All Talked Out: Naturalism and the

Future of Philosophy J. D. Trout

Visit to download the full and correct content document:
https://ebookmass.com/product/all-talked-out-naturalism-and-the-future-of-philosophy
-j-d-trout/
More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant
download maybe you interests ...

The Oxford Annotated Mishnah Littauer Professor Of

Hebrew Literature And Philosophy Shaye J D Cohen

https://ebookmass.com/product/the-oxford-annotated-mishnah-
littauer-professor-of-hebrew-literature-and-philosophy-shaye-j-d-
cohen/

Fear of Missing Out Patrick J. Mcginnis

https://ebookmass.com/product/fear-of-missing-out-patrick-j-
mcginnis/

The Open Future: Why Future Contingents are All False

Patrick Todd

https://ebookmass.com/product/the-open-future-why-future-
contingents-are-all-false-patrick-todd/

The Philosophy of Quantitative Methods: Understanding

Statistics Brian D. Haig

https://ebookmass.com/product/the-philosophy-of-quantitative-
methods-understanding-statistics-brian-d-haig/
Method, Substance, and the Future of African Philosophy
1st Edition Edwin E. Etieyibo (Eds.)

https://ebookmass.com/product/method-substance-and-the-future-of-
african-philosophy-1st-edition-edwin-e-etieyibo-eds/

Evolving Tomorrow: Genetic Engineering and the

Evolutionary Future of the Anthropocene Prof Asher D.
Cutter

https://ebookmass.com/product/evolving-tomorrow-genetic-
engineering-and-the-evolutionary-future-of-the-anthropocene-prof-
asher-d-cutter/

The Rise and Fall of Animal Experimentation: Empathy,

Science, and the Future of Research Richard J. Miller

https://ebookmass.com/product/the-rise-and-fall-of-animal-
experimentation-empathy-science-and-the-future-of-research-
richard-j-miller/

Working from Within: The Nature and Development of

Quine’s Naturalism Sander Verhaegh

https://ebookmass.com/product/working-from-within-the-nature-and-
development-of-quines-naturalism-sander-verhaegh/

The future of intelligent transport systems 1. Edition

George J. Dimitrakopoulos

https://ebookmass.com/product/the-future-of-intelligent-
transport-systems-1-edition-george-j-dimitrakopoulos/
i

ALL TALKED OU T
ii

THE ROMANELL LECTURES

The Romanell-​Phi Beta Kappa Professorship, first awarded in 1983, was estab-
lished by an endowment from Patrick and Edna Romanell. Patrick Romanell, a
Phi Beta Kappa member from Brooklyn College, was H. Y. Benedict Professor
of Philosophy at the University of Texas, El Paso. The Phi Beta Kappa Society
administers the Professorship, which takes the form of three lectures given
each year by a distinguished philosopher, at his or her home institution, on a
topic important to an audience beyond professional philosophers. The intent of
this series is to publish the results of those lectures in affordable and accessible
editions.

Also published in the series

What Do Philosophers Do?
Skepticism and the Practice of Philosophy
Penelope Maddy

Tragic Failures
How and Why We Are Harmed by Toxic Chemicals
Carl F. Cranor
iii

ALL TALKED OU T

Naturalism and the Future of Philosophy

J.D. Trout

1
iv

1
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers
the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education
by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University
Press in the UK and certain other countries.

Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press

198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America.

© Oxford University Press 2018

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in

a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the
prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted
by law, by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction
rights organization. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the
above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the
address above.

You must not circulate this work in any other form

and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer.

