danger of extinction or not, this is a question for demographers. In France, there are two kinds of them. The pessimists say: "if we go on like that, mankind will disappear in the 24th Century." And the optimists say: "Nonsense, in the 25th Century only!" My own question as a philosopher is rather: "Do we possess reasons for us to bring children into the world?" I despise people who tell us: "Come on, there is a survival instinct that will take care of that..." An irrational instinct should decide on the survival of the rational animal! This is high treason against the project of the Enlightenment, and even of philosophy at large. As a philosopher, I need grounds and I am looking for them... Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Given the diversity of branches in each religion, should we continue to speak of each one in the singular, or would it be more appropriate to use the plural? Yes and no. It is always an easy cop-out to utter gravely, when asked about X: "There is no X, there are Xs." This works in any case, there is always a grain of truth in that, so that you are sure to sound clever. But how is it that the language has kept the word X? The diversity of affiliations, of mores, etc. in each religion is well-known. Yet, a Christian is a person who acknowledges that God's revelation came to a head in Jesus. This is the rock-bottom price, even if