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The birth of Daniel C. Dennett III (28 March 1942)
Daniel Dennet was born on 28 March 1942 to Daniel Clement Dennett Jr., a teacher at the American University in Beruit and a secret agent in the OSS, and Ruth Marjorie (née Leck) Dennett. Daniel was one of three children, and the only boy. -
The Education of Daniel Dennett (1959 - 1965)
Following his graduation from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1959, Daniel Dennett attended Wesleyan University and there he began reading the works of W. V. Quine. In the fall of 1960, Dennett changed schools to attend Harvard University. While at Harvard, Dennett was a student of Quine, a philosopher and logician, who later became his mentor. In 1963, he received his Bachelor of Arts in philosophy. Dennett received his doctorate in philosophy (PhD) from the University of Oxford in 1965. -
Assistant professorship at University of California, Irvine (UCI) (1965)
Daniel Dennett began his teaching at UCI in 1965. As the Assistant Professor to A.I. Melton, he taught the entire undergraduate curriculum with the exception of the ethics courses. In 1968, in response to an Artificial Intelligence researcher at UCI, Julian Feldman's plea, Dennett published an article titled "Machine Traces and Protocol Statements" in Behavioral Science refuting the memo of Hubert Dreyfus, "Alchemy and Artificial Intelligence." This was his start into the philosophy of AI. -
Content and Consciousness (1969)
Dennett's first book, Content and Consciousness, was published in 1969 and is where he reveals his theory about the human mind and consciousness based on the advances in the realm of cognitive science. -
Mechanism and Responsibility (1968)
In 1968, Dennett's revised dissertation was accepted into the Routledge & Kegan Paul series, The International Library of Philosophy and Scientific Method. Afterwards, he wrote an essay on free will, "Mechanism and Responsibility" where he introduced the terms intentional stance and intentional system. Intentional stance is when we assign a person/object with beliefs, desires and rationality. Example: A thermostat 'wants' to keep a set temperature, adjusts its 'beliefs' to maintain it. -
Co-director of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University (1985)
Due to the strength of his philosophical contributions to cognitive science, Dennett was appointed as co-director of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University in 1985.
Daniel Dennett continues to teach at Tufts to this day. -
Consciousness Explained (1991)
This is Dennett's first major work that offers up how consciousness comes about from our brain processes, both physiological and thought. "All varieties of perception--indeed all varieties of thought or mental activity--are accomplished in the brain by parallel, multitrack processes of interpretation and elaboration of sensory inputs. (Dennett, 111) He states in his autobiography that he would never have written the book without the help of Nick Humphrey, Ray Jackendoff and Marcel Kingsbourne. -
Darwin's Dangerous Idea (1995)
Dennett wrote Darwin's Dangerous Idea and it was published in 1995. He gathered a lot of ideas and worked to reinforce his theoretical developments by talking to such evolutionists as Richard Dawkins, David Haig, Ernst Mayr, E.O. Wilson and Steve Pinker. In the book, Dennett worked to contribute the scientific field by defending specific empirical theories of evolution. -
TED Talk "Dangerous Memes" (February 2002)
In 2002, Daniel Dennett spoke in Monterey, California about the influence ideas or memes could have on a group and how it was possible for people to take those ideas and misuse them for other than the intended purpose.
The term meme was created by Dennett's colleague, Robert Dawkins, it means "a unit of cultural information, as a concept, belief or practice that spreads from one person to another." https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_dennett_on_dangerous_memes/transcript?language=en -
Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon (2006)
Daniel Dennett devoted two years to researching and writing Breaking the Spell, which was his effort to address and counter the prevailing attitudes about religion. His efforts are in hope to encourage more openness about religions and to educate people about the world's religions.
