Chapters 4-5, The Great Rejectionist, Finite or Infinite?, Interlude, Night Thoughts at the Café de Flore Summary and Analysis

Holt opens Chapter 4 by reporting that a world famous philosopher of science, Adolf Grunbaum, sent him a letter, claiming that "there is no mystery of existence." Holt did not realize that Grunbaum was deeply hostile to religious belief and thought Holt's question was a false problem. In response to Grunbaum's letter, Holt traveled to Pittsburgh to chat with him. Grunbaum had acquired his disenchantment with religious at a young age. Partly as a result, he finds the existence of the world unastonishing. Assuming otherwise implies that the world needs an explanation, but only religious reasoning could lead one to assume that it did. When Holt presses Grunbaum that nothingness seems the...