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Daniel Dennett Quotes

We have had plenty of atheist presidents; they just wouldn’t admit it Picture Quote #1

Words have a genealogy and it’s easier to trace the evolution of a single word than the evolution of a language Picture Quote #1

It is not so much that we, using our brains, spin our yarns, as that our brains, using yarns, spin us Picture Quote #1

In short, we need to recover the courage we celebrate in our heroes, and in particular, the courage to tolerate, for the sake of a free society, a level of risk we hardly ever imagined in the past Picture Quote #1

Now that mobile phones and the internet have altered the epistemic selective landscape in a revolutionary way, every religious organisation must scramble to evolve defences or become extinct Picture Quote #1

A child raised on a desert island, alone, without social interaction, without language, and thus lacking empathy, is still a sentient being Picture Quote #1

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Some cultural phenomena bear a striking resemblance to the cells of cell biology, actively preserving themselves in their social environments, finding the nutrients they need and fending off the causes of their dissolution Picture Quote #1

The juvenile sea squirt wanders through the sea searching for a suitable rock or hunk of coral to cling to and make its home for life. For this task, it has a rudimentary nervous system. When it finds its spot and takes root, it doesn’t need its brain anymore so it eats it! Picture Quote #1

If you can approach the world’s complexities, both its glories and its horrors, with an attitude of humble curiosity, acknowledging that however deeply you have seen, you have only scratched the surface, you will find worlds within worlds, beauties you could not heretofore imagine, and your own mundane preoccupations will shrink to proper size, not all that important in the greater scheme of things Picture Quote #1

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 Picture Quote #1

It’s this expandable capacity to represent reasons that we have that gives us a soul. But what’s it made of? It’s made of neurons. It’s made of lots of tiny robots. And we can actually explain the structure and operation of that kind of soul, whereas an eternal, immortal, immaterial soul is just a metaphysical rug under which you sweep your embarrassment for not having any explanation Picture Quote #1

If the concept of consciousness were to fall to science, what would happen to our sense of moral agency and free will? If conscious experience were reduced somehow to mere matter in motion, what would happen to our appreciation of love and pain and dreams and joy? If conscious human beings were just animated material objects, how could anything we do to them be right or wrong? Picture Quote #1

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A prosthetically enhanced imagination is still liable to failure, especially if it is not used with sufficient rigor Picture Quote #1

Experience teaches... That there is no such thing as a thought experiment so clearly presented that no philosopher can misinterpret it Picture Quote #1

A philosopher is someone who says, we know it’s possible in practice; we’re trying to work out if it’s possible in principle! Picture Quote #1

In the beginning, there were no reasons; there were only causes. Nothing had a purpose, nothing has so much as a function; there was no teleology in the world at all Picture Quote #1

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 Picture Quote #1

The secret of happiness is: Find something more important than you are and dedicate your life to it Picture Quote #1

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Natural selection is not gene centrist and nor is biology all about genes; our comprehending minds are a result of our fast evolving culture Picture Quote #1

The only meaning of life worth caring about is one that can withstand our best efforts to examine it Picture Quote #1

Not a single one of the cells that compose you knows who you are, or cares Picture Quote #1

The problem is that no ethical system has ever achieved consensus. Ethical systems are completely unlike mathematics or science. This is a source of concern Picture Quote #1

Darwin’s idea of natural selection makes people uncomfortable because it reverses the direction of tradition Picture Quote #1

An inert historical fact is any fact about a perfectly ordinary arrangement of matter in the world at some point in the past that is no longer discernible, a fact that has left no footprints at all in the world today Picture Quote #1

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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 Picture Quote #1

The point of asking questions is to find true answers; the point of measuring is to measure accurately; the point of making maps is to find your way to your destination... In short, the goal of truth goes without saying, in every human culture Picture Quote #1

Thanks to technology, what almost anybody can do has been multiplied a thousandfold, and our moral understanding about what we ought to do hasn’t kept pace Picture Quote #1

How good are the best musical imaginations? Can a trained musician, swiftly reading a score, tell just how that voicing of dissonant oboes and flutes over the massed strings will sound? Picture Quote #1

I am inclined to think that nothing could matter more than what people love. At any rate, I can think of no value that I would place higher. I would not want to live in a world without love Picture Quote #1

Life itself is just a thin coat of paint on the planet, and we hold the paintbrush Picture Quote #1

