Abstract

Dennett believes that Darwin's idea of natural selection is the best idea that anyone has ever had, "ahead of Newton and Einstein and everyone else" . The idea of natural selection appears "dangerous" to many, Dennett suggests, because its blind, mindless process threatens to replace cherished visions of a divine design of human life and mind. Darwin's idea puts pressure on us to bid a final goodbye to design by gods, minds, Platonic realms, and so forth. This, of course, is not a new idea, but Dennett takes evolutionary design in some interesting new directions