Through a glass, darkly.(Scientists' Bookshelf)(A Devil's Chaplain: Reflections on Hope, Lies, Science, and Love)(Book Review)

A Devil's Chaplain: Reflections onward Hope, Lies, Science, and be in love with Richard Dawkins. viii + 263 pp Houghton Mifflin, 2003 $24

Richard Dawkins one time called me a "creep." He did to such a degree very publicly but meant no personal offense and I took none: We were, and still are, friends. The cause of his ire--his anguish, even--was that, in the course of a public discussion, I was defending a position I did not verily hold. We philosophers are always doing this; it's a version of the reductio ad absurdum argument. We do for a like reason partly to stimulate debate (especially in the classroom),