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Friendship Quotes

Motivational Quotes

Inspirational Quotes

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Text Quotes

We have had plenty of atheist presidents; they just wouldn’t admit it (Daniel Dennett Quotes) Words have a genealogy and it’s easier to trace the evolution of a single word than the evolution of a language (Daniel Dennett Quotes) It is not so much that we, using our brains, spin our yarns, as that our brains, using yarns, spin us (Daniel Dennett Quotes) In short, we need to recover the courage we celebrate in our heroes, and in particular, the courage to tolerate, for the sake of a free society, a level of risk we hardly ever imagined in the past (Daniel Dennett Quotes) Now that mobile phones and the internet have altered the epistemic selective landscape in a revolutionary way, every religious organisation must scramble to evolve defences or become extinct (Daniel Dennett Quotes) A child raised on a desert island, alone, without social interaction, without language, and thus lacking empathy, is still a sentient being (Daniel Dennett Quotes) Some cultural phenomena bear a striking resemblance to the cells of cell biology, actively preserving themselves in their social environments, finding the nutrients they need and fending off the causes of their dissolution (Daniel Dennett Quotes) The juvenile sea squirt wanders through the sea searching for a suitable rock or hunk of coral to cling to and make its home for life. For this task, it has a rudimentary nervous system. When it finds its spot and takes root, it doesn’t need its brain anymore so it eats it! (Daniel Dennett Quotes) If you can approach the world’s complexities, both its glories and its horrors, with an attitude of humble curiosity, acknowledging that however deeply you have seen, you have only scratched the surface, you will find worlds within worlds, beauties you could not heretofore imagine, and your own mundane preoccupations will shrink to proper size, not all that important in the greater scheme of things (Daniel Dennett Quotes) 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 (Daniel Dennett Quotes) It’s this expandable capacity to represent reasons that we have that gives us a soul. But what’s it made of? It’s made of neurons. It’s made of lots of tiny robots. And we can actually explain the structure and operation of that kind of soul, whereas an eternal, immortal, immaterial soul is just a metaphysical rug under which you sweep your embarrassment for not having any explanation (Daniel Dennett Quotes) If the concept of consciousness were to fall to science, what would happen to our sense of moral agency and free will? If conscious experience were reduced somehow to mere matter in motion, what would happen to our appreciation of love and pain and dreams and joy? If conscious human beings were just animated material objects, how could anything we do to them be right or wrong? (Daniel Dennett Quotes) A prosthetically enhanced imagination is still liable to failure, especially if it is not used with sufficient rigor (Daniel Dennett Quotes) Experience teaches... That there is no such thing as a thought experiment so clearly presented that no philosopher can misinterpret it (Daniel Dennett Quotes) A philosopher is someone who says, we know it’s possible in practice; we’re trying to work out if it’s possible in principle! (Daniel Dennett Quotes) In the beginning, there were no reasons; there were only causes. Nothing had a purpose, nothing has so much as a function; there was no teleology in the world at all (Daniel Dennett Quotes) 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 (Daniel Dennett Quotes) The secret of happiness is: Find something more important than you are and dedicate your life to it (Daniel Dennett Quotes) Natural selection is not gene centrist and nor is biology all about genes; our comprehending minds are a result of our fast evolving culture (Daniel Dennett Quotes) The only meaning of life worth caring about is one that can withstand our best efforts to examine it (Daniel Dennett Quotes) Not a single one of the cells that compose you knows who you are, or cares (Daniel Dennett Quotes) The problem is that no ethical system has ever achieved consensus. Ethical systems are completely unlike mathematics or science. This is a source of concern (Daniel Dennett Quotes) Darwin’s idea of natural selection makes people uncomfortable because it reverses the direction of tradition (Daniel Dennett Quotes) An inert historical fact is any fact about a perfectly ordinary arrangement of matter in the world at some point in the past that is no longer discernible, a fact that has left no footprints at all in the world today (Daniel Dennett Quotes) 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 (Daniel Dennett Quotes) The point of asking questions is to find true answers; the point of measuring is to measure accurately; the point of making maps is to find your way to your destination... In short, the goal of truth goes without saying, in every human culture (Daniel Dennett Quotes) Thanks to technology, what almost anybody can do has been multiplied a thousandfold, and our moral understanding about what we ought to do hasn’t kept pace (Daniel Dennett Quotes) How good are the best musical imaginations? Can a trained musician, swiftly reading a score, tell just how that voicing of dissonant oboes and flutes over the massed strings will sound? (Daniel Dennett Quotes) I am inclined to think that nothing could matter more than what people love. At any rate, I can think of no value that I would place higher. I would not want to live in a world without love (Daniel Dennett Quotes) Life itself is just a thin coat of paint on the planet, and we hold the paintbrush (Daniel Dennett Quotes)

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