Daniel Dennett in The New York Times

There was a great profile of Daniel Dennett in yesterday’s New York Times. The famous philosopher, cognitive scientist, and atheist discusses the comfort he finds in sailing, some of his views on life, and his somewhat-idiosyncratic philosophical positions. Though there’s a lot I disagree with Dennett on (as far as Dennett seems concerned, if science can’t explain “qualia,” that is, the subjective experience of something as it’s perceived (e.g. the “redness” of red), then qualia is simply an illusion), there’s something about his writing and personality that strikes me as nonetheless magnetic and engaging.

I recommend you read the entire piece, but if your attention is limited, the quote in the image above is where I most agree with Dennett. I don’t actually exclude things like dualism or theism from a scientific—specifically neuroscientific—perspective (even though I think they might be wrong; this is practically heresy, I know). But I’ve never understood the idea that materialism or atheism somehow robs life of its meaning. I think Dennett captures that point really beautifully.

Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking will be available on May 6th. Until then, you can read up on a (more fair and charitable) summation of Dennett’s arguments against qualia, as well as an introduction to the concept of intuition pumps, on Wikipedia.

Vlad Chituc is a lab manager and research assistant in a social neuroscience lab at Duke University. As an undergraduate at Yale, he was the president of the campus branch of the Secular Student Alliance, where he tried to be smarter about religion and drink PBR, only occasionally at the same time. He cares about morality and thinks philosophy is important. He is also someone that you can follow on twitter.