By: Daniel C. Dennett
448 Pages
Hardbound


For many people around the world—perhaps most people—there is nothing more important than religion. It has comforted them in their suffering, become an integral part of their marriages and child rearing, and encouraged group cooperation to achieve ends both magnificent and terrible. Religion plays such a powerful role in the world that we should try to understand it in all its complexities, but most adherents bristle at anyone who wants to investigate their practices and beliefs in a scientific manner.

In this daring and important new book, Daniel C. Dennett seeks to uncover the origins of this remarkable family of phenomena that mean so much to so many people, and to discuss why—and how---they have commanded allegiance, become so potent, and shaped so many lives so strongly. Where does our devotion to God come from? What was the psychological and cultural soil in which religion first took root? Is it an addiction or a genuine need that we should try to preserve at any cost? Is it the product of blind evolutionary instinct or rational choice? Do those who believe in God have good reasons for doing so? Are people right to say that the best way to live a good life is through religion?

In a spirited argument that ranges widely through biology, history, and psychology, Dennett explores how religion evolved from folk beliefs and how these early “wild” strains of religion were then carefully and consciously domesticated. As the motives of religion’s stewards entered this process, such features as secrecy and systematic invulnerability to disproof emerged. Dennett contends that this protective veneer of mystery needs to be removed so that religions can be better understood, and—most important—he argues that the widespread assumption that they are necessary foundation of morality can no longer be supported.

Breaking the Spell is not an antireligious screed but rather an eye-opening exploration of the role that religious belief plays in our lives, our interactions, and our country. With the conflict between science and “intelligent design” becoming ever more impassioned, Dennett has written a calmly reasoned and timely book that will be read and debated by believers and nonbelievers alike.

Daniel C. Dennett is University Professor, professor of philosophy, and co-director of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University. His books include Brainstorms, Elbow Room, Consciousness Explained, Darwin’s Dangerous Idea (a finalist for the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize), and Freedom Evolves. He lives in North Andover, Massachusetts.