Darwin`s idea of evolution by natural selection is, in my opinion, the single best idea that anybody has ever had, because in a single bold stroke it unites meaning with matter, two aspects of reality that appear to be worlds apart. On one side, we have the world of our minds and their meanings, our goals, our hopes, and our yearnings, and that most honored - and hackneyed - of all philosophical topics, the Meaning of Life. On the other side, we have galaxies ceaselessly wheeling, planets falling pointlessly into their orbits, lifeless chemical mechanisms doing what physics ordains, all without purpose or reason. Then Darwin comes along and shows us how the former arises from the latter, creating meaning as it goes, a bubble-up vision of the birth of importance to overthrow the trickle-down vision of tradition.

Daniel Dennett

Daniel Dennett

American philosopher

28 March 1942 —

Daniel Dennett: Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking

Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking

W. W. Norton & Company

Philosophy

Details:

Time of publication: June 8, 2013

Length: 822 characters

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