Breaking the Spell

by Daniel C. Dennett

  Wall, T. L., L. G. Carr, and C. L. Ehlers, 2003, “Protective Association of Genetic Variation in Alcohol Dehydrogenase with Alcohol Dependence in Native American Mission Indians.” American Journal of Psychiatry, vol. 160, no. 1 (January 1), pp. 41–46.

  Weinberg, Steven, 2003, Facing Up: Science and Its Cultural Adversaries. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.

  Whitehouse, Harvey, 1995, Inside the Cult: Religious Innovation and Transmission in Papua New Guinea. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

  ———, 2000, Arguments and Icons. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

  Whiten, Andrew, and R. Byrne, eds., 1988, Machiavellian Intelligence. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

  ————, 1997, Machiavellian Intelligence, II: Extensions and Evaluations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

  Wiesel, Elie, 1966, The Gates of the Forest. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.

  ———, 1972, Souls on Fire: Portraits and Legends of Hasidic Masters. N.p.: Gerecor, Ltd. Reprint, New York: Random House, 1982.

  Williams, George, 1966, Adaptation and Natural Selection. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

  ———, 1992, Natural Selection: Domains, Levels, and Challenges. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

  Wilson, David Sloan, 2002, Darwin’s Cathedral: Evolution, Religion, and the Nature of Society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

  Wilson, David Sloan, and Elliott Sober, 1994, “Re-Introducing Group Selection to the Human Behavior Sciences.” Behavioral and Brain Sciences, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 585–654.

  Wittgenstein, Ludwig, 1953, Philosophical Investigations. Oxford: Blackwell.

  Wolfe, Alan, 2003, The Transformation of American Religion: How We Actually Live Our Faith. New York: Free Press.

  Wynne, Thomas, 1995, “Handaxe Enigmas.” World Archeology, vol. 27, pp. 10–23.

  Yoder, Don, 1974, “Toward a Definition of Folk Religion.” Western Folklore, vol. 33, pp. 2–15.

  Young, Matt, and Taner Edis, 2004, Why Intelligent Design Fails: A Scientific Critique of the New Creationism. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press.

  Zahavi, A., 1987, “The Theory of Signal Selection and Some of Its Implications.” In V. P. Delfino, ed., International Symposium on Biological Evolution, Bari, 9–14 April1985. Bari: Adriatici Editrici, pp. 305–27.

  Zimmer, Carl, 2000, “Parasites Make Scaredy-Rats Foolhardy.” Science, July 28, pp. 525–26.

  Index

  abortion

  Abrahamic religions

  God becoming more abstract and

  depersonalized in

  similarities between

  See also Christianity; Islam; Judaism

  absolutes

  Absolute Unitary Being

  academic treatment of religion

  accident

  Acheulean handaxes

  acquired tastes

  “actions speak louder than words,”

  Acton, Lord

  Acts of Faith: Explaining the Human Side of

  Religion (Stark and Finke)

  acute religion

  Adam and Eve

  addiction

  Addison, Joseph

  adoration, God as object of

  adultery

  advertising

  shamanic

  truth in

  Aesop

  After God: The Future of Religion (Cupitt)

  agents

  in animism

  full-access

  gods as

  self-interest of

  spiritual and mythological

  agnosticism

  agriculture

  AIDS

  Ainslie, George

  Akshardham temple

  alarm calls

  Albright, Carol Rausch

  alcohol

  addiction to

  children and

  evolution of desire for

  Muslim attitude toward

  Prohibition

  variation in ability to metabolize

  Alcoholics Anonymous

  Algeria

  Alhambra

  Allah

  allegiance to sports teams

  Almighty, the

  alphabets

  Al Qaeda

  altricial species

  altruism

  American Religious Identification Survey

  (ARIS)

  amnestics

  ancestors

  Andaman and Nicobar Islands

  Andersen, Hans Christian

  animals

  alarm calls of

  alcohol consumed by

  cruelty to

  domesticated

  fantasy lacking in

  genetic imperatives governing

  laboratory

  traditions of

  See also birds; insects; mammals

  animate motion

  animism

  anomalies, counterintuitive

  Anselm, Saint

  anthrax

  Anthropic Principle

  Anthropologist on Mars, An (Sacks)

  anthropology

  as about behavior, not belief

  divisions in

  informants as not always expert

  relativism in

  in science studies

  subjects affected by

  unenviable reputation of

  anthropomorphism

  as appealing

  and arguments for existence of God

  shift from

  tension with other attributes

  antiglobalist terrorism

  anti-Semitism

  ants

  colonies

  Dicrocelium dendriticum parasitizing

  “anything goes,”

