Over the last year or more I have scrupulously avoided any interaction with the work of John Loftus. But I can’t help myself. When I saw the following blurb for his forthcoming book Unapologetic which comes from Peter Boghossian, I was unable to restrain myself from writing a brief rejoinder. First off, here’s the blurb:
Unapologetic offers the Philosophy of Religion the swift, ugly end it has long deserved. This single book will cause the death of a discipline.
I’m not going to invest much effort in responding to this blurb. Instead, I’ll restrain myself to explaining how patently silly it is, and how that silliness reflects on the dogmatic irrationality of Boghossian and Loftus.
Imagine some fool writing a book calling for the end of ethics or the philosophy of language. If you look long enough, you could find somebody willing to write that his manifesto had ensured the death of ethics or the philosophy of language. As a result, the author would be gratified by the blurb, and the blurber would be gratified by the opportunity to blurb.
Meanwhile, ethics or philosophy of language would continue as it always has and always will.
So in defiance of Boghossian’s earthshaking blurb, I’m betting that philosophy of religion will manage to survive the publication of Loftus’ latest volume.
