During the last ten years there have been several books written antagonistically on the subject of human belief aka religion.Richard Dawkins' God Delusion,Sam Harris End of Faith,Hitchens'God is not Great" etc are some among them. What differentiates Daniel Dennet's "Breaking the Spell" from the above mentioned is its evolutionary philosophy perspective.
Dennet begins the book with an interesting analogy.He asks if we have noticed an ant trying to climb a blade of grass laboriously ,falling down ,then climbing up again and again....What is the purpose of this act?The ant is driven by a parasite called Dicrocelium dendriticum whose ultimate aim is to reach into the stomach of a cow in-order to complete its reproductive cycle.Does anything like this happens to human beings? He says some beliefs ,especially religious ones ,are indeed like this parasite that urges man to devote his life to something he deems more important than his personal welfare.
One of the main arguments of Dennet in this book is the necessity of a scientific scrutiny of the phenomenon of religion .He urges to perceive religion as just another natural phenomenon which needs to be examined scientifically.The benefits and costs of religious faith must be studied scientifically.He writes,
"Ever since the Enlightenment in the 18th century many quite well-informed and brilliant people have confidently thought that religion would soon vanish,the object of a human taste that could be satisfied by other means.Many are still waiting,somewhat less confidently.Whatever religion provides for us,it is something many think they can not live without.Lets take them seriously this time,for they might be right.But there is only one way to take them seriously:we need to study them scientifically'".
Dennet thinks that we may be too close to religion to see it clearly.Inoder to get a clearer vision ,Dennet suggests us to take a Martians view on religion;how it would be if Martians attempt to study this unfamiliar phenomenon called religion.He says"what they see today is a population of over six billion people,almost all of whom devote a significant fraction of their time and energy to some sort of religious activity:rituals such as daily prayer or frequent attendance at ceremonies ,deliberately destroying valuable property in lavish ceremonies and abiding by a host of strenuously observed prohibitions and requirements,including not eating certain foods,wearing veils ,and so forth'.The Martian could come up with different theories for the existence of religion among humans.Dennet labels them as ,
Sweet-tooth theories:We ingest our bodies with variety of things ,like ,fat ,alcohol,nicotine,chocolate etc.The body has a receptor system designed to detect substances that these favourites have high in concentration.over the millennia of trail and error ,our species has managed to discover ways of gathering and concentrating these special substances so that we can use them to over-stimulate our innate systems. Likewise could there be genetically evolved systems in our bodies that are designed to respond to something that religions provide in intensified form?Might we have a god centre in our brains along with our sweet tooth ?
symbiont theories:Religions might turn out to be species of cultural symbiont that manage to thrive by leaping from human host to human host.They could be mutalists,commensals or even be paraistes....Dennet then elaborates these points in his usual intelligent ,witty manner .
Another interesting quote from the book.'"We got ourselves caught ina hypocricy trap,and there is no clear path out.Are we like families in which adults got trough all the motions of believing in Santa Claus for the sake of the kids,and the kids all pretend still to believe so as not to spoil the adults fun?If only our current predicament were as innocuous and even comical as that !In the adult world of religion ,people are dying and killing,with the moderates cowed into silence by the intransigence of the radicals in their own faith,and many afraid to acknowledge for fear of breaking Granny's heart,or offending their neighbours to the point of getting run out of town,or worse".
This book is a must read for those who want to understand the phenomenon of religion.Its grave ,at the same time written with brio and humor.
