Daniel C. Dennett

Evolution and the Meanings of Life

Darwin's Dangerous Idea

Where Am I?

'One of today's most readable, intellectually nimble and scientifically literate philosophers' Nature 'Who would have guessed that a philosopher's life could be so full of adventures?' Daniel C. Dennett, philosopher and cognitive scientist, has spent his career considering consciousness. I've Been Thinking traces the development of Dennett's own intellect and instructs us how we too can become good thinkers. Dennett's restless curiosity leads him from his childhood in Beirut to Harvard, and from Parisian jazz clubs to 'tillosophy' on his tractor in Maine. Along the way, he encounters and debates with a host of legendary thinkers, and reveals the breakthroughs and misjudgments that shaped his paradigm-shifting philosophies. Thinking, Dennett argues, is hard, and risky. In fact, all good philosophical thinking is inevitably accompanied by bafflement, frustration and self-doubt. It is only in getting it wrong that we, very occasionally, find a way to get it right. This memoir by one of the greatest philosophers of our time will speak to anyone who seeks a life of the mind with adventure and creativity.

I've Been Thinking

Matthew M. Hurley

Reginald B. Adams, Jr.

An evolutionary and cognitive account of the science behind why we crack up—“one of the most complex and sophisticated humor theories ever presented” (Evolutionary Psychology). Some things are funny—jokes, puns, sitcoms, Charlie Chaplin, The Far Side, Malvolio with his yellow garters crossed—but why? Why does humor exist in the first place? Why do we spend so much of our time passing on amusing anecdotes, making wisecracks, watching The Simpsons? In Inside Jokes, Matthew Hurley, Daniel Dennett, and Reginald Adams offer an evolutionary and cognitive perspective. Humor, they propose, evolved out of a computational problem that arose when our long-ago ancestors were furnished with open-ended thinking. Mother Nature—aka natural selection—cannot just order the brain to find and fix all our time-pressured misleaps and near-misses. She has to bribe the brain with pleasure. So we find them funny. This wired-in source of pleasure has been tickled relentlessly by humorists over the centuries, and we have become addicted to the endogenous mind candy that is humor.

Using Humor to Reverse-Engineer the Mind

Inside Jokes

The Evolution of Minds

From Bacteria to Bach and Back

The Mind's I Fantasies And Reflections On Self & Soul

Freedom Evolves

This work assesses Darwin's theory of evolution and looks at why it arises such heated debate among scientists, philosophers and sociologists. The book aims to show that Darwinism does not devalue the miracles of life.

Douglas R. Hofstadter

Benlik Ve Ruh Üzerine Hayaller Ve Düsünceler

Aklin Gözü

Como surgiram as nossas mentes? Durante séculos, poetas, filósofos, psicólogos e físicos sondaram o maior dos mistérios: como é que a mente humana desenvolveu as suas prodigiosas capacidades? Discípulos de Darwin explicaram como é que a seleção natural produziu as plantas, mas e em relação à mente humana? Em Das Bactérias a Bach, Daniel C. Dennett baseia-se em descobertas recentes da biologia e das ciências computacionais para mostrar como é que uma mente consciente pôde emergir de um processo irracional de seleção natural. Uma mudança crucial ocorreu quando os humanos desenvolveram a capacidade de partilhar memes, ou formas de fazer coisas não baseadas em instintos genéticos. A competição entre memes terá produzido ferramentas de pensamento suficientemente poderosas para que as nossas mentes não se limitassem a percecionar e a reagir, mas se dispusessem a criar e a compreender. Livro incontornável para toda uma nova geração de filósofos e cientistas, Das Bactérias a Bach não desapontará quem quer que tenha curiosidade em perceber como é que a mente funciona.

Das Bactérias a Bach e Vice-Versa - A Evolução das Mentes

An anniversary edition of a classic in cognitive science, with a new introduction by the author. When Brainstorms was published in 1978, the interdisciplinary field of cognitive science was just emerging. Daniel Dennett was a young scholar who wanted to get philosophers out of their armchairs—and into conversations with psychologists, linguists, computer scientists. This collection of seventeen essays by Dennett offers a comprehensive theory of mind, encompassing traditional issues of consciousness and free will. Using careful arguments and ingenious thought experiments, the author exposes familiar preconceptions and hobbling intuitions. The essays are grouped into four sections: “Intentional Explanation and Attributions of Mentality”; “The Nature of Theory in Psychology”; “Objects of Consciousness and the Nature of Experience”; and “Free Will and Personhood.” This anniversary edition includes a new introduction by Dennett, “Reflections on Brainstorms after Forty Years,” in which he recalls the book's original publication by Harry and Betty Stanton of Bradford Books and considers the influence and afterlife of some of the essays. For example, “Mechanism and Responsibility” was Dennett's first articulation of his concept of the intentional stance; “Are Dreams Experiences?” anticipates the major ideas in his 1991 book Consciousness Explained; and “Where Am I?” has been variously represented in a BBC documentary, a student's Javanese shadow puppet play, and a feature-length film made in the Netherlands, Victim of the Brain.

Philosophical Essays on Mind and Psychology

Brainstorms, Fortieth Anniversary Edition

In this pioneering book, Daniel Dennett sets out clearly what he believed constituted a genuine analysis of the mind.

Content and Consciousness

Dennett shows that human freedom is not an illusion; it is an objective phenomenon, distinct from all other biological conditions and found in only one species - us. There was a time on this planet when it didn't exist, quite recently in fact. It had to evolve like every other feature of the biosphere, and it continues to evolve today. Dennett shows that far from there being an incompatibility between contemporary science and the traditional vision of freedom and morality, it is only recently that science has advanced to the point where we can see how we came to have our unique kind of freedom.

Daniel C. Dennett

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