Espousing his ideas in best sellers, he insisted that religion was an illusion, free will was a fantasy and evolution could only be explained by natural selection.

Daniel C. Dennett, one of the most widely read and debated American philosophers, whose prolific works explored consciousness, free will, religion and evolutionary biology, died on Friday in Portland, Maine. He was 82.

His death, at Maine Medical Center, was caused by complications of interstitial lung disease, his wife, Susan Bell Dennett, said. He lived in Cape Elizabeth, Maine.

Mr. Dennett combined a wide range of knowledge with an easy, often playful writing style to reach a lay public, avoiding the impenetrable concepts and turgid prose of many other contemporary philosophers. Beyond his more than 20 books and scores of essays, his writings even made their way into the theater and onto the concert stage.

But Mr. Dennett, who never shirked controversy, often crossed swords with other famed scholars and thinkers.

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  • modern_drift@lemmy.world
    16·
    7 months ago

    Thought to myself, “so begins the loss of the horsemen” and then remembered we had already lost hitch…

      • Buffalox@lemmy.world
        72·
        7 months ago

        WHAT??? We lost Dawkins? How do you figure that?

        EDIT:
        OK looking it up, I found that Richard Dawkins has made a tweet that can be considered transphobic, if you choose to misunderstand it. But in the end, Richard Dawkins respect the gender identity of trans people, which he has clearly stated. So calling him transphobic because he wants to be able to have a scholarly debate is exactly the zero tolerance attitude he was hoping to relax a bit, to make room for a more open scholarly debate, that at the moment is near impossible. Which was shown by the response to his tweet.

        His mistake was maybe that he tried to use an analogy, that some disproportionately distorted to mean something I bet he never meant to imply.

  • fiat_lux@kbin.social
    11·
    7 months ago

    Dennett taught me how to find common ground with very different people in discussions which might otherwise be heated arguments. I was lucky enough to see one of his talks some years ago, and his work and methods are something I frequently think about even today. His writing style was playful and accessible, but it paled in comparison to his presentation which really demonstrated his abundant charisma. His passing is truly a huge loss in a world that increasingly needs his teachings. My condolences to his family and the communities he fostered.

    Vale, Daniel C. Dennett. I hope I can continue to do even a shred of justice to your contributions.

    Edit with link: Dennett (somewhat accidentally) created a community for interdenominational Christian clergy who are also secret atheists. It started with a research paper with interviews and some analysis of their similar/different experiences. Ignore the abstract if academic language isn’t your thing, the rest of the paper is a much easier and interesting read:

    Dennett, D. C., & LaScola, L. (2010). Preachers Who are Not Believers. Evolutionary Psychology, 8(1), 122-150

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
    8·
    7 months ago

    Somehow I always avoided reading him or watching any videos despite him being recommended to me multiple times. At least now I have an excuse to do so.

    RIP.