Daniel C. Dennett
13 quotes
Biography
Daniel Clement Dennett III was an American philosopher and cognitive scientist. His research centered on philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, and philosophy of biology, particularly as those fields relate to evolutionary biology and cognitive science.
"You don't get to advertise all the good that your religion does without first scrupulously subtracting all the harm it does and considering seriously the question of whether some other religion, or no religion at all, does better."
"Not a single one of the cells that compose you knows who you are, or cares."
"People are afraid of being more ignorant than their children―especially, apparantly, their daughters."
"To put it bluntly but fairly, anyone today who doubts that the variety of life on this planet was produced by a process of evolution is simply ignorant—inexcusably ignorant, in a world where three out of four people have learned to read and write."
"Problems in science are sometimes made easier by adding complications."
"Those who feel guilty contemplating "betraying"the tradition they love by acknowledging their disapproval of elements within it should reflect on the fact that the very tradition to which they are so loyal—the "eternal"tradition introduced to them in their youth—is in fact the evolved product of many adjustments firmly but delicately made by earlier lovers of the same tradition."
"Imagination is cheap as long as you don't have to worry about the details."
"Philosophers' Syndrome: mistaking a failure of the imagination for an insight into necessity."
"The secret of happiness: Find something more important than you are and dedicate your life to it."
"I agree with Abhijit Naskar that the path of tolerance is the only way—but it must be accompanied by continued pressure to break down barriers to access to information, so that our tolerance isn’t exploited to further the ends of totalitarian religious groups."
"Words are memes that can be pronounced."
"I listen to all these complaints about rudeness and intemperateness, and the opinion that I come to is that there is no polite way of asking somebody: have you considered the possibility that your entire life has been devoted to a delusion? But that’s a good question to ask. Of course we should ask that question and of course it’s going to offend people. Tough."
"In the long run I certainly hope information is the cure for fanaticism, but I am afraid information is more the cause than the cure."