Breaking the Spell Religion as a Natural Phenomenon

by Dennett, Daniel C.

• ISBN13: 9780143038337
• ISBN10: 0143038338
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-02-06
• Publisher: Penguin Books

Summary

Religion has elicited the best and worst in the human character, from selflessness to fanaticism. But until now few books have tried to investigate it in a scientific manner. Breaking the Spell is the daring and-inevitably-controversial exception. Ranging through biology, history, and psychology, Daniel C. Dennett asks: Is religion a product of blind evolutionary instinct or rational choice? Is it truly the best way to live a moral life? Is religion good for you? Not an antireligious screed but an unblinking look beneath the veil of orthodoxy, the result is essential reading for believers and skeptics alike. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Daniel C. Dennett is University Professor, professor of philosophy, and co-director of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University. His books include Consciousness Explained and Darwin-'s Dangerous Idea, a finalist for the National Book Award.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xiii
Opening Pandora's Box
Breaking Which Spell?	p. 3
What's going on?	p. 3
A working definition of religion	p. 7
To break or not to break	p. 12
Peering into the abyss	p. 17
Religion as a natural phenomenon	p. 24
Some Questions About Science	p. 29
Can science study religion?	p. 29
Should science study religion?	p. 34
Might music be bad for you?	p. 40
Would neglect be more benign?	p. 44
Why Good Things Happen	p. 54
Bringing out the best	p. 54
Cui bono?	p. 56
Asking what pays for religion	p. 69
A Martian's list of theories	p. 74
The Evolution of Religion
The Roots of Religion	p. 97
The births of religions	p. 97
The raw materials of religion	p. 104
How Nature deals with the problem of other minds	p. 108
Religion, the Early Days	p. 116
Too many agents: competition for rehearsal space	p. 116
Gods as interested parties	p. 125
Getting the gods to speak to us	p. 132
Shamans as hypnotists	p. 135
Memory-engineering devices in oral cultures	p. 141
The Evolution of Stewardship	p. 153
The music of religion	p. 153
Folk religion as practical know-how	p. 156
Creeping reflection and the birth of secrecy in religion	p. 162
The domestication of religions	p. 167
The Invention of Team Spirit	p. 175
A path paved with good intentions	p. 175
The ant colony and the corporation	p. 179
The growth market in religion	p. 189
A God you can talk to	p. 193
Belief in Belief	p. 200
You better believe it	p. 200
God as intentional object	p. 210
The division of doxastic labor	p. 217
The lowest common denominator?	p. 222
Beliefs designed to be professed	p. 226
Lessons from Lebanon: the strange cases of the Druze and Kim Philby	p. 234
Does God exist?	p. 240
Religion Today
Toward a Buyer's Guide to Religions	p. 249
For the love of God	p. 249
The academic smoke screen	p. 258
Why does it matter what you believe?	p. 264
What can your religion do for you?	p. 270
Morality and Religion	p. 278
Does religion make us moral?	p. 278
Is religion what gives meaning to your life?	p. 286
What can we say about sacred values?	p. 292
Bless my soul: spirituality and selfishness	p. 302
Now What Do We Do?	p. 308
Just a theory	p. 308
Some avenues to explore: how can we home in on religious conviction?	p. 314
What shall we tell the children?	p. 321
Toxic memes	p. 328
Patience and politics	p. 334
Appendixes
The New Replicators	p. 341
Some More Questions About Science	p. 359
The Bellboy and the Lady Named Tuck	p. 379
Kim Philby as a Real Case of Indeterminacy of Radical Interpretation	p. 387
Notes	p. 391
Bibliography	p. 413
Index	p. 427
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