Tyler van Opstal "Scholarly Squabbles"

     One of the most entertaining inclusions in C.S. Lewis' On Stories is "A Reply to Professor Haldane" (1946), a reply to a scathing article attacking Lewis' Space Trilogy by J. B. S. Haldane, a man Walter Hooper describes as "a theoretical biologist, disillusioned Marxist, and violently anti-Christian" in his introduction to On Stories. Hooper considered it unnecessary to include Haldane's article in the essay collection, but Lewis samples enough of it in the eighteen pages that his reply stretches over to make Hooper's decision likely justified. 

    Lewis, though he characterizes much of his reply as "removal of mere misunderstandings" must have been reasonably aggravated by Haldane to spend as much effort on his rebuttal as he did. His annoyance is fairly understandable though when Haldane supposedly said Lewis' characters "were like slugs in an experimental cage who get a cabbage if they turn right and an electrical shock if they turn left." According to Lewis, Haldane produced three primary charges against Lewis- that his science is wrong (Lewis agrees with this, but points out Haldane uses faulty history in his complaining article and only one of them supposedly was writing non-fiction), that the Space Trilogy is attacking towards scientists (Lewis explains at length why Haldane has entirely missed the point, questioning how much reading of the trilogy Haldane actually undertook) and finally that the trilogy attacks scientific planning, with Lewis reporting Haldane concluded "Mr. Lewis's idea is clear enough. The application of science to human affairs can only lead to hell."

    Having read the Space Trilogy myself, I wondered upon reading this whether Haldane and I read the same book, or if Haldane may have read it while drunk. Lewis' own defense to this accusation is that the idea is actually "any effective invitation to Hell will certainly appear in the guise of scientific planning." I can certainly agree with Lewis here, and I wonder what he might have made of Chat GPT and similar generative machines.

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