  Apartheid

  apes

  curiosity of

  fantasy lacking in

  groups of

  as threatened with extinction

  See also chimpanzees

  apologetics

  apophaticism

  apostasy

  architecture, religious

  Argument from Design

  Argument from Evil

  arguments for existence of God

  ARIS (American Religious Identification

  Survey)

  armed forces, religious fanatics as most reliable in

  arms races

  Armstrong, Karen

  Armstrong, Louis

  arrows, invulnerability to

  art

  artifice in

  as making the familiar strange

  religious

  why other species don’t have

  See also music

  artifice, recognizing

  Artificial Life

  artificial self-replicators

  Ashbrook, James B.

  Asians

  astrology

  astronomy

  Aswan Dam

  atheism, atheists

  and attitude toward the sacred

  avoiding complicity in religion

  “believers” as not

  believing in belief in God

  as bright

  electing atheist to office

  examination welcomed by

  as lacking values

  and moral commitment

  about most gods

  pre-emptive disqualification of

  reading Bible as literature in

  sacred values in

  of scholars of religion

  on scientific research on religion

  of Spinoza

  Spong associated with

  atomism

  atoms, knowledge of

  Atran, Scott

  attention, as limited

  attractive nuisance doctrine

  Auden, W. H.

  Aum Shinrikyo

  au naturel

  autism

  Avital, Eytan

  awe

  ax, cutting ed
ge of

  baby face

  Bach, Johann Sebastian

  Baghwan

  Baker Street Irregulars

  Bakker, Jim

  Baktamans

  Baldwin effect

  Balkin, J. M.

  Barrett, Justin

  Barro, Robert J.

  Barth, Fredrik

  Basque shepherds

  bears

  beaver dams

  “bedside manner,”

  beetle box of Wittgenstein

  Being

  Absolute Unitary

  greater than which nothing can be

  conceived

  Ground of All

  belief(s)

  belief in

  division of doxastic labor

  about intentional objects

  as intentional stance element

  metaphysical

  versus opinion

  political

  professing

  regretting

  religious belief not always

  religious versus secular

  in science

  in spiritual entities

  uniformity of profession of

  weak sense of

  why what you believe matters

  See also faith; skepticism

  Bell, Chris

  belomancy

  Benedict XVI, pope

  benign neglect

  Benny, Jack

  Benson, Herbert

  Benson, Robert

  Bering, J. M.

  bias

  and attention-seeking

  in study of human phenomena

  in survey research

  techniques for preventing

  Bible

  and evolution

  as fittest of texts

  on God’s existence

  as literature

  prophecies in

  as proving anything

  as salable manufactured product

  Bierce, Ambrose

  bifocals

  Big Brother

  Bigfoot

  biofacts

  bio-informatics

  biological motion

  biology

  stickers on textbooks

  See also evolutionary biology

  birds

  distraction displays of

  flocking of

  leks of

  parental care by

  runaway sexual selection in

  bitmaps

  black magic

  Blackmore, Susan

  Black Muslims

  blasphemy

  blind spot

  blinking

  blues, the

  bluffing

  boatbuilding

  Bonaparte, Napoleon

  Bonner, John Tyler

  Book of Common Prayer

  Book of Mormon

  bootstrapping

  Border collies

  born-again Christians

  bowerbirds

  Bowles, Samuel

  Boyd, Robert

  Boyer, Pascal

  Boyer, Peter

  bragging

  brains

  alcohol’s effect on

  of domestic animals

  getting information imprinted in

  “god center” in

  human versus chimpanzee

  as language processors

  memes and structures of

  memory

  minds and

  parasites in

  understanding itself

  brainwashing

  brand loyalty

  brand names

  Breakdown of Will (Ainslie)

  breeding

  bright

  “Bright Stuff, The” (Dennett)

  broccoli, genetically transmitted distaste for

  Brothers Karamazov, The (Dostoevski)

  Brown, Dan

  Buddhism

  Bulbulia, Joseph

  burial of the dead

  Burkert, Walter

  Burns, Conrad

  Bush, George H. W.

  butterflies, eye spots on wings of

  cadavers, dissection of human

  Calvary Chapel

  cancer

  Cannon, Walter B.