CIP data is on file at the Library of Congress

ISBN 978–0–19–068680–2

1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed by Sheridan Books, Inc., United States of America
v

To Norma Brandt Reichling

for her magical presence
vi
vi

CONTENTS

Preface  xi

I. Introduction: The Shape of Evidence-​Based

Epistemology  1
1. Where We Are: An Overview  1
2. Naturalism as a Hypothesis  6
3. How Did We Get Here?  12
4. A Better Alternative: Strategic Reliabilism? 17
5. Ameliorative Psychology and Better
Reasoning  25
6. Conclusion  33

II. Good Reasoning and Evidence-​Based

Epistemology  37
1. The Limits of Reasoning  37
2. Standard Analytic Epistemology
and Professional Philosophy  41
vi

Contents

3. The Failure of Constructive Philosophy  46

4. The Department of Things I Find Really
Cool to Think About  51
5. Strategic Reliabilism: Philosophy as Coach  58
6. Conclusion  64

III. The Natural Limits of Explanation  67

1. Owning Up to Human Limitations  67
2. The Delicate Feeling of Explaining  72
3. Understanding and the “Aha!” Moment  85
4. The Romanticized View of Insight  87
5. Creepy Truths and Estrangement: Fluency,
Narrative Coherence, and Explanation  91
6. Conclusion  101

IV. Taking People as We Find Them: Philosophy

and Evidence-​Based Policy  102
1. Introduction  102
2. Do Inheritors Deserve Their Bequests?
Inheritance and the Luck Subsidy  106
3. The Science of Happiness and a Utilitarian
Argument for Redistribution  115
4. A Modest Proposal: Getting Rid of
the House Committee on Science,
Space, and Technology  123

viii
ix

Contents

5. Outside Strategies and the Dangers

of Complicated Rules: The Index
of Honesty  133
6. Conclusion  142

Notes  145
References  155
Index  163

ix
x
xi

PREFACE

The Romanell-Phi Beta Kappa Professorship has a special inter-

est in applied philosophy, to select scholars who have made a
“contribution to public understanding of philosophy.” I hope the
chapters that follow honor that charge. For me, that trust carries
both an obligation and a prohibition. The obligation is to make
approachable some current ideas in epistemology, in the philos-
ophy of science (on explanation), and in ethics and social and
political philosophy. The prohibition is on diving too deeply into
forbidding, arcane technical issues in a philosophical specializa-
tion. In order to honor this prohibition, I made judgments about
which narrowly philosophical disputes and issues could be safely
ignored, either because they have been adequately answered
even when journals have kept them alive, or because the distri-
bution of currently live topics in professional philosophy reflects
xi

P r e fa c e

undue comfort with an unpromising way of addressing intellec-

tual and practical problems. The obligation, on the other hand,
called on me to tie philosophical ideas to the topics of reasoning,
the explanatory limits and expanse of cognition, and public pol-
icy. The result, I hope, is a kind of “naturalism in action,” looking
to science for responsible ways to build out foundational (or as
some might say, “philosophical”) theories.
In professional philosophy, the naturalism of this approach
is a polarizing issue. While not making a centerpiece of the
metaphilosophical issues behind the controversies, I routinely
explain trenchant defense of First Philosophy in the same ways
that sociological or psychological scientists would—as an arti-
fact of institutional inertia, professional isolation, effort justifi-
cation, or the psychological rationalization that Upton Sinclair
ties to one’s paycheck.
There are many reasons that grim projections about the
future of philosophy are not most honestly discussed in the
orthodox organs of philosophy. If my occasional critical obser-
vations about professional philosophy seem delivered without
argument, it is often because I am not proposing to argue at
length about the intellectual credibility of professional philos-
ophy. Others have done that before me. Instead, I am impatient
to move on to positive theory-building in reasoning, explana-
tion, and public policy, using methods that are evidence-based.
My version of naturalism does not aim to debunk philoso-
phy, still less the humanities generally. My attachment to other
fields in the humanities has a long history. In addition to many
dissertation committees in philosophy, I have also served in
xii
xi

