Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanins of Life

Front Cover
Simon and Schuster, Jun 12, 1996 - Philosophy - 586 pages
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.

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.
 

Contents

Preface
11
CHAPTER
17
CHAPTER
35
Natural Selection as an Algorithmic Process
48
CHAPTER THREE
61
The Principle of the Accumulation of Design
68
Whos Afraid of Reductionism?
80
CHAPTER FOUR
85
CHAPTER
262
CHAPTER ELEVEN
313
Teilhard Lamarck and Directed
320
MIND MEANING MATHEMATICS AND MORALITY
333
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
370
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
401
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
428
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
453

CHAPTER FIVE
104
The Complex Relation Between Genome and Organism
113
CHAPTER
124
Darwinian Thinking in BIOLOGY
147
CHAPTER EIGHT
187
CHAPTER NINE
229
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
494
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
511
Appendix
523
Index
551
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

About the author (1996)

Daniel C. Dennett is the author of Brainstorms, Elbow Room, and Consciousness Explained. He is currently the distinguished arts and sciences professor and director of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University. He lives in North Andover, Massachusetts, with his wife and has two children.