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
Religions have depended on the relative isolation and ignorance of their flocks, forever and this is all breaking down.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Religions thrive on the ignorance of their followers, which is now being challenged by awareness and knowledge.
In this quote, Daniel Dennett reflects on how religions have traditionally relied on the naivety and isolation of their followers to maintain authority and control. However, as information becomes more accessible and awareness spreads, the structures that support blind faith are being questioned and disrupted, leading to a profound transformation in how individuals relate to religion and belief systems.
Themes
ReligionIgnoranceAwarenessKnowledgeControlTransformation
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the relationship between science and religion, this quote could illustrate the evolving perception of faith.
More from Daniel Dennett
All quotes βPhilosophers 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.
Daniel DennettRead
Words have a genealogy and it's easier to trace the evolution of a single word than the evolution of a language.
Daniel DennettRead
The secret of happiness is: Find something more important than you are and dedicate your life to it.
Daniel DennettRead
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.
Daniel DennettRead
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.
Daniel DennettRead
Similar quotes
The Greeks possessed a knowledge of human nature we seem hardly able to attain to without passing through the strengthening hibernation of a new barbarism.
Georg C. LichtenbergRead
The workman of today works every day in his life at the same tasks, and this fate is no less absurd. But it is tragic only at the rare moments when it becomes conscious.
Albert CamusRead
THE BODY SHOULD be triangular, the mind circular. The triangle represents the generation of energy and is the most stable physical posture. The circle symbolizes serenity and perfection, the source of unlimited techniques. The square stands for solidity, the basis of applied control.
Morihei UeshibaRead
We're all worth the same_x000D_ When we turn off the light.
Shel SilversteinRead
We are the intelligent elite among animal life on earth and whatever our mistakes, [Earth] needs us. This may seem an odd statement after all that I have said about the way 20th century humans became almost a planetary disease organism. But it has taken [Earth] 2.5 billion years to evolve an animal that can think and communicate its thoughts. If we become extinct she has little chance of evolving another.
James LovelockRead
One war, such as that of our Revolution, is enough for one life.
Thomas JeffersonRead