Whately's Historic Doubts about Napoleon's Existence and the Preliminary Question

This book examines Richard Whately's classic book Historic Doubts Relative to Napoleon Buonaparte. After considering its textual development, the analysis focusses on Whately's idea of the ‘Preliminary Question’; the idea that in the debate about Jesus’s miracles there is a more basic question that has been overlooked and which invalidates the debate. It is asked whether the notion of a Preliminary Question might not illuminate other philosophical disputes. Finally, a variant of the Preliminary Question is proposed in which both positions in a dispute are shown to be true and this form of the question is invoked to shed light on the debate between metaphysical monists and dualists and to revisit the debate about miracles.

This book is essential reading for all scholars of the philosophy of religion and British 19th century philosophy. It is also of interest to scholars researching David Hume and Bertrand Russell.

David Berman is Fellow Emeritus of Philosophy at Trinity College Dublin. He has published more than 90 peer-reviewed articles and 6 scholarly books.