P r e fa c e

English and Theology. And though I am a philosopher of sci-

ence, I have sat most often on ethics dissertation committees.
The aim of my naturalism is similarly positive. My approach in
this book provides evidence of the power of science in philo-
sophical projects for philosophers genuinely open to it. Indeed,
in some quarters, disputes about naturalism have faded because
some strong version of the doctrine is taken for granted.
Organizations like Society for Philosophy and Psychology
(SPP) now provide a forum for philosophers interested in the
relevance of psychological work, and psychologists interested
in foundational/philosophical issues. SPP conferences teem
with graduate students and young faculty in psychology, philos-
ophy, and neuroscience, and the vibe is vital and enterprising.
But before the days of institutional and collegial support that
organizations like SPP offer, philosophers interested in psycho-
logical research had to depend on the kindness of strangers.
And, I received more than my share of that kindness.
In fact, my hope for a kind of practical naturalism in philos-
ophy comes in part from experiences I have had in psychology,
experiences that might hold out the same hope for others. For
example, when issues in my philosophy dissertation led to exper-
iments I hoped would build out psychological theories, I had
questions about the promise of various experimental avenues.
Familiar with the speech perception research of Robert Remez
and Philip Rubin, I simply contacted them to discuss some of
the more challenging theoretical issues in spoken language per-
ception. We were all going to an Acoustical Society conference
in Honolulu, and they happily offered to meet for lunch. At the
xiii
xvi

P r e fa c e

time, they didn’t know me from Adam. I was in a Philosophy

Department. They couldn’t possibly benefit by talking to a
young philosopher, I thought; they were already quite accom-
plished and respected. (Years later, Philip became President of
Haskins Labs in New Haven, CT, and then Assistant Director
for Science at the Office of Science and Technology Policy in
the Obama Administration.) With Philip, Robert Remez pio-
neered sinewave synthesis and advanced a durable and influ-
ential account of perceptual organization. Robert holds a Chair
in the Barnard/Columbia Psychology Department, and his
Speech Perception Lab at Barnard has been a training site for
more than a generation of students. But Robert has always been
interested in the deepest puzzles of psychological processing.
He graciously turned his attention to the topic in a theoretical
article we co-authored on reductionist research strategies in
speech perception.
It was my good luck to have run into such supportive and
genuine thinkers, motivated only by the joy of ideas. This is pre-
cisely the sort of kindness, patience, and intellectual curiosity I
found in exchanges with other psychologists—Roger Shepard,
Reid Hastie, Nick Epley, Adam Galinsky, Robyn Dawes, David
Pisoni—all of them very willing to talk, and all of them taking
foundational issues generally, and philosophy specifically, very
seriously.
Among Experimental Philosophers, the importance of com-
munity is not news. They have crafted a setting in which prog-
ress no longer depends on having a thick skin or being pushy.
Turf disputes will receive less focus when institutions make it
xiv
xv

P r e fa c e

even easier to collaborate (as SPP has). Institutional structures

can support those collaborative efforts. I benefited from one
such arrangement early on. When I arrived at the Sage School
of Philosophy at Cornell as a fresh, young, grad student, there
were no university-wide requirements for the PhD. That made
it much easier to pursue graduate coursework in different fields.
The philosophers I most wanted to study with—Richard Boyd,
Robert Stalnaker, and Sydney Shoemaker—all went along with
my plan to take lots of Psychology courses, in addition to the
Philosophy curriculum. The Psychology Department that year
housed as distinguished visitor Roger Shepard, the father of
work on the rotation of mental images. I took his graduate sem-
inar on mental representation, and was immediately struck by
how intently everyone listened to, and thought about, concep-
tual points that arose in class and in the readings. I encouraged
fellow philosophers to attend this class, and they found the same
thing. Those philosophy graduate students also found, to their
surprise, they were very good at organizing the concepts they
learned, and theorizing about causes in the field. (Perhaps they
should not have been surprised that, as philosophers, they were
very good at generating and evaluating the deductive conse-
quences of theoretical commitments.)
The psychology professors sitting in on the course would
hang out after class and talk, and psychology graduate students
invited us out for beer. Most striking was the respect they seemed
to have for deep, sustained, clear reflection on hard topics they
identified at the foundations of the discipline. To me, I was just
doing philosophy of mind and philosophy of science. As long
xv
xvi

