Daniel Dennett

AI makes philosophy honest

— Daniel Dennett

The earth has grown a nervous system, and it's us.

— Daniel Dennett

What you can imagine depends on what you know.

— Daniel Dennett

There are no good reasons to believe in god.

— Daniel Dennett

The mind is the effect, not the cause.

— Daniel Dennett

There’s simply no polite way to tell people they’ve dedicated their lives to an illusion.

— Daniel Dennett

...but I also can't prove that mushrooms could not be intergalactic spaceships spying on us.

— Daniel Dennett

“There's nothing I like less than bad arguments for a view I hold dear.”

— Daniel Dennett

Human consciousness is just about the last surviving mystery.

— Daniel Dennett

The way evolution always discovers reasons is by retroactive endorsement.

— Daniel Dennett

I am a philosopher, not a scientist, and we philosophers are better at questions than answers.

— Daniel Dennett

The chief trick to making good mistakes is not to hide them-especially not from yourself.

— Daniel Dennett

Reasons for declaring belief is not are not the same as reasons for believing in god.

— Daniel Dennett

In the long run I certainly hope information is the cure for fanaticism, but I am afraid information is more the cause…

— Daniel Dennett

There is no such thing as philosophy-free science, just science that has been conducted without any consideration of its underlying philosophical assumptions.

— Daniel Dennett

I look around the world and see so many wonderful things that I love and enjoy and benefit from, whether it's art…

— Daniel Dennett

The idea that God is a worthy recipient of our gratitude for the blessings of life but should not be held accountable…

— Daniel Dennett

Natural selection is not gene centrist and nor is biology all about genes; our comprehending minds are a result of our fast…

— Daniel Dennett

I don't myself need that role for God. My view is that creation itself, the universe itself, is the most wonderful thing…

— Daniel Dennett

A child raised on a desert island, alone, without social interaction, without language, and thus lacking empathy, is still a sentient being.

— Daniel Dennett

The best thing about saying thank goodness in place of thank God this that here really are lots of ways of repaying…

— Daniel Dennett

Human consciousness is just about the last surviving mystery... a topic that often leaves even the most sophisticated thinkers tongue-tied and confused.…

— Daniel Dennett

Every living thing is, from the cosmic perspective, incredibly lucky simply to be alive. Most, 90 percent and more, of all the…

— Daniel Dennett

The kindly God who lovingly fashioned each and every one of us and sprinkled the sky with shining stars for our delight…

— Daniel Dennett

While we tend to conceive of the operations of the mind as unified and transparent, they're actually chaotic and opaque. There's no…

— Daniel Dennett

Moreover, the eye contains a big flaw: the retina is inside out. Why would an almighty designer do such a thing? No…

— Daniel Dennett

If the concept of consciousness were to fall to science, what would happen to our sense of moral agency and free will?…

— Daniel Dennett

Homunculi are bogeymen only if they duplicate entire the talents they are rung in to explain. If one can get a team…

— Daniel Dennett

Wherever there is a design that is highly successful in a broad range of similar environments, it is apt to emerge again…

— Daniel Dennett

After Darwin, God's role changes from being the designer of all creatures great and small to being the designer of the laws…

— Daniel Dennett

The traditional view of purpose says it comes from on high, from God, from the Creator. Darwin's idea of natural selection makes…

— Daniel Dennett

“These bizarre examples attempt to prove one conceptual point or another by deliberately reducing all but one underappreciated feature of some phenomenon…

— Daniel Dennett

“Looking on the bright side, let us remind ourselves of what has happened in the wake of earlier demystifications. We find no…

— Daniel Dennett

Let me lay my cards on the table. If I were to give an award for the single best idea anyone ever…

— Daniel Dennett

“Postmodernism, the school of "thought" that proclaimed "There are no truths, only interpretations" has largely played itself out in absurdity, but it…

— Daniel Dennett

I am confident that those who believe in belief are wrong. That is, we no more need to preserve the myth of…

— Daniel Dennett

Cults and prophets proclaiming the imminent end of the world have been with us for several millennia, and it has been another…

— Daniel Dennett

The only meaning of life worth caring about is one that can withstand our best efforts to examine it.

— Daniel Dennett

I think religion for many people is some sort of moral viagra.

— Daniel Dennett

Life itself is just a thin coat of paint on the planet, and we hold the paintbrush.

— Daniel Dennett