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Conundrums don’t come knottier than those of classical metaphysics, and {{author|Daniel Dennett}} has spent the 22 years since {{br|Darwin’s Dangerous Idea}} trying to dissolve them with his bottle of universal acid. First it was free will (in 2003’s {{br|Freedom Evolves}}). Then God (in 2006’s {{br|Breaking the Spell}}) and now, in newly published {{br|From Bacteria to Bach and Back Again}}, Dennett returns to mind, a problem which he declared settled as long ago as 1991, in {{br|Consciousness Explained}}. | Conundrums don’t come knottier than those of classical metaphysics, and {{author|Daniel Dennett}} has spent the 22 years since {{br|Darwin’s Dangerous Idea}} trying to dissolve them with his bottle of universal acid. First it was free will (in 2003’s {{br|Freedom Evolves}}). Then God (in 2006’s {{br|Breaking the Spell}}) and now, in newly published {{br|From Bacteria to Bach and Back Again}}, Dennett returns to mind, a problem which he declared settled as long ago as 1991, in {{br|Consciousness Explained}}. | ||
A one-line summary of each of these books would be: “You’re thinking about it the wrong way. | A one-line summary of each of these books would be: “You’re thinking about it the wrong way. It’s [[evolution]]. Everything else is an illusion”. | ||
Now, depending on how you feel about metaphysics, this will strike you as either a great relief or tremendously unsatisfying. In any case, a philosopher once possessed of a broad range has grown ever more tunnel-visioned: [[evolution]] explains everything. | Now, depending on how you feel about {{tag|metaphysics}}, this will strike you as either a great relief or tremendously unsatisfying. In any case, a philosopher once possessed of a broad range has grown ever more tunnel-visioned: [[evolution]], and only evolution, explains everything. | ||
To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail. | To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail. |