Discussed in this essay:
From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Minds, by Daniel C. Dennett. W. W. Norton. 496 pages. $28.95.
Consciousness Explained, by Daniel C. Dennett. Back Bay Books. 528 pages. $18.
The great dream of the modern scientific age is a total synthesis of human knowledge. The behavior of living organisms — including such complex human behavior as political organization and culture making — will be explained in biological terms, biology explained in chemical terms, chemistry explained in physical terms, and physics, finally, explained in terms of a handful of immutable laws governing matter. The baroque structures into…
