At the philosophy of religion blog Prosblogion, a scrupulously anonymous scribe shares his or her notes from the exchange between atheist Daniel Dennett and theist Alvin Plantinga at the recent American Philosophical Association meeting. The account begins with an explanation of why the author chooses to remain unnamed; despite speaking of a “current desecularization of philosophy,” he or she fears the professional repercussions of the bias evident in the comments.
I prefer to remain anonymous for various reasons, in particular because I am inclined towards Plantinga’s position over Dennett’s and were this to become well-known it could damage or destroy my career in analytic philosophy. This is something I prefer not to put my family through. I almost didn’t publish these comments at all, but as far as I could tell, this would be the only public record of the discussion.
The rest of the account is made up of minute-by-minute commentary. A sample:
2:47 pm – Don’t mix naturalistic metaphysics with science, says Plantinga. Naturalism is incompatible with theism by definition but not evolution.
2:48 pm – Plantinga makes witty joke. He and Dennett both have their own unique style of wit. They are hard to describe. Plantinga has the dry wit of a lighthearted grandfather. Dennett’s wit is more like that of someone aiming directly at communicating concepts in the most creative way he can. Plantinga seems more concerned with careful, methodical, clear philosophy, Dennett with exciting, compelling, shocking ideas. Perhaps this helps explain why they have the positions they do.
2:50 pm – Plantinga cites Dawkins as saying that Darwin made it possible to be an intellectually satisfied atheist. Dennett nods vigorously.
Read the full minutes at Prosblogion.