl, Jean Kotkin, Thelma Lavine, Tibor Machan, Ronald A. Lindsay, Michael Christian, Steven Morris I Religious Right to Bolt GOP?, Skipp Martin, Delos B. McKown, Lee Nisbet, John Novak, Porteous I Humanist Potpourri, Warren Allen Smith Skipp Porteous, Howard Radest, Robert Rimmer, Michael Rockier, Svetozar Stojanovic, Thomas Szasz, Roh Tielman 16 NEWS AND VIEWS V. M. Torkunde, Richard Taylor, Associate Editors: Molleen Matsumura, Lois Porter 19 CONSCIOUSNESS REVISITED Editorial Associates: 19 FI Interview: A Conversation with Daniel Dennett Doris Doyle, Thomas Franczyk, Roger Greeley, James Martin-Diaz, Steven L. Mitchell, Warren 22 FI Interview: The Neurophilosophy of Patricia Smith Churchland Allen Smith 25 Neurological Bases of Modern Humanism José Delgado Cartoonist: Don Addis 29 Revisiting 'New Conceptions of the Mind' Noel W Smith CODESH. Inc.: Chairman: Paul Kurtz 33 Consciousness, Math, and Aristotle Adam Carley President: Timothy J. Madigan Executive Director: Matt Cherry Chief Development Officer: James Kimberly 35 BERTRAND RUSSELL REMEMBERED Public Relations Director: Norm R. Allen, Jr. 35 Introduction Timothy J. Madigan President, Academy of Humanism: Paul Kurtz Executive Director, Secular Organizations fbr 36 Russell vs. Dewey on Religion Michael J. Rockler Sobriety: James Christopher 38 Why I Am Not a Russellian John M. Novak Chief Data Officer: Richard Seymour 39 Bertrand Russell's Intellectual Odyssey . Gladys Garner Leithauser Fulfilbnent Manager: Michael Cione 41 Russell and the Contemplation of Philosophy Typesetting: Paul E. Loynes, Sr. John Shosky Graphic Designer: Jacqueline Cooke 42 Russell and the Happy Life Marvin Kohl Audio Technician: Vance Vigrass 43 Russell at Century's End Alan Ryan staff:. 45 Onto the Past! What the 1990s Georgeia Locurcio, Anthony Nigro, Ranjit Sandhu Mean to Bertrand Russell Nicholas Griffin Executive Direcuir Emeritus: Jean Millholland FREE INQUIRY (ISSN 0272-0701) is published quarterly by the Council for Democratic and Secular Humanism HUMANISM AND MEDICAL ETHICS (CODESH, Inc.), a nonprofit corporation, 3965 Rensch Road, Amherst, NY 14228-2713. Phone (716) 636-7571. 47 Joseph Fletcher's Situation Ethics, Once Again Richard Taylor Fax (716) 636-1733. Copyright ©1995 by CODESH, Inc. 50 God and the Patent Office Richard J. Goss Second-class postage paid at Amherst, N.Y., and at addi- tional mailing offices. National distribution by International Periodicals Distributors, Solana Beach, 52 REVIEWS California. FREE INQUIRY is available from University Microfilms and is indexed in Philosophers' Index. The Acid Test of Evolution, H. James Birx / Quite A Life, John R. Printed in the United States. Lenz / Crossing the Bleak Threshold, Thomas W Flynn / Psychoanalysis Subscription rates: $28.51) for one year, $47.50 for two Takes Its Lumps, Michael Ruse \ Sayings of the Skeptics, James A. years, $64.50 for three years. $6.95 for single issues. Naught / Arguing for God, Address subscription orders, changes of address, and Michael Martin / Books in Brief advertising to FREE INQUIRY, P.O. Box 664, Amherst, NY 14226-0664. VIEWPOINT Manuscripts, letters, and editorial inquiries should be 59 Church/State Separation in Germany— addressed to The Editor, FREE INQUIRY, P.O. Box 664, Amherst, NY 14226-0664. Editorial submissions must For Now This Wall Stays Up Edmund D. Cohen be on disk (PC: 3-1/2" or 5-1/4"; Mac: 3-1/2" only) and accompanied by a double-spaced hardcopy and a stamped, self-addressed envelope. Acceptable file for- 65 IN THE NAME OF GOD mats include any PC or Mac word processor, RTF, and ASCII. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the Cover photo of Patricia Churchland by Union-Tribune/Roni Galgano views of the editors or publisher. Postmaster: Send address changes to FREE INQUIRY, P.O. Box 664, Cover photo of Daniel C. Dennett by Susan Dennett Amherst, NY 14226-0664. A moment's thought is surely suffi- cient to show that these lines express a Letters to the Editor grotesque falsehood rather than a pro- found truth. If such a piece of nonsense is to be an important or indeed any kind of tenet of humanism, then count me out. Is There a Need for Fantasy? to anthropomorphize). Religion then is an incidental develop- Professor Antony Flew Kenneth Marsalek's article on "Human- ment resulting from a misunderstanding Reading, England ism, Science Fiction, and Fairy Tales" (FI, of cause and effect, not an escape valve Summer 1995) gave an excellent presenta- for a too-inquisitive mind. tion of the