P r e fa c e

as you knew enough about experimental design and statistics

so that the fluency of conversation wasn’t interrupted by uncer-
tainty about technical details, there was no limit to what you
could learn from graduate students and faculty in Psychology.
And there was no end to the appreciation they had for the con-
ceptual analysis of theoretical notions.
Frank Keil, known then for his research on conceptual
development in children, and now for a special focus on the psy-
chology of explanation, was tremendously busy. But he had a
key property as a potential committee member: He could not
say “no” to a graduate student interested in the field. So I took
his graduate course in Psycholinguistics, and another one on
Concepts and Categories. In the latter, we read Locke on con-
cepts, and on nominal essences, and he, too, ended up on my
dissertation committee.
Still other psychologists and linguists lent a hand in my
research, and their kindness, too, strained credulity. Arty Samuel
once indulged a long phone conversation with me on the inter-
pretation of Beta, a measure of response bias in psychophysics.
And though he gave no hint of it at the time, I later found out
that he was actually headed out the door for vacation. Bill Poser
(then a linguist at Stanford) had no idea why a philosophy grad-
uate student was calling him to talk about laboratory phonology,
but welcomed me into his Phonetics/Phonology lab at Stanford
to pursue an idea of my own for experiments that would later
turn into a paper in Language and Speech. And then, I had the
good fortune to work at the Parmly Hearing Institute housed
at Loyola University in Chicago. Until Loyola closed it down in
xvi
xvi

P r e fa c e

2010, Parmly was a model of basic research, and its faculty and
administration supplied me with stimulation and resources for
a more than a decade and a half. I remain indebted to Bill Yost,
Parmly’s Director, and indeed to everyone there.
Despite all of this help and enjoyment, there were many
times I found it almost too challenging to keep up in two fields,
maintaining a small lab in my office and publishing work in my
home field of philosophy. But the challenges never came from
colleagues in Psychology, whose labs and time and good will
(and often, financial support for research) were open to me
without question. Nor did they come from my well-meaning
philosophy colleagues, who always made space for ideas. By far,
it was the institutional isolation of philosophy from the sciences
that created the most important obstacles to research. I have
often wondered whether philosophers of literature or art iden-
tify the same kind of problematic institutional isolation from
departments of literature and art. At any rate, this isolation made
it chronically difficult to perform research that was at once foun-
dational and empirically well-informed. Separate departments,
separate hiring lines, separate funding sources, separate majors
and distinctive degrees. You could observe their activities from
a distance, but that organizational separation made it difficult for
idea-sharing to occur organically. And so, you establish reading
groups or research centers, in the hope that busy scholars with
disciplinary and departmental responsibilities will make yet
more room in their schedules for another activity. Even when
interdisciplinary centers provide a place for researchers from
different fields to share ideas, these centers are always struggling
xvii
xvi

P r e fa c e

against (institutionally conservative) strategies of departmental

preservation. Disciplines have their own cultural histories, and
culture is dynamic. A certain way of doing philosophy, or a pre-
occupation with a particular set of issues, shouldn’t dominate
simply because it has a long tradition and the loyalty of its adher-
ents. After all, so did lots of regrettable movements in history.
We should take this observation as an invitation to establish phi-
losophy’s intellectual and practical importance.
I have tried to honor the vision of the Romanell Award by
remaining true to its aim of intellectual public service. In keep-
ing with the public impulse of the Romanell Award, some of the
material in this book has appeared in popular venues. In particu-
lar, part of the House Science Committee discussion in Chapter
IV found its way into a Salon.com article. The public purpose of
applied philosophy has shaped this book in other ways as well.
For example, I have resisted the scholarly norm of elaborate cita-
tion. By reducing the clutter and abbreviating discussions of the
voluminous research in such areas as epistemology, I have tried
to honor the historical and contemporary lessons of that work.
I am grateful to practitioners in those fields for letting me get
on with the job of framing a view and defending it, even when
that means I cannot explore its many debts. But I have learned
the most about epistemology and naturalism from the work
of Hilary Kornblith, Stephen Stich, Paul Churchland, Philip
Kitcher, Dick Boyd, and Mike Bishop, and there are many others,
like Jonathan Weinberg and Ron Mallon, whose work I admire
and respect. And I continue to benefit from the philosophi-
cal insights of psychologists like Tania Lombrozo and Deena
xviii
xi

