From Bacteria to Bach and Back

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From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Minds
Cover (Painting by Vasily Kandinsky, "transverse line" 1923)
Author	Daniel Dennett
Language	English
Subject	Human consciousness
Published	2017
Publisher	W. W. Norton & Company
Media type	Print (hardcover)
Pages	496
ISBN	978-0-393-24207-2

From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Minds is a 2017 book about the origin of human consciousness by the philosopher Daniel Dennett, in which the author makes a case for a materialist theory of mind,^[1] arguing that consciousness is no more mysterious than gravity.

Drawing on ideas from René Descartes and Charles Darwin, Dennett writes that:

'... natural systems can create "competence without comprehension"—that is, situations in which sophisticated actions occur without the individual or machine involved understanding the reasons for the actions taken.'^[2]

and that:

'a comprehending mind could in fact have arisen from a mindless process of natural selection. ...'^[3]

Critical reception

Physician Harriet Hall reviewing the book for Skeptical Inquirer magazine, said that "Dennett is always worth reading, and this latest book distills his current thinking and all he has learned over the years". He discusses many "conundrums with facts and arguments from evolution and neuroscience". "Dennett warns that trying to understand consciousness, 'We mustn't let our moral intuitions distort our empirical investigation from the outset'". Hall suggests that this book is not for light reading, but well written, something you will need to think about as you ponder "how consciousness works and how it came about".^[4]

References

^ "His aim is to provide a materialist account of the evolutionary origins of the human mind and consciousness ..." Steven Rose review in The Guardian - 2 Feb 2017
^ Publishers Weekly
^ goodreads
^ Hall, Harriet (2018). "The Riddle of Consciousness". Skeptical Inquirer. 42 (2). Committee for Skeptical Inquirer: 57–59.

v t e Daniel Dennett
Concepts	Cartesian theater Greedy reductionism Heterophenomenology Intentional stance Intuition pump Memetics Multiple drafts model
Selected works	Brainstorms (1981) The Mind's I (1981) Elbow Room (1984) Consciousness Explained (1991) Darwin's Dangerous Idea (1995) Freedom Evolves (2003) Sweet Dreams (2005) Breaking the Spell (2006) From Bacteria to Bach and Back (2017)
Other	The Philosophical Lexicon New Atheism Universal Darwinism

Evolutionary psychology

Evolutionary
processes

Areas

Cognition / Emotion	Affect Display Display rules Facial expression Behavioral modernity Cognitive module/modularity of mind Automatic and controlled processes Computational theory of mind Domain generality Domain specificity Dual process theory Cognitive tradeoff hypothesis Evolution of the brain Evolution of nervous systems Fight-or-flight response Arachnophobia Basophobia Ophidiophobia Folk biology/taxonomy Folk psychology/theory of mind Intelligence Flynn effect Wason selection task Motor control/skill Multitasking Sleep Visual perception Color vision Eye Naïve physics
Culture	Aesthetics Literary criticism Musicology Anthropology Biological Crime Language Origin Psychology Speech Morality Moral foundations Religion Origin Universals
Development	Attachment Bonding Affectional/maternal/paternal bond Caregiver deprivation Childhood attachment Cinderella effect Cognitive development Education Language acquisition Personality development Socialization
Human factors / Mental health	Cognitive ergonomics Computer-mediated communication Engineering psychology Human–computer interaction Media naturalness theory Neuroergonomics Depression Digital media use and mental health Hypophobia Imprinted brain hypothesis Mind-blindness Psychological effects of Internet use Rank theory of depression Schizophrenia Screen time Smartphones and pedestrian safety Social aspects of television Societal effects of cars Distracted driving Lead–crime hypothesis Mobile phones and driving safety Texting while driving
Sex	Activity Adult attachment Age disparity Arousal Concealed ovulation Coolidge effect Desire Fantasy Hormonal motivation Jealousy Mate guarding Mating preferences Mating strategies Orientation Ovulatory shift hypothesis Pair bond Physical/Sexual attraction Sexuality/male/female Sexy son hypothesis Westermarck effect
Sex differences	Aggression Autism Cognition Crime Division of labour Emotional intelligence Empathising–systemising theory Gender role Intelligence Memory Mental health Narcissism Neuroscience Schizophrenia Substance abuse Suicide Variability hypothesis

Related subjects

Academic disciplines	Behavioral/evolutionary economics Behavioral epigenetics/genetics Affective/behavioral/cognitive/evolutionary neuroscience Biocultural anthropology Biological psychiatry Cognitive psychology Cognitive science Cross-cultural psychology Ethology Evolutionary biology Evolutionary medicine Functional psychology Neuropsychology Philosophy of mind Population genetics Primatology Sociobiology
Research topics	Cultural evolution Evolutionary epistemology Great ape language Human–animal communication Missing heritability problem Primate cognition Unit of selection Coevolution Cultural group selection Dual inheritance theory Fisher's principle Group selection Hologenome theory Lamarckism Population Punctuated equilibrium Recent human evolution Species Species complex Transgenerational epigenetic inheritance Trivers–Willard hypothesis
Theoretical positions	Cultural selection theory Determinism/indeterminism Biological determinism Connectionism Cultural determinism Environmental determinism Nature versus nurture Psychological nativism Social constructionism Social determinism Standard social science model Functionalism Memetics Multilineal evolution Neo-Darwinism Neoevolutionism Sociocultural evolution Unilineal evolution

Categories:

Hidden categories:

Critical reception

See also

References