role of science fiction in the As for Hans Vaihinger's idea It is true, as Edythe McGovern points out development of the imagination. I often ("Vaihinger and the 'As If" by Rollo in "Secular Humanism in Literature" (FI, find science fiction a source of inspira- Handy) that cultivation of religion will Summer 1995), that humanist values can tion, and was glad to find some references eventually give way to true knowledge, I be found in literature, and not only in to intriguing SF works that I haven't read would no more believe such a thing than those writers who openly express their yet. Bart Kosko's discussion ("The Future to imagine that communism can result opposition to traditional religion, like of God") of the role of gods in science fic- from the formation of a bureaucratic and Shelley, Twain, Whitman, Shaw, et al., tion was also intriguing... totalitarian state! but also in writers like Shakespeare, who Mike Jolley seem to accept traditional beliefs. But so Gary McGath New Orleans, La. can religious readers can find their val- Hooksett, N.H. ues in Shelley, Twain, Whitman, Hemingway, Stevens, etc., (not only While formal history and geography sum because) we tend to find what we are The idea that we need religious supersti- up definitions of events and places of the looking for, but because of the very tion to save us from "senseless" meta- past, legends are a part of mythology. nature of literature. physics makes very little sense ("Fantasy, They are not a representation of facts We enjoy literature for much the same Religion, and Missing Teeth," by because the facts in a legend are dis- reason that we enjoy music or any art: for Timothy J. Madigan). In the first place, torted, beautified, or amplified by imagi- its ability to give us an experience that we how do we know in advance which ques- nation or partiality. They are most often cannot have in any other way. At its best, tions to ask? What's the essential differ- an exaggeration or a misinterpretation for this literary experience is more likely to ence between asking "What is the mean- adaptation to popular taste. Sometimes challenge our beliefs than to reinforce ing of life?" as opposed to "What causes they are lies. them. That is why most good readers do thunder?" Both questions must originally Many legends have an European back- not judge literature by standards of moral have been considered answerable. Had ground with a supernatural component. correctness but how deeply the writer can our forefathers simply dismissed the lat- Legends are not really adapted for chil- involve us in the feelings of the charac- ter as a "senseless" question, we'd still be dren, who ignore their place in a context ters. The important point about a novel or without an explanation not only for thun- of culture, and some may mislead or a play or a poem is not whether its author der, but for any phenomena we now frighten them. Without knowledge of their is a humanist or a Christian but whether explain by assigning to it a naturalistic background, legends rather betray poor the work gives us an experience that goes cause. education and deter from historical truth. beyond the ideas and feelings that we Our consciousness, or self-conscious- Legends most often stand by themselves already have, what, in the words of T. S. ness, or ability to self-reflect, or if you while, to have a meaning, there is an order Eliot, "was not in existence before the will our metaphysical capacity, is a char- into which events are to be related. work was created." acteristic that possesses survival value in and of itself, according to a recent book Andrée Spuhler Lawrence Hyman by Richard Leakey (The Origin of Winter Park, Fla. Ridgewood, N.J. Humankind). After discussing work in pri- matology that would shed light on the ori- gin of human consciousness, he concludes In her "Secular Humanism and Literature" Opus Dei Postscript as follows: "Consciousness is a social tool (FI, Summer 1995) Edythe McGovern for understanding the behavior of others tells us that if John Keats "had written I believe that Opus Dei, if anything, is by modeling it on one's own feeling." In nothing except 'Ode on a Grecian Urn' he even a more fanatic organization than addition, he says that "It is a simple and would have given us an important tenet of revealed in FREE INQUIRY ("Opus Dei and natural extrapolation to impute these humanism in its closing lines, `Beauty is Other Secret Societies," FI, Fall 1994).
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