P r e fa c e

Skolnick Weisberg who, for sheer philosophical skill, could be

found in any top Philosophy Department. The same goes for
their more senior naturalistic colleagues, Lance Rips and Frank
Keil.
I want to thank the Phi Beta Kappa chapter at Loyola
University, then my home institution, for sponsoring
the Romanell Lectures in 2013, entitled “The Lessons of
Naturalism.” I also want to thank the audiences there, and my
colleague Robert Bucholz for the gracious introduction on that
occasion. My family attended that series of lectures, displaying
a level of attention to my career that I ordinarily discourage, but
it was much appreciated. I am lucky to have kind, bright and
accomplished friends, like Kathleen Adams, Mike Bishop, Joe
Mendola, David Reichling, and Peter Sanchez, who talk about
this material with me. Also lending a hand were Abram Capone,
Jay Carlson, Andy Kondrat, and Clinton Neptune.
J.D. Trout
Wilmette, IL

xix
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
The Project Gutenberg eBook of Firegod
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States
and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the
United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where
you are located before using this eBook.

Title: Firegod

Author: Algis Budrys

Release date: July 15, 2022 [eBook #68529]

Language: English

Original publication: United States: Space Publications, Inc, 1953

Credits: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed

Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FIREGOD ***

FIREGOD
 BY WILLIAM SCARFF

Some are born to greatness, others achieve

the rulership of systems—but Merssu
wanted to be a god. All he needed
was a million years and a little luck!

[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from

Rocket Stories, July 1953.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
"Your Majesty!"
D'hai Merssu, Emperor of All the Suns, Protector of the Galaxy,
looked up calmly as his prime minister burst into the room. His lean,
brooding face did not change expression as he watched the pale and
perspiring man cross the flagstoned floor with a sharp, nervous
patter of leather.
"Gently, Tors, gently," he said quietly, his eyes mocking under their
overhang of dark eyebrow. "You're Prime Minister now—remember
that. A prime minister doesn't come blundering into the palace
looking as though the sky was falling. It creates unrest in the
population. Try to remember that we're no longer a pair of obscure
rabblerousers, trying to overthrow the Crown. We are the Crown
now. Try to act like it."
"D'hai, the sky is falling!" Tors burst out unheedingly, "I have word
that the Earthmen are driving beyond the Rim and into the heart of
the Empire itself! Their ships are irresistible. They're winning battle
after battle! And the people are restless! They say it's time the False
Emperor's rule was overthrown. Some of the garrisons are rebelling!"
Still the Emperor's expression did not change. "So," he said calmly,
"the Earthmen were not bluffing when they said they'd maintain the
rights of the old Emperor."
"Yes! You said they wouldn't, D'hai. What are we going to do?"
"I was wrong, Tors," Merssu said evenly. "No matter. As for what we
are going to do, why, I suppose you'd better arrange for another
broadcast. Tell the people we have weapons ready if the situation
becomes serious, that they have nothing to fear."
"But the situation is serious! And what weapons?"
"No weapons, Tors," Merssu explained patiently. "But the story will
serve to keep the people calm—and, perhaps, make them think
twice about revolt. Now go. Hurry!"
The prime minister's feet pattered over the floor again. The door to
the room closed.
Merssu smiled quietly. He rose, and opened the concealed door
behind his chair. Closing it behind him, he slipped into a passage of
which no one knew, and ten minutes later he was in a private
tubeway that led half-way across the continent into the heart of an
old and barren mountain range.
As he sat comfortably in the padded upholstery of the tube car,
Merssu smiled again. Poor Tors! So excitable. Always the hysteric—
a perfect rabblerouser, perhaps, but not a clever man. No, never a
clever man. A clever man knew when the game was over. And
Merssu laughed.
The game had been worth it. Five years ago, he had been a
revolutionary, slinking through the alleys at night, always in danger—
and always clever. Four years of that, and then—Empire. Absolute
rule over the entire Greater Magellanic Cloud. Now he was once
again in danger. But it was a danger he had long ago foreseen, and
planned for. And the past year had been worth it. He laughed again.
Poor, addle-witted Tors! Left with the empty bag in his hands.

