Atheism and Theism JJ Haldane - Common Sense Atheism

248 J.J. Haldane
redeem innocent suffering. Should our yearnings be without the possibility of
completion then we are indeed without point or purpose; but should these
longings be purposeful in something close to the terms in which they represent
themselves, then we can hope to enter into the eternal company of
God. That is the prospect offered by the theism I have been concerned to argue
for, and it is, I believe, the best explanation of our heart’s desire and of the
possibility that evil is neither without point nor just response. 23
Notes
1 The first edition of Atheism and Theism is discussed in the following reviews
and publications: William Alston, The Philosophical Quarterly, 49 (1999) pp. 128–
30; James Baillie, Philosophical Books, 38 (1997) pp. 215–18; John Bishop, Sophia,
36 (1997) pp. 38–52; Timothy Chappell, Mind, 110 (2001) pp. 836–9; William
Lane Craig, Ratio, 11 (1998) pp. 200–5; Stefaan Cuypers, International Journal of
Philosophical Studies, 5 (1997) pp. 479–83; Brian Davies, The Tablet, 251 (1997)
p. 220; Steve Else, Reviews in Religion and Theology, 4 (1997) pp. 24–9; Peter
Forrest, Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 79 (2001) pp. 125–6; Robin Le Poidevin,
European Journal of Philosophy, 6 (1999) pp. 99–103; Michael Levine, Canadian
Journal of Philosophy, 29 (1999) pp. 157–70; Hugh McCann, Philosophical Review,
107 (1998) pp. 462–4; Robert McKim, Teaching Philosophy, 21 (1998) pp. 294–
301; Michael Martin, Religious Studies, 33 (1997) pp. 227–9; Hugo Meynell,
Heythrop Journal, 38 (1997) pp. 444–5; Reg Naulty, Australian National University
Reporter, 29 (1998) p. 5; Russell Pannier, Review of Metaphysics, 51 (1997)
pp. 446–8; Martin Perlmutter, Dialogue, 38 (1999) pp. 609–10; Alexander Pruss
and Richard Gale, Faith and Philosophy, 16 (1999) pp. 106–13; Hayden Ramsay,
New Blackfriars, 78 (1997) pp. 111–16; Tadeusz Szubka, Philosophy in Review,
17 (1997); Michael McGhee, Transformations of Mind (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2000) Ch. 10 ‘Theism, non-theism and Haldane’s Fork’; John
O’Callaghan, Thomistic Realism and the Linguistic Turn (Notre Dame: Notre
Dame University Press, 2002) Ch. X ‘Toward a More Perfect Form of Existence’;
and Mark Wynn, ‘Emergent Phenomena and Theistic Explanation’, International
Philosophical Quarterly, 39 (1999) pp. 144–55, and God and Goodness:
A Natural Theological Perspective (London: Routledge, 1999) Ch. 2 ‘The World
as a Source of Value’.
2 This theory originates in the period between the First and Second World
Wars in the work of Alexander Oparin, The Origin of Life on Earth (London:
Macmillan, 1938) and J.B.S. Haldane (‘The Origin of Life’, Rationalist Annual,
3 (1929) pp. 148–53; reprinted in J.B.S. Haldane, The Origin of Life and Other
Essays edited by John Maynard Smith (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985)).
In the 1950s Stanley Miller and others sought to reproduce the soup under
laboratory conditions and were successful in producing organic molecules –
ingredients of life, though not themselves examples of it (see Miller, ‘A Production