Daniel Dennett on The moral argument
Dennett argued that morality is a natural phenomenon, evolved and refined by culture, requiring no divine foundation.
Dennett brought his expertise in evolutionary theory and philosophy of mind to the moral argument, arguing that morality is best understood as a natural phenomenon — the product of evolution, cultural development, and rational reflection, not divine command.
In Darwin's Dangerous Idea and Freedom Evolves, Dennett showed how cooperation, fairness, and moral intuition could arise through natural selection and cultural evolution. Moral 'progress' — the expansion of the circle of moral concern — is a real phenomenon, but it is driven by reason and empathy, not revelation.
Against Craig's claim that without God there can be no objective moral values, Dennett argued that the objectivity of morality does not require a cosmic lawgiver any more than the objectivity of mathematics requires one. Moral truths, like mathematical truths, can be discovered by rational inquiry — and the history of ethics shows that secular reasoning has been a far more reliable guide than scripture.
“The idea that we need God to be good is not just wrong — it is insulting. It implies that without divine surveillance, we would all be monsters.”