Breaking the Spell Religion as a Natural Phenomenon

For all the thousands of books that have been written about religion, few until this one have attempted to examine it scientifically: to ask why—and how—it has shaped so many lives so strongly. Is religion a product of blind evolutionary instinct or rational choice? Is it truly the best way to live a moral life? Ranging through biology, history, and psychology, Daniel C. Dennett charts religion’s evolution from “wild” folk belief to “domesticated” dogma. Not an antireligious screed but an unblinking look beneath the veil of orthodoxy, Breaking the Spell will be read and debated by believers and skeptics alike.

How would a visitor from Mars dispassionately explain human religion? . . . My guess is that the result would be something like this crystal-clear, constantly engaging, and enjoyable new book. (Jared Diamond, Pulitzer Prize &winning author of Guns, Germs, and Steel and Collapse

Rich and rewarding . . . the main business of the book is to give a scientific account of how religion may have developed among creatures such as us. . . . The product of an extremely bright mind. (San Francisco Chronicle)

An elegant, sharp-minded essay on the need to study religion in a dispassionate way. (The Economist)

Penetrating . . . a sharp synthesis of a library of evolutionary, anthropological and psychological research on the origin and spread of religion. (Scientific American)

Ambitious . . . an accessible account of what might be called the natural history of religion. (The New Yorker)

How would a visitor from Mars dispassionately explain human religion? . . . My guess is that the result would be something like this crystal-clear, constantly engaging, and enjoyable new book. (Jared Diamond, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Guns, Germs, and Steel and Collapse

Rich and rewarding . . . the main business of the book is to give a scientific account of how religion may have developed among creatures such as us. . . . The product of an extremely bright mind. (San Francisco Chronicle)

An elegant, sharp-minded essay on the need to study religion in a dispassionate way. (The Economist)

Penetrating . . . a sharp synthesis of a library of evolutionary, anthropological and psychological research on the origin and spread of religion. (Scientific American)

A Tufts University professor explores the nature of faith and how religion shapes everyday life and the future, addressing controversial issues about the relevance and rational qualities of faith while tracing the history of organized religion from its roots in folk beliefs to its key role in modern issues. By the author of Darwin's Dangerous Idea. Reprint. 100,000 first printing.

The New York Times bestseller - a "crystal-clear, constantly engaging" (Jared Diamond) exploration of the role that religious belief plays in our lives and our interactions

For all the thousands of books that have been written about religion, few until this one have attempted to examine it scientifically: to ask why--and how--it has shaped so many lives so strongly. Is religion a product of blind evolutionary instinct or rational choice? Is it truly the best way to live a moral life? Ranging through biology, history, and psychology, Daniel C. Dennett charts religion's evolution from "wild" folk belief to "domesticated" dogma. Not an antireligious screed but an unblinking look beneath the veil of orthodoxy, Breaking the Spell will be read and debated by believers and skeptics 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 Consciousness Explained and Darwin’s Dangerous Idea, a finalist for the National Book Award.

Breaking The Spell Preface

PART I: OPENING PANDORA'S BOX

1. Breaking Which Spell?

1. What's going on?

2. A working definition of religion

3. To break or not to break

4. Peering into the abyss

5. Religion as a natural phenomenon

2. Some Quesions About Science

1. Can science study religion?

2. Should science study religion?

3. Might music be bad for you?

4. Would neglect be more benign?

3. Why Good Things Happen

1. Bringing out the best

2. Cui bono?

3. Asking what pays for religion

4. A Martian's list of theories

PART II: THE EVOLUTION OF RELIGION

4. The Roots of Religion

1. The births of religions

2. The raw materials of religion

3. How Nature deals with the problem of other minds

5. Religion, the Early Days

1. Too many agents: competition for rehearsal space

2. Gods as intersted parties

3. Getting the gods to speak to us

4. Shamans as hypnotists

5. Memory-engineering devices in oral cultures

6. The Evolution of Stewardship

1. The music of religion

2. Folk religion as practical know-how

3. Creeping reflection and the birth of secrecy in religion

4. The domestication of religions

7. The Invention of Team Spirit

1. A path paved with good intentions

2. The ant colony and the corporation

3. The growth market in religion

4. A God you can talk to

8. Belief in Belief

1. You better believe it

2. God as intentional object

3. The division of doxastic labor

4. The lowest common denominator?

5. Beliefs designed to be professed

6. Lessons from Lebanon: the strange cases of the Druze and Kim Philby

7. Does God exist?

PART III: RELIGION TODAY

9. Toward a Buyer's Guide to Religions

1. For the love of God

2. The academic smoke screen

3. Why does it matter what you believe?

4. What can your religion do for you?

10. Morality and Religion

1. Does religion make us moral?

2. Is religion what gives meaning to your life?

3. What can we say about sacred values?

4. Bless my soul: spirituality and selfishness

11. Now What Do We Do?

1. Just a theory

2. Some avenues to explore: how can we home in on religious conviction?

3. What shall we tell the children?

4. Toxic memes

5. Patience and politics

Appendixes

A. The New Replicators?

B. Some More Questions About Science

C. The Bellboy and the Lady Named Tuck

D. Kim Philby as a Real Case of Indeterminacy of Radical Interpretation

Notes

Bibliography

Index