Seanna Watson
Daniel Dennett often described the phenomenon of consciousness (including his own) as an illusion produced by the account of the various calculations occurring in the brain at close to the same time. But after making that provocative statement, he would go on to note that (according to his definition) to call something an illusion is not to say that it does not exist, but rather that it is something other than what it appears to be. “I’m a robot, and you’re a robot, but that doesn’t make us any less dignified or wonderful or lovable or responsible for our actions,” he opined, following up with the question, “Why does our dignity depend on our being scientifically inexplicable?’’
Shortly after the turn of the century, Dennett was identified as one of the four horsemen of the “atheist apocalypse” (along with Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and the late Christopher Hitchens). While I never saw Dennett waver on his commitment to atheism (saying “There’s simply no polite way to tell people they’ve dedicated their lives to an illusion,”), he always seemed to me to be the most civil and reasonable of the bunch. He proposed (and practised) the following rules for “arguing with kindness and care”:
- Attempt to re-express your target’s position so clearly, vividly, and fairly that your target says: “Thanks, I wish I’d thought of putting it that way.”
- List any points of agreement (especially if they are not matters of general or widespread agreement).
- Mention anything you have learned from your target.
- Only then are you permitted to say so much as a word of rebuttal or criticism.
Dennett worked with social worker Linda LaScola, researching the phenomenon of religious professionals who lose their faith, culminating in the book Caught in the Pulpit: Leaving Belief Behind. This research converged with ongoing work by Richard Dawkins, Dan Barker (and others) who had a longterm interest in addressing the needs of religious professionals who had lost their faith. The result was the development of The Clergy Project, a peer-support group.
Dennett authored/co-authored more than two dozen books. Among the most recent are:
- Inside Jokes: Using Humor to Reverse-Engineer the Mind (with Matthew M. Hurley and Reginald B. Adams Jr)
- Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking
- Caught in the Pulpit: Leaving Belief Behind (with Linda LaScola)
- From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Minds
- I’ve Been Thinking
I saw Dennett at a number of public appearances, the first at a 2009 celebration of Darwin’s 200th birthday. I also had the privilege of spending a bit of personal time while driving Dan and his wife Susan to the airport after a conference in Montreal. He had a rare combination of having brilliant ideas and being able to communicate them, plus by all accounts being an all-round good human being. It is truly sad that he is gone.
Photo credit: Fronteiras do pensamento https://www.flickr.com/people/fronteirasweb/
[note: this article had been updated to correct errors concerning the history of The Clergy Project]