  canon

  card games, teaching

  cargo cults

  Carvey, Dana

  catastrophes

  averted, as anticlimax

  ignoring

  technologies for causing global

  catechisms

  cathedrals

  Catherine the Great

  Catholic Church. See Roman Catholic Church

  Catholocism gene

  cats

  cauliflower, genetically transmitted distaste for

  causation

  Cavalli-Sforza, Luigi Luca

  celebrity trials

  cell phone ringing

  center of the Earth

  cephalopods

  ceremony. See ritual

  ceroscopy

  certainties, moral

  chain letters

  chance

  charismatic leaders

  charity

  cherry-picking

  chess

  chiefdoms

  childbirth

  children

  and information about sex

  loss of innocence in

  obedience to parents by

  Santa Claus belief in

  understanding parents’ religious avowals

  what shall we tell them

  See also infants

  chimpanzees

  groups of

  human ancestors and

  and language

  as natural psychologists

  second-order intentionality in

  tools of

  China

  chocolate cake recipe

  choosing a major in college

  Christianity

  age of

  on apostasy

  born-again

  and cargo cults

  devotion to an idea in

  End Days movement

  evangelical

  faith as feature of

  and Family (Fellowship Foundation)

  fundamentalist

  God becoming more abstract and

  depersonalized in

  moderates versus extremists in

  as multinational

  as path to peace

  puritanical

  reaction to blasphemy in

  religious art of

  sacrifices on behalf of religion in

  selection of sources in

  spreading the Word in

  terrorism in

  See also Roman Catholic Church

  Christian Science

  Christmas carols

  chromosomes

  chronic religion

  chronometers

  church and state, separation of

  church construction

  “churchianity,”

  Churchill, Winston

  church membership

  cilantro, genetically transmitted distaste for

  Cinderella

  civil-rights movement

  clairvoyance

  clams

  “cleaner” fish

  Cloak, F. T.

  cloning

  clouds

  coalitions

  coals, walking on bed of

  Cobb County (Georgia)

  codes

  codons

  Coe, Douglas

  coevolution

  cohesiveness, group

  coin flipping

  Collapse (Diamond)

  Columbia University

  Comaneci, Nadia

  comfort, religion as providing

  commensalism

  common cold

  common knowledge

  common wisdom

  communism

  competition

  as condition of natural selection

  folk religion’s preser
vation in face of

  happy accidents amplified by

  between ideas

  in memory

  between religious groups

  computationalism

  computers

  computer viruses

  concepts

  conceptual revisions

  condoms

  confidence

  conflict

  religion as exploiting

  religion as source of

  Confucianism

  conjuring

  Consciousness Explained (Dennett)

  consent

  Constitution of the United States

  control systems

  controversies, scientific

  convergent evolution

  conversion

  cooperation

  copying

  cross-species

  in cultural transmission

  genetic

  high-fidelity

  multiplexing for ensuring fidelity in

  ritual for improving

  See also replication

  copyright

  Corinthians

  corporations

  corpses

  corruption

  Cosmological Argument

  cost-benefit calculations

  costs, high entry and exit

  counterintuitive anomalies

  coyotes

  creation ex nihilo

  creationism

  Creation of the Sacred: Tracks of Biology in Early Religions (Burkert)

  credal athleticism

  creed revision

  Cro-Magnon burial sites

  Cronk, Lee

  cross-species meme-copying

  cruelty to animals

  crusades

  crying, infant

  cuckoos

  cui bono?

  cults

  cargo

  death of

  on end of the world

  as high-tension

  satanic

  cultural evolution

  as Darwinian

  memes versus psychological constraints in

  of moral thinking

  of shamanism

  social science questions recast in terms of

  See also cultural transmission

  cultural health

  cultural replicators

  See also memes

  cultural software

  Cultural Software: A Theory of Ideology (Balkin)

  cultural transmission

  of Acheulean handaxes

  of design

  of divination

  of folk religion

  interplay between genetic transmission

  and

  of language

  of money

  parental training as

  of religion

  of ritual

  of shamanism

  stewardship for

  variation in

  Cupitt, Don

  cures, miraculous

  curiosity

  cute, babies as

  dairy-herding

  D’Aquili, Eugene

  Darwin, Charles

  Darwinian evolution. See evolution

  Darwin’s Cathedral: Evolution, Religion, and the Nature of Society (Wilson)

  Darwin’s Dangerous Idea (Dennett)

  Davies, Paul

  Da Vinci Code, The (Brown)

  Dawkins, Richard

  Dead Sea Scrolls

  death

  intentional stance and dealing with

  life after

  as natural

  death penalty