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

Annotation

Nominated for the 1995 National Book Award for Non-Fiction, this masterly exploration reaffirms the validity of Darwin's theory of natural selection and brilliantly demonstrates its compatibility with free will, sacred beliefs, and the dignity of humankind.

Author Biography

Daniel Dennett is the author of "Brainstorms, Elbow Room, " Daniel Dennett is the author of "Brainstorms, Elbow Room, " and "Consciousness Explained." He is currently the Distinguiand "Consciousness Explained." He is currently the Distinguished Arts and Sciences Professor and Director of the Center shed Arts and Sciences Professor and Director of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University. He lives in Northfor Cognitive Studies at Tufts University. He lives in North Andover, Massachusetts, with his wife and has two children. Andover, Massachusetts, with his wife and has two children.

Table of Contents

Contents Preface Part I: Starting in the Middle CHAPTER ONE Tell Me Why 1. Is Nothing Sacred? 2. What, Where, When, Why -- and How? 3. Locke''s "Proof" of the Primacy of Mind 4. Hume''s Close Encounter CHAPTER TWO An Idea Is Born 1. What Is So Special About Species? 2. Natural Selection -- an Awful Stretcher 3. Did Darwin Explain the Origin of Species? 4. Natural Selection as an Algorithmic Process 5. Processes as Algorithms CHAPTER THREE Universal Acid 1. Early Reactions 2. Darwin''s Assault on the Cosmic Pyramid 3. The Principle of the Accumulation of Design 4. The Tools for R and D: Skyhooks or Cranes? 5. Who''s Afraid of Reductionism? CHAPTER FOUR The Tree of Life 1. How Should We Visualize the Tree of Life? 2. Color-coding a Species on the Tree 3. Retrospective Coronations: Mitochondrial Eve and Invisible Beginnings 4. Patterns, Oversimplification, and Explanation CHAPTER FIVE The Possible and the Actual 1. Grades of Possibility? 2. The Library of Mendel 3. The Complex Relation Between Genome and Organism 4. Possibility Naturalized CHAPTER SIX Threads of Actuality in Design Space 1. Drifting and Lifting Through Design Space 2. Forced Moves in the Game of Design 3. The Unity of Design Space Part II: Darwinian Thinking in Biology CHAPTER SEVEN Priming Darwin'' s Pump 1. Back Beyond Darwin''s Frontier 2. Molecular Evolution 3. The Laws of the Game of Life 4. Eternal Recurrence -- Life Without Foundations? CHAPTER EIGHT Biology Is Engineering 1. The Sciences of the Artificial 2. Darwin Is Dead -- Long Live Darwin! 3. Function and Specification 4. Original Sin and the Birth of Meaning 5. The Computer That Learned to Play Checkers 6. Artifact Hermeneutics, or Reverse Engineering 7. Stuart Kauffman as Meta-Engineer CHAPTER NINE Searching for Quality 1. The Power of Adaptationist Thinking 2. The Leibnizian Paradigm 3. Playing with Constraints CHAPTER TEN Bully for Brontosaurus 1. The Boy Who Cried Wolf? 2. The Spandrel''s Thumb 3. Punctuated Equilibrium: A Hopeful Monster 4. Tinker to Evers to Chance: The Burgess Shale Double-Play Mystery CHAPTER ELEVEN Controversies Contained 1. A Clutch of Harmless Heresies 2. Three Losers: Teilhard, Lamarck, and Directed Mutation 3. Cui Bono? Part III: Mind, Meaning, Mathematics, and Morality CHAPTER TWELVE The Cranes of Culture 1. The Monkey''s Uncle Meets the Meme 2. Invasion of the Body-Snatchers 3. Could There Be a Science of Memetics? 4. The Philosophical Importance of Memes CHAPTER THIRTEEN Losing Out Minds to Darwin 1. The Role of Language in Intelligence 2. Chomsky Contra Darwin: Four Episodes 3. Nice Tries CHAPTER FOURTEEN The Evolution of Meanings 1. The Quest for Real Meaning 2. Two Black Boxes 3. Blocking the Exits 4. Safe Passage to the Future CHAPTER FIFTEEN The Emperor''s New Mind, and Other Fables 1. The Sword in the Stone 2. The Library of Toshiba 3. The Phantom Quantum-Gravity Computer: Lessons from Lapland CHAPTER SIXTEEN On the Origin of Morality 1. E Pluribus Unum? 2. Friedrich Nietzsche''s Just So Stories 3. Some Varieties of Greedy Ethical Reductionism 4. Sociobiology: Good and Bad, Good and Evil CHAPTER SEVENTEEN Redesigning Morality 1. Can Ethics Be Naturalized? 2. Judging the Competition 3. The Moral First Aid Manual CHAPTER EIGHTEEN The Future of an Idea 1. In Praise of Biodiversity 2. Universal Acid: Handle with Care Appendix Bibliography Index

