We need to let our children grow up to face the world armed with knowledge, with much more knowledge than we ourselves had at their age. It is scary, but the alternative is worse.
Daniel DennettRead
If the concept of consciousness were to fall to science, what would happen to our sense of moral agency and free will? If conscious experience were reduced somehow to mere matter in motion, what would happen to our appreciation of love and pain and dreams and joy? If conscious human beings were just animated material objects, how could anything we do to them be right or wrong?
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote questions the implications of reducing consciousness to mere physical processes.
Daniel Dennett explores the potential impact on our understanding of morality, free will, and the richness of human experience if consciousness is solely interpreted through a scientific lens, suggesting that such a reduction may strip away the profound qualities that define our lives, such as love, joy, and moral responsibility.
Themes
ConsciousnessMoralityFree WillExperienceScience
In practice
Example use cases
In a philosophical debate about the nature of consciousness.
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