Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon
E319080
"Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon" is a book by philosopher Daniel Dennett that examines religion through the lens of evolutionary biology, cognitive science, and philosophy to explain its origins and functions in human life.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T2996682 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon Context triple: [Daniel Dennett, notableWork, Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon]
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A.
The American Religion
The American Religion is a 1992 book by literary critic Harold Bloom that analyzes distinctive features of religious belief and practice in the United States, especially its individualistic and gnostic tendencies.
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B.
Religion Without Revelation
Religion Without Revelation is a 1927 book by biologist and humanist Julian Huxley that argues for a non-theistic, science-based approach to religious and ethical thought.
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C.
On Religion: Speeches to Its Cultured Despisers
On Religion: Speeches to Its Cultured Despisers is a foundational 1799 work of modern Protestant theology in which Friedrich Schleiermacher defends the essence of religious experience to skeptical, educated audiences of his time.
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D.
Why Religion?
"Why Religion?" is a philosophical work by Horace M. Kallen that explores the nature, functions, and cultural significance of religious belief in modern society.
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E.
An Analysis of Religious Belief
An Analysis of Religious Belief is a 19th-century work of religious criticism by John Russell, Viscount Amberley, examining the origins, validity, and social impact of religious doctrines.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon Target entity description: "Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon" is a book by philosopher Daniel Dennett that examines religion through the lens of evolutionary biology, cognitive science, and philosophy to explain its origins and functions in human life.
-
A.
The American Religion
The American Religion is a 1992 book by literary critic Harold Bloom that analyzes distinctive features of religious belief and practice in the United States, especially its individualistic and gnostic tendencies.
-
B.
Religion Without Revelation
Religion Without Revelation is a 1927 book by biologist and humanist Julian Huxley that argues for a non-theistic, science-based approach to religious and ethical thought.
-
C.
On Religion: Speeches to Its Cultured Despisers
On Religion: Speeches to Its Cultured Despisers is a foundational 1799 work of modern Protestant theology in which Friedrich Schleiermacher defends the essence of religious experience to skeptical, educated audiences of his time.
-
D.
Why Religion?
"Why Religion?" is a philosophical work by Horace M. Kallen that explores the nature, functions, and cultural significance of religious belief in modern society.
-
E.
An Analysis of Religious Belief
An Analysis of Religious Belief is a 19th-century work of religious criticism by John Russell, Viscount Amberley, examining the origins, validity, and social impact of religious doctrines.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
book
ⓘ
non-fiction book ⓘ philosophy of religion book ⓘ |
| argument |
religion may have conferred evolutionary advantages but can also have harmful effects
ⓘ
societies should critically examine religion rather than treating it as beyond investigation ⓘ |
| author |
Daniel Dennett
ⓘ
surface form:
Daniel C. Dennett
Daniel Dennett ⓘ |
| authorAffiliation |
Tufts University Medford/Somerville campus
ⓘ
surface form:
Tufts University
|
| authorProfession |
cognitive scientist
ⓘ
philosopher ⓘ |
| centralThesis |
religion can and should be studied as a natural phenomenon using scientific methods
ⓘ
religious beliefs and practices are products of evolutionary and cultural processes ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| genre |
cognitive science
ⓘ
evolutionary psychology ⓘ philosophy ⓘ |
| influencedBy |
Darwinian evolution
ⓘ
cognitive science ⓘ evolutionary biology ⓘ philosophy of mind ⓘ |
| isbn | 978-0-670-03472-0 ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| mediaType |
hardcover
ⓘ
paperback ⓘ print ⓘ |
| notableFor |
its controversial call to examine religion without special immunity from criticism
ⓘ
popularizing a scientific, evolutionary approach to religion ⓘ |
| pageCount | 448 ⓘ |
| partOf | New Atheism literature ⓘ |
| publicationDate | 2006 ⓘ |
| publisher |
Viking
ⓘ
The Viking Press ⓘ
surface form:
Viking Press
|
| relatedWork |
God Is Not Great
ⓘ
Letter to a Christian Nation ⓘ The God Delusion ⓘ |
| subject |
atheism
ⓘ
cognitive science of religion ⓘ evolution of religion ⓘ philosophy of religion ⓘ religion ⓘ secularism ⓘ |
| topic |
cognitive mechanisms underlying religious belief
ⓘ
evolutionary origins of religion ⓘ functions of religion in human societies ⓘ memetics and religion ⓘ moral implications of religion ⓘ naturalistic explanations of religion ⓘ scientific study of religion ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon Description of subject: "Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon" is a book by philosopher Daniel Dennett that examines religion through the lens of evolutionary biology, cognitive science, and philosophy to explain its origins and functions in human life.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.