Review

Carl Sagan "The Washington Post Book World" A breath of fresh air.

Long Description

In a book that is both groundbreaking and accessible, Daniel C. Dennett, whom Chet Raymo ofThe Boston Globecalls "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.

Excerpt from Book

Chapter 1 Tell Me Why 1. Is Nothing Sacred? We used to sing a lot when I was a child, around the campfire at summer camp, at school and Sunday school, or gathered around the piano at home. One of my favorite songs was "Tell Me Why." (For those whose personal memories don''t already embrace this little treasure, the music is provided in the appendix. The simple melody and easy harmony line are surprisingly beautiful.) Tell me why the stars do shine, Tell me why the ivy twines, Tell me why the sky''s so blue. Then I will tell you just why I love you. Because God made the stars to shine, Because God made the ivy twine, Because God made the sky so blue. Because God made you, that''s why I love you. This straightforward, sentimental declaration still brings a lump to my throat -- so sweet, so innocent, so reassuring a vision of life! And then along comes Darwin and spoils the picnic. Or does he? That is the topic of this book. From the moment of the publication of Origin of Species in 1859, Charles Darwin''s fundamental idea has inspired intense reactions ranging from ferocious condemnation to ecstatic allegiance, sometimes tantamount to religious zeal. Darwin''s theory has been abused and misrepresented by friend and foe alike. It has been misappropriated to lend scientific respectability to appalling political and social doctrines. It has been pilloried in caricature by opponents, some of whom would have it compete in our children''s schools with "creation science," a pathetic hodgepodge of pious pseudo-science. Almost no one is indifferent to Darwin, and no one should be. The Darwinian theory is a scientific theory, and a great one, but that is not all it is. The creationists who oppose it so bitterly are right about one thing: Darwin''s dangerous idea cuts much deeper into the fabric of our most fundamental beliefs than many of its sophisticated apologists have yet admitted, even to themselves. The sweet, simple vision of the song, taken literally, is one that most of us have outgrown, however fondly we may recall it. The kindly God who lovingly fashioned each and every one of us (all creatures great and small) and sprinkled the sky with shining stars for our delight -- that God is, like Santa Claus, a myth of childhood, not anything a sane, undeluded adult could literally believe in. That God must either be turned into a symbol for something less concrete or abandoned altogether. Not all scientists and philosophers are atheists, and many who are believers declare that their idea of God can live in peaceful coexistence with, or even find support from, the Darwinian framework of ideas. Theirs is not an anthropomorphic Handicrafter God, but still a God worthy of worship in their eyes, capable of giving consolation and meaning to their lives. Others ground their highest concerns in entirely secular philosophies, views of the meaning of life that stave oft despair without the aid of any concept of a Supreme Being -- other than the Universe itself. Something is sacred to these thinkers, but they do not call it God; they call it, perhaps, Life, or Love, or Goodness, or Intelligence, or Beauty, or Humanity. What both groups share, in spite of the differences in their deepest creeds, is a conviction that life does have meaning, that goodness matters. But can any version of this attitude of wonder and purpose be sustained in the face of Darwinism? From the outset, there have been those who thought they saw Darwin letting the worst possible cat out of the bag: nihilism. They thought that if Darwin was right, the implication would be that nothing could be sacred. To put it bluntly, nothing could have any point. Is this just an overreaction? What exactly are the implications of Darwin''s idea -- and, in any case, has it been scientifically proven or is it still "just a theory"? Perhaps, you may think, we could make a useful division: there are the parts of Darwin''s idea that really are established beyond any reasonable doubt, and then there are the speculative extensions of the scientifically irresistible parts. Then -- if we were lucky -- perhaps the rock-solid scientific facts would have no stunning implications about religion, or human nature, or the meaning of life, while the parts of Darwin''s idea that get people all upset could be put into quarantine as highly controversial extensions of, or mere interpretations of, the scientifically irresistible parts. That would be reassuring. But alas, that is just about backwards. There are vigorous controversies swirling around in evolutionary theory, but those who feel threatened by Darwinism should not take heart from this fact. Most -- if not quite all -- of the controversies