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
Natural selection is not gene centrist and nor is biology all about genes; our comprehending minds are a result of our fast evolving culture.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Natural selection is influenced by culture, not just genes.
This quote by Daniel Dennett emphasizes that the process of natural selection in evolution is not solely driven by genetics. Instead, it suggests that our understanding and cognitive abilities are shaped significantly by the cultural environment in which we evolve, indicating a complex interplay between biological and cultural factors in shaping human minds.
Themes
Natural SelectionCultureEvolutionBiologyGenes
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about evolution, one might use this quote to highlight the impact of culture on human development.
More from Daniel Dennett
All quotes →Philosophers are never quite sure what they are talking about - about what the issues really are - and so often it takes them rather a long time to recognize that someone with a somewhat different approach (or destination, or starting point) is making a contribution.
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Words have a genealogy and it's easier to trace the evolution of a single word than the evolution of a language.
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The secret of happiness is: Find something more important than you are and dedicate your life to it.
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Some philosophers can't bear to say simple things, like "Suppose a dog bites a man." They feel obliged instead to say, "Suppose a dog d bites a man m at time t," thereby demonstrating their unshakable commitment to logical rigor, even though they don't go on to manipulate any formulae involving d, m, and t.
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As every scuba diver knows, panic is your worst enemy: when it hits, your mind starts to thrash and you are likely to do something really stupid and self-destructive.
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She - philosophy is equally helpful to the rich and poor: neglect her, and she equally harms the young and old.
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