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Quotes from Darwin's Dangerous Idea — Daniel Dennett

1942–2024 United States

← All quotes by Daniel Dennett

7 quotes

If Nietzsche is the father of existentialism, then perhaps Darwin deserves the title of grandfather.

Darwin's Dangerous Idea (1995)

A prosthetically enhanced imagination is still liable to failure, especially if it is not used with sufficient rigor.

Darwin's Dangerous Idea (1995)

[T]he only meaning of life worth caring about is one that can withstand our best efforts to examine it.

Darwin's Dangerous Idea (1995)

Experience teaches...that there is no such thing as a thought experiment so clearly presented that no philosopher can misinterpret it...

Darwin's Dangerous Idea (1995)

It is not "scientism" to concede the objectivity and precision of good science, any more than it is history worship to concede that Napoleon did once rule in France and the Holocaust actually happened. Those who fear the facts will forever try to discredit the fact-finders.

Darwin's Dangerous Idea (1995)

Friedrich Nietzsche saw—through the mists of his contempt for all things English—an even more cosmic message in Darwin: God is dead. If Nietzsche is the father of existentialism, then perhaps Darwin deserves the title of grandfather.

Darwin's Dangerous Idea (1995)

When comparing the time scales of genetic and cultural evolution, it is useful to bear in mind that we today — every one of us — can easily understand many ideas that were simply unthinkable by the geniuses in our grandparents' generation!

Darwin's Dangerous Idea (1995)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Daniel Dennett (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.