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Who Dan Dennett think he be foolin'?

Explore Dan Dennett's ideas from Breaking the Spell, challenging perceptions of religious belief and rationality among intellectual theists.

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I listened to Dan Dennett on the most recent Tech Nation with Moira Gunn (not online yet), and he went on about the ideas proposed in his book Breaking the Spell. Some of the ideas were interesting, though I've read more well developed versions in most of the supporting literature. Nevertheless, Dennett's schtick that those who think that religious people can't analyze their beliefs rationally are being patronizing seems really laughable to me. Most atheists I know have a hard time getting around the fact that many people who are extremely bright (no pun intended in the context of Dennett) sincerely believe that supernatural agents exist and affect the world around us. To use an analogy, in Why I am Not a Muslim Ibn Warraq notes that many Muslims simply can not believe that an intelligent person can not believe in Islam when they are informed of its content and ...

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