Hi Derek,

Can one dialogue with a corpse? I dialogue frequently with my father, who is no longer physically alive. Furthermore, I possess various kinds of knowledge that my father didn't possess. No doubt he possessed knowledge that I don't possess. Plus, he (like the Egyptians) believed some things that I find quite irrational and objectionable. He thought that he had experienced a revelation, one that I certainly have not experienced. _None_ of this prevents me from engaging in dialogue with him, precisely because I recognize his experience as comparable to mine in various important ways. I can project myself into his situation, as I'm now projecting myself into yours, in my effort to communicate, to have a dialogue, with you.

Thus it seems to me that if I'm not deluded in thinking that you and I can engage in dialogue, neither am I deluded in thinking that I can engage in dialogue with my father and with Egyptians and Aztecs. What is the difference in principle between these cases? Why should I suppose that I can understand where you're coming from, in a way that I can't understand where my father and the ancients are coming from?

Obviously the "dialogue" that I have with the dead differs in certain ways from the dialogue that I have with the living. But it doesn't face the insuperable obstacles that you continually conjure up. My dialogue with you could be cut off at any moment now, forever. Would it follow from that, that you and I could never hope to understand where the other person was coming from? I don't think so.

Best, Bob