Haynes.PA@PARC-MAXC.ARPA (07/07/83)
I don't agree with your plot analysis of "A Case of Conscience". You claim that Ruiz-Sanchez decides that the Lithians are in a "state of sin" because they have "no sense of good or evil". This isn't quite the case. Ruiz-Sanchez' reasons are much more complex. One of his reasons is that they live a perfectly moral life by force of reason. But nothing so simplistic as a lack of the sense of good and evil. He is a Jesuit after all. He concludes that the Lithians are not "in a state of sin" but rather CREATIONS of the devil. This is rank heresy (the heresy of Manichaenism). What he does about it and what happens makes for a truly interesting and thought provoking story on the nature of faith and reality. -- Charles PS. His Black Easter is pretty scary too. Can anyone tell me where I can find "Dr. Mirabilis"?