From Bacteria to Bach and Back

Religion ist, wie jedes andere menschliche oder nichtmenschliche Phänomen, den Naturgesetzen unterworfen und somit auch naturwissenschaftlich erforschbar. So lautet Daniel Dennetts provokante These. In seiner Untersuchung konzentriert er sich vor allem auf die Gründe und Bedingungen für die Entstehung der Religion, ihre verschiedenen Erscheinungsformen und Ausprägungen sowie auf die Mannigfaltigkeit ihrer Inhalte. Warum hat die menschliche Evolution ein so kostspieliges Phänomen hervorgebracht und am Leben gehalten? Wem nützt die Religion? Ist Religiosität genetisch bedingt oder sind es eher religiöse 'Meme', die sich erfolgreicher vermehrt haben als ihre Konkurrenten? Dennett möchte den Bann brechen, der für heilig gehaltene Phänomene häufig umgibt, und prüfen, ob die Religion einer wissenschaftlichen Analyse standhält. Nur dann kann sie ihm zufolge ihre Legitimität behaupten.

In the years since Daniel Dennett's influential Consciousness Explained was published in 1991, scientific research on consciousness has been a hotly contested battleground of rival theories—"so rambunctious," Dennett observes, "that several people are writing books just about the tumult." With Sweet Dreams, Dennett returns to the subject for "revision and renewal" of his theory of consciousness, taking into account major empirical advances in the field since 1991 as well as recent theoretical challenges.In Consciousness Explained, Dennett proposed to replace the ubiquitous but bankrupt Cartesian Theater model (which posits a privileged place in the brain where "it all comes together" for the magic show of consciousness) with the Multiple Drafts Model. Drawing on psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and artificial intelligence, he asserted that human consciousness is essentially the mental software that reorganizes the functional architecture of the brain. In Sweet Dreams, he recasts the Multiple Drafts Model as the "fame in the brain" model, as a background against which to examine the philosophical issues that "continue to bedevil the field."With his usual clarity and brio, Dennett enlivens his arguments with a variety of vivid examples. He isolates the "Zombic Hunch" that distorts much of the theorizing of both philosophers and scientists, and defends heterophenomenology, his "third-person" approach to the science of consciousness, against persistent misinterpretations and objections. The old challenge of Frank Jackson's thought experiment about Mary the color scientist is given a new rebuttal in the form of "RoboMary," while his discussion of a famous card trick, "The Tuned Deck," is designed to show that David Chalmers's Hard Problem is probably just a figment of theorists' misexploited imagination. In the final essay, the "intrinsic" nature of "qualia" is compared with the naively imagined "intrinsic value" of a dollar in "Consciousness—How Much is That in Real Money?"

Over a storied career, Daniel C. Dennett has engaged questions about science and the workings of the mind. His answers have combined rigorous argument with strong empirical grounding. And a lot of fun.Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking offers seventy-seven of Dennett's most successful "imagination-extenders and focus-holders" meant to guide you through some of life's most treacherous subject matter: evolution, meaning, mind, and free will. With patience and wit, Dennett deftly deploys his thinking tools to gain traction on these thorny issues while offering readers insight into how and why each tool was built.Alongside well-known favorites like Occam's Razor and reductio ad absurdum lie thrilling descriptions of Dennett's own creations: Trapped in the Robot Control Room, Beware of the Prime Mammal, and The Wandering Two-Bitser. Ranging across disciplines as diverse as psychology, biology, computer science, and physics, Dennett's tools embrace in equal measure light-heartedness and accessibility as they welcome uninitiated and seasoned readers alike. As always, his goal remains to teach you how to "think reliably and even gracefully about really hard questions."A sweeping work of intellectual seriousness that's also studded with impish delights, Intuition Pumps offers intrepid thinkers-in all walks of life-delicious opportunities to explore their pet ideas with new powers.

Daniel C. Dennett, preeminent philosopher and cognitive scientist, has spent his career considering the thorniest, most fundamental mysteries of the mind. Do we have free will? What is consciousness and how did it come about? What distinguishes human minds from the minds of animals? Dennett's answers have profoundly shaped our age of philosophical thought. In I've Been Thinking, he reflects on his amazing career and lifelong scientific fascinations.Dennett's relentless curiosity has taken him from a childhood in Beirut and the classrooms of Harvard, Oxford, and Tufts, to "Cognitive Cruises" on sailboats and the fields and orchards of Maine, and to laboratories and think tanks around the world. Along the way, I've Been Thinking provides a master class in the dominant themes of twentieth-century philosophy and cognitive science-including language, evolution, logic, religion, and AI-and reveals both the mistakes and breakthroughs that shaped Dennett's theories.Key to this journey are Dennett's interlocutors-Douglas Hofstadter, Marvin Minsky, Willard Van Orman Quine, Gilbert Ryle, Richard Rorty, Thomas Nagel, John Searle, Gerald Edelman, Stephen Jay Gould, Jerry Fodor, Rodney Brooks, and more-whose ideas, even when he disagreed with them, helped to form his convictions about the mind and consciousness. Studded with photographs and told with characteristic warmth, I've Been Thinking also instills the value of life beyond the university, one enriched by sculpture, music, farming, and deep connection to family.Dennett compels us to consider: What do I really think? And what if I'm wrong? This memoir by one of the greatest minds of our time will speak to anyone who seeks to balance a life of the mind with adventure and creativity.

