Problems in science are sometimes made easier by adding complications.
DANIEL DENNETTProblems in science are sometimes made easier by adding complications.
DANIEL DENNETTThere’s simply no polite way to tell people they’ve dedicated their lives to an illusion.
DANIEL DENNETTSometimes you don’t just want to risk making mistakes; you actually want to make them – if only to give you something clear and detailed to fix.
DANIEL DENNETTIf I know better than you know what I am up to, it is only because I spend more time with myself than you do.
DANIEL DENNETTThere is a time for politeness and there is a time when you are obliged to be rude.
DANIEL DENNETTThe only meaning of life worth caring about is one that can withstand our best efforts to examine it.
DANIEL DENNETTHuman freedom is not an illusion; it is an objective phenomenon, distinct from all other biological conditions and found in only one species – us.
DANIEL DENNETTThe only answer to the endless chains of why, why, why is that the alternatives died.
DANIEL DENNETTThe 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 DENNETTAI makes philosophy honest.
DANIEL DENNETTTrue, you don’t have to be religious to be crazy, but it helps.
DANIEL DENNETTNot a single one of the cells that compose you knows who you are, or cares.
DANIEL DENNETTThere’s no polite way to say to somebody (religious followers) ‘Do you realize you’ve wasted your life?
DANIEL DENNETTWhat you can imagine depends on what you know. Philosophers who know only philosophy consign themselves to a janitorial role in the great enterprises of exploration that are illuminating the mysteries of our lives.
DANIEL DENNETTIt’s a no win situation. It’s a mug’s game. The religions have contrived to make it impossible to disagree with them critically without being rude. They play the hurt feelings card at every opportunity.
DANIEL DENNETTReligions have depended on the relative isolation and ignorance of their flocks, forever and this is all breaking down.
DANIEL DENNETT