Author Andrew Pessin examines philosophers' takes on The Divine

Have you ever wished all the great thinkers of history were assembled in the same pub when a few of the regulars, tired of debating Red Sox-Yankees, turned the general conversation to the existence of God?

"I'm not sure about that argument, ol' buddy," one says. "Hell, let's just ask Descartes or Boethius. That's them sitting over there with Wittgenstein and St. Augustine and that pitcher of Pabst."

Andrew Pessin, chairman of the department of philosophy at Connecticut College in New London, has metaphorically done that in his latest book, "The God Question - What Famous Thinkers From Plato to Dawkins Have Said About the Divine." Designed for quick digestion by the layperson, it provides a witty, concise compendium that pares the essential "supreme being - yea or nay" arguments into 90 two- or three-page chapters, each devoted to a specific thinker.

Pessin will discuss and sign copies of "The God Question" Monday at the Groton Public Library as part of the library's sixth annual Local Authors' Night. He will also appear at the New London Public Library on Dec. 1.

With an undergraduate degree from Yale and a master's and Ph.D. from Columbia, as well as having written earlier books like "The 60-second Philosopher - Expand Your Mind on a Minute or So a Day!," Pessin acknowledges that his own views on religion and God were fairly well formed by the time he started work on "The God Question." But the process of distilling such a comprehensive overview of meditations on the divine did provide Pessin with some illuminating moments.

"It was actually hard to type 'The End' because you realize this is a discussion that will never end," Pessin says. "There was also one important change in general as to how I thought about all this. I've come to recognize and appreciate that the concept of God is a lot more subtle and interesting and profound than you'd maybe find with fervent believers. I hope in reading the book one's mind is going to be expanded in surprising ways. There are some very surprising and profound thoughts, some very complex ideas, and it was deep and rewarding to think about all of it."

As for Pessin, his own intellectual explorations on the topic over the years resulted in two surprisingly at-odds philosophers impressing him mightily: Thomas Aquinas and Friedrich Nietzsche.

"Aquinas is probably the greatest of the Western philosphers in matters religious," Pessin says. "He's incredibly careful and logical and determined to be rational in terms of God. To have his abilities and way of reasoning - that's who I'd like to be. He says that reason can't take you all the way to a full comprehension of God, but for him that's not a reason to not be a philosopher."

As for Nietzsche, Pessin says, "He could not be more different. He was certifiably insane and by the end of his life was literally drooling in a straitjacket. But what he wrote before that is the most profoundly insightful and incredibly original stuff. He wrote that religion is not just nonsense but incredibly dangerous nonsense. You will not find a better writer than Nietzsche as a literary figure or a more insightful thinker."

Despite universal acknowledgment that the subjects in Pessin's book are "great thinkers," he says that doesn't mean some of their opinions on God aren't pretty strange. Pessin says Liebnitz, for example, presents the idea that we live in the best possible world that could be created - a fairly remarkable assertion given the amount of tragedy and sorrow that occurs on a daily basis.

And what about Berekely? Pessin says, "He argues the view that there's no physical world - only minds and perceptions. You can look and see and smell, but there's no actual physical body. The weird thing is that Berekely has a lot of interesting arguments to support that, and that the only way to make sense of it is to accept that God exists. If there's no claim of a physical world, there must be a god - and when you study this, it's surprisingly rational."

Pessin says the idea of the book was to provide the curious with an accessible source for basic ideas that would ideally push the reader to further inquiry. But it also serves as a representative introduction that stands alone.

"These are changing and fast times," Pessin says. "We all have short bursts of time and energy to expend on a project."

He laughs.

"Hey, I'm a professional philosopher and I can't go 10 minutes without checking my e-mail!"