Schillernd, enigmatisch, schwer zu fassen: Das Bewusstsein gilt als eines der großen Rätsel unserer Zeit, und es gibt viele, unter ihnen nicht wenige Philosophen, die behaupten, es sei unmöglich, es auf die gleiche Weise zu erforschen wie etwa den Stoffwechsel, die Kontinentaldrift oder die Schwerkraft. Dennett lässt die maßgeblichen Debatten um den Status des Bewusstseins Revue passieren, liefert raffinierte Dekonstruktionen einiger der berühmtesten philosophischen Gedankenexperimente zum Thema und entzaubert sie Stück für Stück als Resultat bornierten Festhaltens an realitätsfernen Intuitionen - an Träumen, die die Erforschung des Bewusstseins nicht befördern, sondern sie im Gegenteil behindern.

'A generous book written by a figure who has made a significant impact on philosophy ... Anyone interested in philosophy should read it' Nigel Warburton, Times Literary Supplement<BR><BR>'One of today's most readable, intellectually nimble and scientifically literate philosophers' Nature<BR><BR>'Who would have guessed that a philosopher's life could be so full of adventures?'<BR><BR>Daniel C. Dennett, philosopher and cognitive scientist, has spent his career considering consciousness. I've Been Thinking traces the development of Dennett's own intellect and instructs us how we too can become good thinkers.<BR><BR>Dennett's restless curiosity leads him from his childhood in Beirut to Harvard, and from Parisian jazz clubs to 'tillosophy' on his tractor in Maine. Along the way, he encounters and debates with a host of legendary thinkers, and reveals the breakthroughs and misjudgments that shaped his paradigm-shifting philosophies. Thinking, Dennett argues, is hard, and risky. In fact, all good philosophical thinking is inevitably accompanied by bafflement, frustration and self-doubt. It is only in getting it wrong that we, very occasionally, find a way to get it right.<BR><BR>This memoir by one of the greatest philosophers of our time will speak to anyone who seeks a life of the mind with adventure and creativity.

This groundbreaking exploration of evolutionary theory shows how natural selection, as a blind algorithmic process, reshapes our understanding of life, consciousness, morality, and culture—revealing why evolution remains the most powerful and controversial idea in science and philosophy.<BR><BR>In a book that is both groundbreaking and accessible, Daniel C. Dennett, whom Chet Raymo of The Boston Globe calls "one of the most provocative thinkers on the planet," focuses his unerringly logical mind on the theory of natural selection, showing how Darwin's great idea transforms and illuminates our traditional view of humanity's place in the universe. Dennett vividly describes the theory itself and then extends Darwin's vision with impeccable arguments to their often surprising conclusions, challenging the views of some of the most famous scientists of our day.

'Required reading for anyone remotely curious about how they came to be remotely curious' Observer<BR><BR>'Enthralling' Spectator <BR><BR>What is human consciousness and how is it possible? These questions fascinate thinking people from poets and painters to physicists, psychologists, and philosophers. <BR><BR>This is Daniel C. Dennett's brilliant answer, extending perspectives from his earlier work in surprising directions, exploring the deep interactions of evolution, brains and human culture. Part philosophical whodunnit, part bold scientific conjecture, this landmark work enlarges themes that have sustained Dennett's career at the forefront of philosophical thought. In his inimitable style, laced with wit and thought experiments, Dennett shows how culture enables reflection by installing a profusion of thinking tools, or memes, in our brains, and how language turbocharges this process. The result: a mind that can comprehend the questions it poses, has emerged from a process of cultural evolution. <BR><BR>An agenda-setting book for a new generation of philosophers and thinkers, From Bacteria to Bach and Back is essential for anyone who hopes to understand human creativity in all its applications.

In Breaking the Spell Daniel C. Dennett explores how the great ideas of religion have enthralled us for thousands of years - and whether we could (or should) break free. <BR><BR> What is religion and how did it evolve? Is it the product of blind evolutionary instinct or of rational choice? Is the only way to live a good life through religion?<BR><BR> Few forces in the world are as potent as religion: it comforts people in their suffering and inspires them to both magnificent and terrible deeds. In this provocative and timely book, Daniel C. Dennett seeks to uncover the origins of religion and discusses how and why different faiths have shaped so many lives, whether religion is an addiction or a genuine human need, and even whether it is good for our health. Arguing passionately for the need to understand this multifaceted phenomenon, Breaking the Spell offers a truly original - and comprehensive - explanation for faith.<BR><BR>> Observer<BR><BR>> New Statesman<BR><BR>> Telegraph<BR><BR>> Economist<BR><BR> Daniel Dennett is one of the most original and provocative thinkers in the world. A brilliant polemicist and philosopher, he is famous for challenging unexamined orthodoxies, and an outspoken supporter of the Brights movement. His books include Brainstorms, Brainchildren, Elbow Room, Consciousness Explained, Darwin's Dangerous Idea and Freedom Evolves.

Was ist der menschliche Geist und wie ist er überhaupt möglich? Daniel C. Dennett war einer der weltweit bedeutendsten Fürsprecher von Materialismus, Aufklärung und Wissenschaft in unserer Zeit. Mit diesem Buch hat er noch einmal einen Rundumschlag vorgelegt, eine Meistererzählung von den Ursprüngen des Lebens über die Geistesgrößen der Menschheit wie Johann Sebastian Bach, Marie Curie oder Pablo Picasso bis hin zur Künstlichen Intelligenz. Dennett zeigt, wie eine vollkommen geistlose genetische und kulturelle Evolution es geschafft hat, zunächst die Einzeller, dann Pflanzen und Tiere sowie schließlich den Geist, die Kultur und das Bewusstsein hervorzubringen. Er schießt dabei gewohnt scharf gegen Kreationisten, Antidarwinisten und alle anderen, denen ihr dogmatischer Schlummer wichtiger ist als die Wahrheit.