Breaking the Spell (Dennett book)

Breaking the Spell

Author	Daniel C. Dennett
Subject	Religion
Publisher	Viking (Penguin)
Publication date	2006
ISBN	ISBN 0-670-03472-X
OCLC	61240665
Dewey Decimal	200 22
LC Class	BL2775.3 .D46 2006
Preceded by	Sweet Dreams: Philosophical Obstacles to a Science of Consciousness

Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon is a 2006 book by the American philosopher and cognitive scientist, Daniel Dennett, which argues for a scientific analysis of religion in order to predict the future of this phenomenon. Dennett implies that the spell he hopes to break is not religious belief itself, but the conviction that religion is off-limits to scientific inquiry.

Synopsis

The book is divided into three parts. Part I discusses the motivation and justification for the entire project: Can science study religion? Should science study religion? After answering in the affirmative, Part II proceeds to use the tools of evolutionary biology and memetics to suggest possible theories regarding the origin of religion and subsequent evolution of modern religions from ancient folk beliefs. Part III analyzes religion and its effects in today's world: Does religion make us moral? Is religion what gives meaning to life? What should we teach the children? Dennett bases much of his analysis on empirical evidence, though he often points out that much more research in this field is needed.

Dennett's working definition of religions is: "social systems whose participants avow belief in a supernatural agent or agents whose approval is to be sought." He notes that this definition is "a place to start, not something carved in stone."

Critical Reception

In The New York Times, Leon Wieseltier called the book "a sorry instance of present-day scientism" and "a merry anthology of contemporary superstitions."

Charles T. Rubin, in the The New Atlantis, likened Dennett to "a tone-deaf music scholar" and criticized his "unwillingness to admit the limits of scientific rationality," accusing him of "deploying the same old Enlightenment tropes that didn’t work all that well the first time around."

Translations

Breaking the Spell has been translated into several other languages, including

• Dutch - translation by Hans Bosman as De betovering van het geloof: religie als een natuurlijk fenomeen, Amsterdam: Contact 2006. ISBN 9025426875
• Finnish - translation by Kimmo Pietiläinen as Lumous murtuu: uskonto luonnonilmiönä, Helsinki: Terra Cognita 2007. ISBN 978-952-5202-96-0
• German - translation by Frank Born as Den Bann brechen. Religion als natürliches Phänomen, Frankfurt a. M.: Verlag der Weltreligionen im Insel Verlag 2008. ISBN 978-3-458-71011-0
• Greek - translation by Dimitris Xygalatas and Nikolas Roubekas as Απομυθοποίηση, Thessaloniki: Vanias 2007. ISBN 978-960-288-198-9
• Italian - translation by S. Levi as Rompere l'incantesimo. La religione come fenomeno naturale, Milano: Cortina Raffaello 2007. ISBN 978-88-6030-097-3
• Polish - translation by Barbara Stanosz as Odczarowanie. Religia jako zjawisko naturalne, Warsaw: Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy 2008. ISBN 978-83-06-03138-6
• Portuguese - translation by Helena Londres as Quebrando O Encanto. A Religião Como Fenômeno Natural, Rio de Janeiro: Globo 2006. ISBN 978-85-250-4288-0
• Spanish - translation by Felipe de Brigard as Romper el hechizo: la religión como un fenómeno natural, Madrid: Katz 2007. ISBN 978-84-96859-00-5

See also

• Religious studies
• Evolutionary psychology of religion
• Religion Explained
• Darwin's Cathedral, by evolutionary biologist and anthropologist David Sloan Wilson
• Scott Atran, author of In Gods We Trust: The Evolutionary Landscape of Religion
• The End of Faith
• The God Delusion
• God is Not Great

External links

• Breaking the spell panel—Audio recording and transcript of panel organized by Royal Society of Arts with Daniel Dennett and Alister McGrath

Reviews

• David B. Hart: Dennett Hunts the Snark, First Things
• George Johnson: Getting a Rational Grip on Religion, Scientific American
• Leon Wieseltier: The God Genome, The New York Times
  • Dennett's letter to the editor of The New York Times, with Wieseltier's reply
• Adam Kirsch: If Men Are From Mars, What's God, The New York Sun
• James Brookfield: Dennett’s dangerous idea, World Socialist Website
• Armin W. Geertz: How Not to Do the Cognitive Science of Religion Today, paper read at University of Aarhus seminar.
• Charles T. Rubin: "The God Meme", The New Atlantis