The Universe Next Door: A Basic Worldview Catalog

Rating:
Summary: Not quite impartial
Review: Sire seems to be a pretty bright guy, but his review of the various "worldviews" is quite obviously an attempt to convince you that "theism" (his term for a traditional Christian philosophy) is the only reasonable philosophy to practice. While his critiques of other philosophies are reasonably well-done and truthful, rather than explaining the breadth of a particular philosophy, his goal appears to be only to show its shortcomings. Then he tells you why "theism" is best. Over and over again. And, while he can't wait to tell you the various shortcomings of various philosophies, he treats "theism" as if has no contradictions and is the only possible philosophy that could be accepted by a rational person.

If you're looking to be convinced that the basic Christian view of the cosmos is superior to every other view, this is the book for you. If you're looking for an impartial summary of various world philosophies (which is how the book appeared to advertise itself), look elsewhere.

Note that this book is published by a division of the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, something I didn't notice until after I had already bought it.

Rating:
Summary: Profound. Simply profound.
Review: We all think. But how and why do we think the ways we do? The way we look at ourselves as beings, and how we come to acquire information about the world around us may be something few people ever think about. However upon examination of the worldview we possess, and those possessed by others, we come to a new and more objective appreciation of what it is to truly be human and aware. Sire examines the worldviews of Theism, Deism, Naturalism (and it's necessary extention - Nihilism), Existentialism, Eastern Monism, and PostModernism as well as others. Again, the analysis reveals something simply profound (dare I say life-changing) to those who seek a truly objective and realistic worldview. As a Christian, I was strengthened greatly. Not merely nominally in the conclusion Sire draws, but rather, in the new understanding of the ways and reasons others' think the way they do. Taken together with works such as Hugh Ross' "Creator and the Cosmos" or "The Fingerprint of God" which show modern cosmology to be truly in harmony with the Bible, this work by Sire presents compelling evidence for the Christian Theistic worldview and faith. One outstanding point in the work is Sire's logical analysis of Naturalism's "random chance" which is used to explain a great many things. As a tool for describing our lack of information about a system, it is proper to assign probabilities and a chance 'figure' to it. However, in the naturalistic worldview where there is no belief in a 'spirit' or that the universe may be re-ordered by God or man in that respect, determinism reigns, and there is no such thing as 'random' chance at all - only man's ignorance of deterministic cause. Profound.

Rating:
Summary: Note to self: Avoid Huston, TX
Review: Well, it looks like the Huston Idiot Society Newsletter put out a plea for all its narrow-minded rednecks to dis this book. Nice strategy "y'all". Note that almost all the other reviewers who gave the book low ratings (all but one I think) fall into two categories. 1. People that complained of bias and 2. People that are in love with Karl Barth (yuck!). The key to understanding this is...POSTMODERNISM POSTMODERNISM POSTMODERNISM. The first category of detractors don't appreciate it enough. Do they really think that unbiased philosophy is possible? (One actually said Sire should have hid his faith!) Look, everything is written from a perspective, from a point of view, so why not admit it and then go about saying what you have to say? That's what Sire does and he should not be faulted for doing so. The second category of detractors makes *too much* of postmodernism. The Calvinists (shudder) these days are head-over-heals in love with postmodernism because it validates there skeptical epistemology. Barth's famous tract _Nein!_ denied that humans can know anything substantive about God with human reason (hmm, did he use human reason to figure that out? Ohhh, that's right, he's got God's special grace for Calvinists only, I forgot (I wonder if Aristotle was a Calvinist then, because in book lambda of the Metaphysics he says God is one and infinite but triune, oh well)). It also allows them to watch movies and call it homework. The Universe Next Door is a great book, don't be fooled by nay-saying rednecks or Calvinists (hmm, which is worse?).