lew@ihuxr.UUCP (08/03/83)
Bruce Smith posted an article July 4th about Steven J. Brams's book, "Superior Beings: If They Exist, How Would We Know?" subtitled, "Game-Theoretic Implications of Omniscience, Omnipotence, Immortality, and Incomprehensibility". (whew) This book is referenced in Martin Gardner's recent book, "The Whys of a Philosohical Scrivener". Here is the paragraph to which Gardner attaches the reference: "There is a still deeper reason, fideists believe, or at least I so believe, why we cannot solve the problem of evil. "Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour" (Isaiah 45:15). The mystery of evil is part of the larger mystery of why God chooses to remain concealed. The only answer a fideist can give is that God wants uncompelled love, love that springs from a free turning of the heart. If God could be proved by reason, every rational person would believe. If God could be established empirically, every person with a respect for science would believe. To formulate a convincing answer to the riddle of evil would require knowing things we cannot know, that we may not have the capacity to know. If we could understand the reason for suffering, God would no longer be hidden. And only if God remains concealed, remains a 'deus abscondus', can faith escape contamination." Sound familiar, netters? Anyway here is the note from the back of the book: "It is possible to give this argument in a game-theoretic framework. See [see above!] ... , a forthcoming book. In Chapter 13, note 1, I referred to Bram's earlier work, ""Biblical Games." I have not yet decided just what to make of these two books. They may be significant contributions to theology, or little more than ingenious attempts to apply game and decision theory in areas where such applications are unproductive. Brams concerns himself exclusively with Old Testament myths, but clearly his approach is just as applicable (or inapplicable) to myths in the New Testament, Homer, the Koran, or the sacred books of any other religious tradition. It is Bram's view that it may be rational for a god who wants to be believed to adopt a mixed strategy in which there is genuinely random behavior fo the sort that would appear to us as irrational." I haven't seen any mention of Gardner's book on the net. Anyone else read it? His views are conventionally theistic for the most part, but he is not a Christian, although he states that he was raised in a "particularly ugly" form of Christian fundamentalism. I read it out of a sense of obligation to hear his views, since I have come to respect his judgement and taste from his column. My views are very different, but it is stimulating to read well formulated opinions which differ from ones own. Lew Mammel, Jr. ihuxr!lew