Editing Darwin's Dangerous Idea (section)

==Background==

Dennett's previous book was ''[[Consciousness Explained]]'' (1991). Dennett noted discomfort with [[Darwinism]] among not only lay people but also even academics and decided it was time to write a book dealing with the subject.<ref>Material in this section is largely drawn from ''Darwin's Dangerous Idea'', preface.</ref> ''Darwin's Dangerous Idea'' is not meant to be a work of [[science]], but rather an [[interdisciplinary]] book; Dennett admits that he does not understand all of the scientific details himself. He goes into a moderate level of detail, but leaves it for the reader to go into greater depth if desired, providing references to this end.

In writing the book, Dennett wanted to "get thinkers in other disciplines to take evolutionary theory seriously, to show them how they have been underestimating it, and to show them why they have been listening to the wrong sirens". To do this he tells a story; one that is mainly original but includes some material from his previous work.

Dennett taught an undergraduate seminar at [[Tufts University]] on Darwin and philosophy, which included most of the ideas in the book. He also had the help of fellow staff and other academics, some of whom read drafts of the book.<ref>These include [[Richard Dawkins]], [[David Haig (biologist)|David Haig]], [[Douglas Hofstadter]], [[Nick Humphrey]], [[Ray Jackendoff]], [[Philip Kitcher]], [[Justin Leiber]], [[Ernst Mayr]], [[Steve Pinker]] and [[Kim Sterelny]].</ref> It is dedicated to [[Willard Van Orman Quine|W. V. O. Quine]], "teacher and friend".<ref>''Darwin's Dangerous Idea'', p. 5</ref>