Re: Book review: Breaking the Spell (Daniel Dennett)

Anthony Campbell <ac@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On 2006-04-10, Christopher A Lee <calee@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On 10 Apr 2006 09:38:27 -0700, "Ron Peterson" <ron@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

Belief seems to be a preoccupation with some atheists also. Does
Dennett offer a better approach?

Yes, I think his emphasis on the need for research to answer questions
about religion is excellent.

I can't say I much care for his term "bright" to describe people who
reject theism, however.


Does Dennett distinguish between theisms and religions? Someone on
another thread said that Islam was a religion, not a theism.


He considers the evolution of monotheism in relation to how polytheisms
changed into monotheism. He connects this with "belief in belief" and a
move from anthropomorphic concepts of God to ever more abstract
depersonalized concepts (p.205).

I think it would be absurd not to call Islam a religion. The question
whether Buddhism is a religion is perhaps more debatable, given that it
has no interest in a God or Gods. It would not fulfill Dennett's
definition (below).


How does Dennet define religion? Does he mean belief in a god or
something more complex?

Yes he does offer a working definition, which is good. (One of my
complaints about Pasacal Boyer's "Religion Explained" is that he
doesn't.)

Dennett's "tentative definition" (p. 9) is that religions are "social
systems whose participants avow belief in a supernatural agent or agents
whose approval is to be sought."

But don't buddists believe that you'll re-incarnate based on how you lived
this life and, if you were evil in this life, you'll re-incarnate into
something bad, etc? I.e. it would seem that there's a "supernatural agent"
(even if you just call it "fate") at work there and you'd want to work
towards the "goals" of that agent, even if it's not a sentient entity (as
all gods would be.)

But then again, I may be off on exactly what the buddists do believe.

--
Mike

-------------------------------
"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop
thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do
we," George W. "Shrub" Bush Aug 5, 2004
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Breaking the Spell
    ... Religion including Islam. ... But Dennett speaks as an outside observer who has not undertaken a religious ... discipline and has no experience of God or accepts or even understands the ...
    (soc.religion.islam)
  • Re: New A C Grayling book
    ... claiming or insinuating that Dennett takes ... | reason and his hostility to religion. ... | hope that God does not exist as by the hope that God does exist." ... Decide for yourself whether Wieseltier ...
    (uk.religion.christian)
  • Book review: Breaking the Spell (Daniel Dennett)
    ... Religion as a natural phenomenon ... Dennett begins his book on religion by comparing it to a parasite. ... mind parasite on humans. ... People who believe in God are sure that God exists, ...
    (rec.arts.books)
  • Book review: Breaking the Spell (Daniel Dennett)
    ... Religion as a natural phenomenon ... Dennett begins his book on religion by comparing it to a parasite. ... mind parasite on humans. ... People who believe in God are sure that God exists, ...
    (talk.atheism)
  • Book review: Breaking the Spell (Daniel Dennett)
    ... Religion as a natural phenomenon ... Dennett begins his book on religion by comparing it to a parasite. ... mind parasite on humans. ... People who believe in God are sure that God exists, ...
    (rec.arts.books)