concern issues that are "just science"; no matter which side wins, the outcome will not undo the basic Darwinian idea. That idea, which is about as secure as any in science, really does have far-reaching implications for our vision of what the meaning of life is or could be. In 1543, Copernicus proposed that the Earth was not the center of the universe but in fact revolved around the Sun. It took over a century for the idea to sink in, a gradual and actually rather painless transformation. (The religious reformer Philipp Melanchthon, a collaborator of Martin Luther, opined that "some Christian prince" should suppress this madman, but aside from a few such salvos, the world was not particularly shaken by Copernicus himself.) The Copernican Revolution did eventually have its own "shot heard round the world": Galileo''s Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, but it was not published until 1632, when the issue was no longer controversial among scientists. Galileo''s projectile provoked an infamous response by the Roman Catholic Church, setting up a shock wave whose reverberations are only now dying out. But in spite of the drama of that epic confrontation, the idea that our planet is not the center of creation has sat rather lightly in people''s minds. Every schoolchild today accepts this as the matter of fact it is, without tears or terror. In due course, the Darwinian Revolution will come to occupy a similarly secure and untroubled place in the minds -- and hearts -- of every educated person on the globe, but today, more than a century after Darwin''s death, we still have not come to terms with its mind-boggling implications. Unlike the Copernican Revolution, which did not engage widespread public attention until the scientific details had been largely sorted out, the Darwinian Revolution has had anxious lay spectators and cheerleaders taking sides from the outset, tugging at the sleeves of the participants and encouraging grandstanding. The scientists themselves have been moved by the same hopes and fears, so it is not surprising that the relatively narrow conflicts among theorists have often been not just blown up out of proportion by their adherents, but seriously distorted in the process. Everybody has seen, dimly, that a lot is at stake. Moreover, although Darwin''s own articulation of his theory was monumental, and its powers were immediately recognized by many of the scientists and other thinkers of his day, there really were large gaps in his theory that have only recently begun to be properly filled in. The biggest gap looks almost comical in retrospect. In all his brilliant musings, Darwin never hit upon the central concept, without which the theory of evolution is hopeless: the concept of a gene. Darwin had no proper unit of heredity, and so his account of the process of natural selection was plagued with entirely reasonable doubts about whether it would work. Darwin supposed that offspring would always exhibit a sort of blend or average of their parents'' features. Wouldn''t such "blending inheritance" always simply average out all differences, turning everything into uniform gray? How could diversity survive such relentless averaging? Darwin recognized the seriousness of this challenge, and neither he nor his many ardent supporters succeeded in responding with a description of a convincing and well-documented mechanism of heredity that could combine traits of parents while maintaining an underlying and unchanged identity. The idea they needed was right at hand, uncovered ("formulated" would be too strong) by the monk Gregor Mendel and published in a relatively obscure Austrian journal in 1865, but, in the best-savored irony in the history of science, it lay there unnoticed until its importance was appreciated (at first dimly) around 1900. Its triumphant establishment at the heart of the "Modern Synthesis" (in effect, the synthesis of Mendel and Darwin) was eventually made secure in the 1940s, thanks to the work of Theodosius Dobzhansky, Julian Huxley, Ernst Mayr, and others. It has taken another half-century to iron out most of the wrinkles of that new fabric. The fundamental core of contemporary Darwinism, the theory of DNA-based reproduction and evolution, is now beyond dispute among scientists. It demonstrates its power every day, contributing crucially to the explanation of planet-sized facts of geology and meteorology, through middle-sized facts of ecology and agronomy, down to the latest microscopic facts of genetic engineering. It unifies all of biology and the history of our planet into a single grand story. Like Gulliver tied down in Lilliput, it is unbudgeable, not because of some one or two huge chains of argument that might -- hope against hope -- have weak links in them, but because it is securely tied by hundreds of thousands of threads of evidence anchoring it to virtually every other area of human kno

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