Daniel Dennetts Darwins Dangerous Idea Evolution and...

Daniel Dennetts Darwins Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life Science can give us as good a moral code as any religion. Or so Daniel Dennett claims in his book, Darwins Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life. Dennett provides the tools to explain human morality, and inadvertently leads the way to the conclusion (which he does not share) that science can clarify how human morality came about, but not serve as a substitute or model for moral codes, religious and secular alike. It all begins with Dennetts assertion that everything- everything- is a product of an algorithmic process, which comes about as a result of random change. By definition these algorithmic processes, evolution included, are matter†¦show more content†¦Consider it exaptation. Can altruism- true altruism, not altruism among kin, not reciprocal altruism, but the fabled Good Samaritan altruism, exist as a product of evolution? There is no clear evolutionary advantage to helping those in the out-group that deals strictly with biology (which is not to say that there are not brands of altruism for which there is an evolutionary advantage). Those who accept only matter-first explanations of the world may be likely to argue that people do not, in fact, commit purely selfless acts. Others, including Mayr, allow that Good Samaritan-style altruism exists, but only as a product of culture. It would be hard to find an evolutionary advantage to many products of culture. Take monogamous males for an example. Of course there are plenty of them out there, just as there are plenty of people who commit acts of true altruism, but like altruism, monogamy is hardly the rule. While the question of altruism is by all means an important question, it may not take us where we want to go. The question Dennett then asks is, if morals cannot be derived from the value-free natural world, then from where? His answer is ...ethics must be somehow based on an appreciation of human nature- a sense of what a human being is or might be, and on what a human being might want to have orShow MoreRelatedDarwin’s Theory of Natural Selection and Social Darwinism Essay811 Words   |  4 PagesDarwin and Evolution are inextricably linked in the minds of most people who have had the opportunity to study them in basic biology. However, Darwins theories of selection and survival of the fittest have been applied to moral, economic, political, and other cultural aspects of society. Dennett briefly touched on some of the political and social ramifications of Darwins theories in the final chapter of Darwins Dangerous Idea. Other philosophers and thinkers have also adapted Darwins evolutionaryRead MoreEvolution Before Darwin1590 Words   |  7 Pagesmorning. We are a species who thrive on this thing called story, much the same way a bee thrives on honey or a poet thrives on words. As we continue to generate new stories and, by doing so, generate new meanings of the world, it is hard not to feel as if one is sinking deep into a quicksand of life, unable to make sense of all the sense, mainly because there is too much it. Just when you think youre going to choke on all of the suffocating information regarding the origin of the world, of species