Daniel Dennett and Darwin’s Dangerous Idea

Why did Daniel Dennett claim that Darwin’s idea was dangerous? At the beginning of the 19th century belief in biological evolution was widespread, but nobody knew how it happened. Darwin offered a compelling explanation but it contradicted Western thinking about causality. Darwin suggested that the obvious design in the natural world evolved without a designer. How did he conceive of such a radical idea, and how has it challenged Western thought? Gordon Orians discusses of the generation of Darwin’s idea and its controversial reception, a controversy that continues today.