The spaceship rested like a crouching bullet in its chamber. As he

slid the tubeway door shut behind him, Merssu admired the savage
sleekness of its lines once again. Even more, he admired his
cleverness in having it built. A clever man always has a back door.
He crossed the hangar floor unhurriedly, and climbed into the ship.
The control room was small, but efficient. A hundred controls lay
closely around the padded chair, some of them for the standard
drive, others for the hyperspatial warp.
The hyperspatial warp! Merssu smiled. There was his escape—and
more. Here were the means for his future rulership over nothing so
small as the Cloud—here were entire galaxies waiting for his hand.
Hyperspace! There was something to make a man think! Another
universe, not beyond, but alongside his own, hidden in the complex
byways of Reimannian geometry and the mathematics of Einstein. A
universe where time itself ran slower, where a year of normal time
encompassed centuries. A ship could twist itself into that universe
and travel just below the speed of light, the limit which, in normal
space, was the barrier no ship could cross. But, in hyperspace, while
the same barrier existed, a man from normal space could travel for
centuries, covering great distances, while, for him, only a few months
passed.
Merssu chuckled. Behind him, stored in the great holds of the ship,
were working models of every machine and weapon the Cloud
civilization possessed. There were plans, manuals, instructions, all
translated into basic symbology that any intelligent being could
understand. Packed into this ship was an entire civilization, ready to
be brought to whatever people Merssu chose. He had only to enter
hyperspace and lose himself where no Earthman or rebel could
follow, and there he would find a primitive race, barely beginning to
rise out of the mud. He would bring them civilization. In return, he
would have—Godhood!
They would worship him, those primitive people. He would be
Merssu the Firegod, thundering out of the sky, bringing with him the
gift of civilization. And once the gift was given, he would climb back
into the sky on a pillar of fire, promising to return when his people
were ready.
He laughed aloud, the deep bass sound echoing through the control
chamber. Why not? He could fly back into space and spend a year,
waiting, while centuries passed on the primitive world. When he
returned, that world would be his, and soon afterward the entire
universe would bow before the name of Merssu, the immortal
Firegod, for there is no force so strong, no loyalty so great, as that of
men for their gods.
Still laughing, he blasted the ship out of its hangar into the darkness
of space, and a little later, into hyperspace, while the big blue ships
of Earth smashed his discarded Empire behind him.
In a month, he had found his planet, and his people. They were
almost human in appearance, but shorter. So much the better. He
was like them, but just different enough to be a god.
He brought his ship roaring down through the atmosphere, trailing a
streamer of flame. As he passed over the sea that covered most of
the world, the wash of his jets kicked the water into froth, and the
sound of his passage echoed through the sky.
The village rested on the shore of the sea. The mud huts trembled
as his ship sank down, resting on its jetstream until it settled slowly
to the ground.
Smiling faintly, Merssu put on his spacesuit, strapping his antigravity
harness on over it. He flew out of his upper airlock, carrying a gun in
his hand.
He hovered in the air above the village. He pointed the gun into the
air and fired. A cone of flame shot toward the sky. He pointed the
gun at the sea, and towering curtains of steam rose to hang over the
village.
Merssu descended, and found his people groveling in the mud.
Weeks passed. A stream of men carried the ship's cargo into a great
sprawling building that Merssu carved out of a stone cliff with a
subatomic cutter. The lintels of the building were sanctified with the
blood of virgins. A new class of people arose in the village—the
Priests of Merssu, the Firegod.
And as the ship rose up into space again, on its journey back into the
normal space where Merssu would wait his year and the centuries
would pass for his people, the priests chanted over their altars.
"He will return. Merssu goes to his kingdom in the sky, but he will
return, bearing flame in his hands. Merssu the Firegod—Merssu, the
immortal Bringer of Fire—will return."
And the centuries passed.
Merssu brought his ship out of the sky, tearing the air as he came,
the growl of his jets thundering over the mighty city on the sea. The
sound echoed back from the carved face of the Temple of Merssu,
and beat against the spreading buildings.
The ship settled to earth. Merssu strapped on his antigrav unit, and
flashed out into the air above the city. He fired his gun into the sea,
and the steam-curtain rose once more. He pointed the gun skyward,
and the heavens danced with flame.
A low, snarling car bearing the sign of Merssu's priesthood drove up
to him as he touched the ground. Two men got out and walked
toward him, one of them dressed in the somber black of the
priesthood. Merssu stood waiting, his eyes lighting with triumphant
fire.
"Who are you?" the priest asked.
Merssu stared, the pose broken. "Who am I? Kneel, fool! I am
Merssu, the Firegod."
The two men looked at him speechlessly for a moment, then burst
into laughter.
"Merssu!" The priest wiped his eyes. The other man's laughter trailed
into anger.
"Watch your tongue, blasphemer!" he said curtly, drawing a gun from
his holster.
"Merssu!" the priest repeated, "You're the fool, stranger. At least the
others who've tried to claim his godhood had the sense to disguise
themselves to resemble his pictures."
"Pictures change, rash priest!" Merssu thundered. "I am the Firegod!
Look on my power!" Once more he fired into the sea, and once more
the steam pillars rose. "I am the God of Fire. I fly in the hands of
flame. I walk on the air. I burn the land and the sea. I am Merssu!"
The priest's face lost its tolerant amusement. His mouth twisted in
scorn.
"Walk on the air, do you? In a Mark XI Antigrav belt, yes. Burn sea
and land, eh? With a sungun, certainly. Fly in hands of flame? If you
wish to be picturesque about it, yes—but so does every drunken fool
of a spaceman."
"I tell you, I am Merssu!" Merssu screamed. "Bow down and
worship!"
"Silence!" The priest's voice was dangerous, "You will come with us
to the temple. There you'll see how we worship imposters!"
"I'll kill you!" Merssu shouted, raising his gun.
The priest motioned with his hand. The man with him blew Merssu's
head off.
"Blasphemer!" the priest spat disdainfully, his voice filled with
disgust. He and his retainer turned back to the car, leaving the body
to be carted away later.

