''From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Minds'' is a 2017 book about the origin of
human consciousness
Consciousness, at its simplest, is sentience and awareness of internal and external existence. However, the lack of definitions has led to millennia of analyses, explanations and debates by philosophers, theologians, linguisticians, and scien ...
by the philosopher
Daniel Dennett
Daniel Clement Dennett III (born March 28, 1942) is an American philosopher, writer, and cognitive scientist whose research centers on the philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, and philosophy of biology, particularly as those fields relat ...
, in which the author makes a case for a materialist theory of mind, arguing that consciousness is no more mysterious than gravity.
Drawing on ideas from
René Descartes
René Descartes ( or ; ; Latinized: Renatus Cartesius; 31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650) was a French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, widely considered a seminal figure in the emergence of modern philosophy and science. Mathem ...
and
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...
, Dennett writes that:
:'... natural systems can create "competence without comprehension"—that is, situations in which sophisticated actions occur without the individual or machine involved understanding the reasons for the actions taken.'
and that:
:'a comprehending mind could in fact have arisen from a mindless process of natural selection. ...'
goodreads
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Critical reception
Physician Harriet Hall
Harriet A. Hall (born July 2, 1945) is a U.S. retired family physician, former U.S. Air Force flight surgeon and skeptic who writes about alternative medicine and quackery for ''Skeptic'' and ''Skeptical Inquirer''. She writes under the name The ...
reviewing the book for ''Skeptical Inquirer
''Skeptical Inquirer'' is a bimonthly American general-audience magazine published by the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI) with the subtitle: ''The Magazine for Science and Reason''.
Mission statement and goals
Daniel Loxton, writing in ...
'' magazine, said that "Dennett is always worth reading, and this latest book distills his current thinking and all he has learned over the years". He discusses many "conundrums with facts and arguments from evolution and neuroscience". "Dennett warns that trying to understand consciousness, 'We mustn't let our moral intuitions distort our empirical investigation from the outset'". Hall suggests that this book is not for light reading, but well written, something you will need to think about as you ponder "how consciousness works and how it came about".
See also
*Materialism
Materialism is a form of philosophical monism which holds matter to be the fundamental substance in nature, and all things, including mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. According to philosophical materiali ...
*Theory of mind
In psychology, theory of mind refers to the capacity to understand other people by ascribing mental states to them (that is, surmising what is happening in their mind). This includes the knowledge that others' mental states may be different fro ...
References
{{Evolutionary psychology
2017 non-fiction books
Books by Daniel Dennett
Cognitive science literature
English-language books
W. W. Norton & Company books