Over at brainstorms, oz and I are discussing the sophomoric review [login required] of Dennett’s new book in yesterday’s NYT by a pompous lit-crit idiot called Leon Wieseltier. As someone commented on an NYT forum, “I am dismayed to see that the NYTimes is continuing to ask literary critics to review philosophical books about science. It’s like asking a ballerina to review an auto show.”. But a ballerina is unlikely to be as graceless as Wieseltier….
UPDATE: Not everybody at the NYT is so dismissive of Dennett’s book. In this piece [login required], Edward Rothstein quotes from Dennett to introduce his thoughts on the concept of iconoclasm (“History Illuminates the Rage of Muslims”). It’s a nice little piece, although it looks as if it was edited down a bit clumsily.
On the other hand, Andrew Sullivan hails Wieseltier’s piece as a “superb dissection of scientism”. Since Dennett’s supposed “scientism” is a product of Wieseltier’s deranged mind, I have to assume that Sully hasn’t actually read the book. Surely he should know better than to rely on a review….