Throughout his career Daniel C. Dennett, one of the most renowned contemporary American philosophers, has endeavoured to clarify and explain the philosophical implications underlying what may be regarded as a naturalistic and scientific view of the human mind, freed of the trappings of classical metaphysics. In this book, he confronts this approach with the ideas of Charles Darwin and Darwinism, and addresses the question of evolution. What are the implications of the theory of evolution by natural selection? Why is evolution such a disturbing idea, not only for religious believers but also for philosophers and even for some biologists? How does it affect the concept of mind?
We have probably not yet taken into account all the consequences of Darwin’s theory, nor have we assimilated the revolutionary shock that it can have on our most deeply-held ideas about life and our own species. In the midst of the current neo-Darwinian wave, this book offers a timely dialogue between the ideas of an important contemporary philosopher and those of the greatest nineteenth-century biologist.
This book provides an overview of the scientific consequences of the theory of evolution, as well as offering a detailed study of the contemporary issues and controversies surrounding it. It complements the author’s other major work, Consciousness Explained.

Daniel C. Dennett teaches cognitive sciences at Tufts University. He has written many works on the philosophy of mind, the cognitive sciences and artificial intelligence, including The Strategy of Interpretation and Consciousness Explained.