Every evening at sunset, the priests of Merssu stand over their altars
and intone the words.
"He will return. Merssu the Firegod—Merssu, the immortal Bringer of
Fire—will return."
And the people of Merssu's world intone in reply, "He will return."
Throughout the galaxies of hyperspace, wherever the men of
Merssu's world may wander, there are other priests, and other races
that respond, but the ritual is always the same.
"He will return."
And the city waits. The planet waits, and the other planets about the
other stars through all the galaxies of hyperspace wait.
They always will.
 *** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FIREGOD ***

Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will
be renamed.

Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S.

copyright law means that no one owns a United States copyright in
these works, so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it
in the United States without permission and without paying copyright
royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part of
this license, apply to copying and distributing Project Gutenberg™
electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ concept
and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and
may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following the
terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use of
the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for
copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very
easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as
creation of derivative works, reports, performances and research.
Project Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given
away—you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with
eBooks not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject
to the trademark license, especially commercial redistribution.

START: FULL LICENSE

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
 PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK

To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the free

distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work (or
any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project
Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full
Project Gutenberg™ License available with this file or online at
www.gutenberg.org/license.

Section 1. General Terms of Use and

Redistributing Project Gutenberg™
electronic works
1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg™
electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree
to and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or
destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in your
possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a
Project Gutenberg™ electronic work and you do not agree to be
bound by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from
the person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in
paragraph 1.E.8.

