As a general principle of interpretation one should be hesitant to ascribe silly mistakes to clever thinkers, so if at first they seem to have made an elementary error one should look more closely.
(J. J. Haldane, "Atheism and Theism," chap. 2 in Atheism and Theism, 2d ed., by J. J. C. Smart and J. J. Haldane, Great Debates in Philosophy, ed. Ernest Sosa [Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2003], 76-150, at 120)
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 