Breaking the Spell by Daniel C Dennett

Breaking the Spell by Daniel C Dennett

"Breaking the Spell" is Daniel Dennett's most innovative and important work yet; it offers a profound challenge to society and a compelling new history of belief. Few forces in the world are as potent as religion: it comforts people in their suffering and inspires them to both magnificent and terrible deeds. In this provocative and timely book, Dennett seeks to uncover the origins of this power, and discusses why and how different faiths have commanded allegiance and shaped so many lives. He does not contest these beliefs. Rather, he argues passionately for the need to understand this multifaceted phenomenon, and he offers a truly original and comprehensive explanation for religion. What was the psychological and cultural soil in which it first took root? How did it evolve? Is it the product of blind evolutionary instinct or of rational choice? Dennett shows how these ideas could have spread from individual superstitions, via shamanism and the early wild' strains of religion to today's institutionalized systems. Dennett's extraordinary achievement is to weave such a richly detailed narrative, to imagine it so vividly, and to argue for it so forcefully. He brings religion into the realm of real public debate and, in so doing, he breaks the spell.

Daniel Dennett is one of the most original and provocative thinkers in the world. A brilliant polemicist and philosopher, he is famous for challenging unexamined orthodoxies. His books include Brainstorms, Brainchildren, Elbow Room, Consciousness Explained, Darwin's Dangerous Idea and Freedom Evolves. He lives in North Andover, Massachusetts.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780713997897
ISBN 10	0713997893
Title	Breaking the Spell
Author	Daniel C Dennett
Series	Allen Lane Science S
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Penguin Books Ltd
Year published	2006-03-02
Number of pages	464
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable