Quotessence
Home / Authors / Daniel Dennett
Daniel Dennett

Daniel Dennett Quotes

Philosopher

Filter quotes by topic

AllIfsPeopleReligionWayThinkingHumansWorldAtheismBelieveMindHas BeensKnowsMatterConsciousnessEvolutionReasonSpeciesCausesIdeasReligious

Famous Daniel Dennett Quotes

“The traditional view of purpose says it comes from on high, from God, from the Creator. Darwin's idea of natural selection makes people uncomfortable because it reverses the direction of tradition. Whereas people used to think of meaning coming from on high and being ordained from the top down, now we have Darwin saying, "No, all of this design can happen, all of this purpose can emerge from the bottom up without any direction at all."”

PeopleThinkingIdeasHappensUsedPurposeNaturalViewsDesignTraditionBottomCreatorTraditionalUncomfortableReverseSelectionSaying NoNatural SelectionThink Of MeTop Down
Author:Daniel Dennett
Create image

“For more than a century, people have often thought that the conclusion to draw from Darwin's vision is that Homo sapiens, our species - and we're just animals too, we're just mammals - that there is nothing morally special about us. I myself don't think this follows at all from Darwin's vision, but it is certainly the received view in many quarters.”

PeopleThinkingAnimalViewsVisionSpecialCenturyDrawsSpeciesConclusionQuartersHomo SapiensMammals
Author:Daniel Dennett
Create image

“I think that there are no forces on this planet more dangerous to us all than the fanaticisms of fundamentalism, of all the species: Protestantism, Catholicism, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, as well as countless smaller infections. Is there a conflict between science and religion here? There most certainly is.”

ThinkingWellsReligionForceDangerousPlanetsBuddhismConflictSpeciesIslamCatholicismHinduismFundamentalismJudaismScience And ReligionFanaticismInfectionProtestantismHinduism And Buddhism
Book:Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meaning of Life
Create image

“Cults and prophets proclaiming the imminent end of the world have been with us for several millennia, and it has been another sour sort of fun to ridicule them the morning after, when they discover that their calculations were a little off. But, just as with Marxists, there are some among them who are working hard to "hasten the inevitable," not merely anticipating the End Days with joy in their hearts, but taking political action to bring about the conditions they think are the prerequisites for that occasion.”

ThinkingWorldHeartLittlesHas BeensEndsHardActionPoliticalJoyFunMorningAtheismConditionsOccasionsInevitableProphetCultRidiculeEnd Of The WorldCalculationsSourMarxistPrerequisitesProclaimingPolitical ActionMorning After
Book:Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon
Create image

“If the history of resistance to Darwinian thinking is a good measure, we can expect that long into the future, long after every triumph of human thought has been matched or surpassed by 'mere machines,' there will still be thinkers who insist that the human mind works in mysterious ways that no science can comprehend.”

IfsThinkingWayMindHumansLongHas BeensStillsMachinesMereResistanceMysteriousTriumphHuman MindThinkerMatchedHuman ThoughtMysterious Ways
Author:Daniel Dennett
Create image