PREFACE
In the Fall of 1991 students enrolled in Introduction to Philosophy classes at Mount San Antonio College conducted interviews with some of the most prominent philosophers in California. Ten questions were asked of each philosopher, including queries about the existence of God, life after death, and the interface between human and artificial intelligence. The interviews ranged from personal one on one conversations, to telephone interviews, to mailed written responses. There were originally over fifty interviews that were transcribed. >From these the editors selected between twenty and thirty of the most representative and insightful responses. Moreover, it was not required that each question be answered; thus, some philosophers chose to respond to only a few of the posed questions. The overall result is a fascinating study of the rarefied world of professional philosophy which provides a glimpse into how philosophers deal with questions that have held a perennial interest to humankind, regardless of time and place. What is perhaps most revealing in this study is how often philosophers from different research backgrounds agree, especially when dealing with questions concerning the existence of a Supreme Being or the possibility of life after death. Although the philosophers represented in this book reflect a wide variety of interests (a significant number, for instance, were chairpersons of their respective departments), it should be noted that this selection is a small one and not necessarily indicative of the majority of professional philosophers in California.