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About Daniel Denett
Daniel Denett is a philosopher born on 28 March 1942 and obtained a Bachelors of philosophy at Harvard University in 1963 and went to University of Oxford for his graduate degree. He became interested in neuroscience, psychology and artificial intelligence. As the video link shows, he was also intrigued by the topic of free will. [link text](www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBrSdlOhIx4&ab_channel=BigThink) -
Content and Consciousness
Content and Consciousness was a thesis paper that later got turned into his first book, and contained the beginning of his views on the consciousness. He developed this theory based on the new advances of cognitive science, at the time, and how it related to the mind and the conscious. This book also argues against Cartesian theory. -
Became a Director of Cognitive Studies
In 1985, he became a professor at Tufts University and their director for their cognitive studies center. -
Helped Develop a Robot
At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he helped with the development of a robot that had been designed with artificial intelligence This robot, Cog, helped Denett begin to develop many questions, especially pertaining to the capability for a robot to have a consciousness. Like humans, this robot was designed to start off at “infancy” and learn from its environment and experiences. link text -
From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Minds
From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Minds was published as recently as 2017 and explains Denett’s thoughts of how our minds came to be. He explains how he believes that through natural selection our minds have developed from something that was once mindless.