1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be

used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people
who agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a
few things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg™ electronic
works even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.
See paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with
Project Gutenberg™ electronic works if you follow the terms of this
agreement and help preserve free future access to Project
Gutenberg™ electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.
1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the
Foundation” or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the
collection of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. Nearly all the
individual works in the collection are in the public domain in the
United States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in
the United States and you are located in the United States, we do
not claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing,
performing, displaying or creating derivative works based on the
work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of
course, we hope that you will support the Project Gutenberg™
mission of promoting free access to electronic works by freely
sharing Project Gutenberg™ works in compliance with the terms of
this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg™ name
associated with the work. You can easily comply with the terms of
this agreement by keeping this work in the same format with its
attached full Project Gutenberg™ License when you share it without
charge with others.

1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also
govern what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most
countries are in a constant state of change. If you are outside the
United States, check the laws of your country in addition to the terms
of this agreement before downloading, copying, displaying,
performing, distributing or creating derivative works based on this
work or any other Project Gutenberg™ work. The Foundation makes
no representations concerning the copyright status of any work in
any country other than the United States.

1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:

1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other

immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg™ License must
appear prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg™
work (any work on which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or
with which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” is associated) is
accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, copied or distributed:
 This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United
States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away
or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License
included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you
are not located in the United States, you will have to check the
laws of the country where you are located before using this
eBook.

1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is derived

from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not contain a
notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the copyright
holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in the
United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are
redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase “Project
Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the work, you must
comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through
1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project
Gutenberg™ trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is posted

with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any
additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms
will be linked to the Project Gutenberg™ License for all works posted
with the permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of
this work.

1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project

Gutenberg™ License terms from this work, or any files containing a
part of this work or any other work associated with Project
Gutenberg™.

1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this

electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
Gutenberg™ License.
1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form,
including any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you
provide access to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg™ work
in a format other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in
the official version posted on the official Project Gutenberg™ website
(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense
to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means
of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original “Plain
Vanilla ASCII” or other form. Any alternate format must include the
full Project Gutenberg™ License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.

1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,

performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg™ works
unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing

access to or distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works
provided that:

• You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the
method you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The
fee is owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark,
but he has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to
the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty
payments must be paid within 60 days following each date on
which you prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your
periodic tax returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked
as such and sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation at the address specified in Section 4, “Information
about donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation.”

• You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who

notifies you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that
s/he does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg™
License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all
 copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and
discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of Project
Gutenberg™ works.

• You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of

any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in
the electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90
days of receipt of the work.

• You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works.

1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg™

electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of
the Project Gutenberg™ trademark. Contact the Foundation as set
forth in Section 3 below.

1.F.

1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend

considerable effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe
and proofread works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating
the Project Gutenberg™ collection. Despite these efforts, Project
Gutenberg™ electronic works, and the medium on which they may
be stored, may contain “Defects,” such as, but not limited to,
incomplete, inaccurate or corrupt data, transcription errors, a
copyright or other intellectual property infringement, a defective or
damaged disk or other medium, a computer virus, or computer
codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment.

1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except

for the “Right of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph
1.F.3, the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner
of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark, and any other party
distributing a Project Gutenberg™ electronic work under this
agreement, disclaim all liability to you for damages, costs and
expenses, including legal fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO
REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY, BREACH OF
WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE
FOUNDATION, THE TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY
DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE LIABLE
TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL,
PUNITIVE OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE
NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you

discover a defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it,
you can receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by
sending a written explanation to the person you received the work
from. If you received the work on a physical medium, you must
return the medium with your written explanation. The person or entity
that provided you with the defective work may elect to provide a
replacement copy in lieu of a refund. If you received the work
electronically, the person or entity providing it to you may choose to
give you a second opportunity to receive the work electronically in
lieu of a refund. If the second copy is also defective, you may
demand a refund in writing without further opportunities to fix the
problem.

1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth in
paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’, WITH NO
OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.

1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied

warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted
by the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any
provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.