In the final installment of Peter Robinson’s interview with David Berlinski for National Review Online TV, Robinson asks Berlinski to react to a comment by Sidney Hook. Someone had asked Hook what he’ll say if, when he dies, he finds that counter to his belief when still alive, there’s a God after all waiting to greet him. Why had he not recognized God’s existence before? Hook answered, “I’d tell God that he had provided insufficient evidence.”
Recalling his fond memories of Hook, Berlinski’s reply is profound.
There is a point of presumption in that argument, that Bertrand Russell also used. The point of presumption is that human beings constructed as human beings are constructed could so interact with God as to be persuaded by the countenance of the deity when they were left unpersuaded by the evidence of his handiwork. That’s a remarkable presumption. Much more reasonable it seems to me is those who cannot see the handiwork will not be able to see the countenance either. There’s a limitation, a kind of aspect blindness at work. Not everyone appreciates Mozart. That’s just a fact.
Watch the rest here.