Question of Belief

John O''Loughlin''s third volume of philosophy, dating from 1978, is comprised of four lengthy philosophical dialogues which debate subjects as varied as books and book collecting, war and peace, astrology, and the necessity – if one is to be fair to the past – of keeping things in historical perspective rather than imposing contemporary criteria upon them. Unlike his earlier one-act plays (see ''A Magnanimous Offer''), these dialogues are intended primarily to instruct and even to enlighten rather than simply to entertain, and tend to be conversationally one-sided, as befitting their didactic intent, with a kind of teacher/pupil relationship which is, nonetheless, fairly flexible.