From Bacteria to Bach and Back book club questions

1. 1.

   Dennett argues that competence without comprehension is the rule, not the exception. Where in your own life do you perform competences you cannot fully explain?

2. 2.

   The meme concept is controversial. Does the idea that your thoughts and values are partly cultural replicators using your brain as a vehicle feel illuminating, threatening, or both?

3. 3.

   Dennett is dismissive of the 'hard problem' of consciousness. Do you find his dismissal persuasive, or does it feel like a magician explaining away the mystery by naming it differently?

4. 4.

   What does it mean for human creativity — Bach's, or anyone's — if it is ultimately built from recombined cultural material rather than from inner originality?

5. 5.

   Dennett says there are no skyhooks — no top-down causes in nature. How does that claim interact with religious or spiritual frameworks that some people in your group hold?

6. 6.

   The book describes the evolution of language as a key step in the creation of human minds. What does that suggest about how language shapes what kinds of thoughts are possible?

7. 7.

   Heterophenomenology treats first-person experience as data about what's going on rather than as direct revelation of what's going on. Does that approach feel like scientific honesty or like explaining away something important?

8. 8.

   Dennett is writing against a tradition — Chomsky, Nagel, Searle — that he thinks has misunderstood mind. Having read the book, do you find his arguments against these thinkers convincing or tendentious?

9. 9.

   If cultural evolution installs much of our minds, what responsibility do we have for the cultural environment we create around the next generation?

10. 10.

    The book title uses Bach as a symbol of the highest human achievement. Is Bach a good example of Dennett's thesis, or does his music feel like a counterexample to a purely Darwinian story?

11. 11.

    What would it actually mean to you personally if Dennett is right that the self you experience is a kind of useful fiction constructed by evolutionary processes?

12. 12.

    Dennett wrote this book partly as a summary of his life's work. Does it feel like the work of someone who has won the argument, or someone who is still fighting it?

How to run the discussion

• Pick six to eight, not all of them. An hour of real discussion covers fewer questions than anyone expects, and racing the list is what makes a book club feel like homework.
• Open with what people noticed, not what they concluded. Asking for a verdict first hardens opinions before anyone has heard each other.
• Let the disagreement run. The questions below that split a room are the ones worth the time; the ones everyone answers the same way can be skipped.
• Ask the quiet person a specific question. A direct, narrow question is far easier to answer than an open invitation to contribute.