Debates on the Meaning of Life, Evolution and Spiritualism

by Frank Harris

Does life have a meaning? Is evolution true? Do spirits exist? These are the issues argued in the three lively debates transcribed in this volume. The featured speakers include: Frank Harris, outspoken journalist, biographer, novelist, and playwright; rationalist Percy Ward; anti-evolutionist George McCready Price; Joseph McCabe, ex-priest and the world's greatest scholar; and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes and defender of spiritualism...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0879758287
• ISBN13: 9780879758288
• Release Date: November 1992
• Publisher: Prometheus Books
• Length: 168 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.4" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Intriguing debates from the early 20th century

When I first bought this book, I wasn't sure if it was a collection of articles that simply addressed contradictory point of views on the subjects listed on the cover, or actual transcriptions of debates that occured in the past. I was very pleased to learn that it was indeed transcriptions of live debates that occured in the early part of the 20th century. There are three debates in all:Has Life Any Meaning? - Between Frank Harris and Percy Ward, Sunday, April 11, 1920, Kimball Hall, ChicagoDebate on Spiritualism - Between Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Joseph McCabe, November, 1919, London, EnglandIs Evolution True? - Between George McCready Price and Joseph McCabe, Queen's Hall, Langham Place, London, SeptemberThough the publishers at a casual glance (of their published books) seem biased towards a particular atheistic/materialistic point of view, they none the less reproduced a fair example of high class debates between learned men of both pro and anti-views on these subjects. One particularly interesting aspect of this book was exactly what was used as evidence for both anti and pro views at that time. As an example, pro-evolutionist Joseph McCabe said the following:"Now I come to man. There is a general opinion that a vast gulf separates man from the ape. It did one hundred yeas ago. It certainly does not today... Now we have men of the Stone Age carrying us nearer to the ape; the Piltdown man, and one or two others, going as far again in the direction of the ape"Of course, as most people are aware, and as the publishers themselves noted, Piltdown man was a fraud and was uncovered as such in 1953. But being "undeniable" at the time, it was still a piece of evidence for Evolution. Being a collector of books on the subjects of the origin and divisification of life and the existence of the supernatural, I was very pleased with this book and the disputants themselves. While the evidences used are outdated, it has quite a bit of historical value, whether one is interested in the discussions or the men debating. I personally highly recommend it, and believe it would make a good addition to any personal book collection.