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Daniel Dennett (1942- )

By MaijaPayacag

  • Birth and Early life

    Birth and Early life
    Although born in Boston, MA, Daniel Dennett spent his early life in Beirut, Lebanon, where his father worked as a secret agent. After his father passed away; In 1947, when Daniel Dennett was five years old, his family moved back to the United States where his mother worked as a book editor (Ruse).

  • College

    College
    Daniel Dennett graduated from Harvard in 1963 with a B.A. in philosophy. After completing his B.A. Daniel went on to complete his Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy from Oxford in 1965 (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica).
    The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Daniel C. Dennett.” The Encyclopaedia Britannica, 6 Sept. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Daniel-C-Dennett.

  • Content and Consciousness

    Content and Consciousness
    Daniel Dennett’s first major work was his doctoral thesis, which turned into his first book, Content and Consciousness, published in 1969. This work is about the relationship between the mind and the body and how they work together (Dennett).
    Dennett, Daniel Clement. Content and Consciousness. 2nd ed., Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1986,
    https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203005729.

  • Kinds of Minds

    Kinds of Minds
    In this work, Daniel Dennett talks about exciting concepts such as how intentionality came into focus and the creation of thinking. A few interesting questions that are posed in this book are if a woman can understand what it is like to be the opposite sex, what certain animals think of, and why can a robot not be conscious.

  • Jean Nicod Prize

    Jean Nicod Prize
    Daniel Dennett was awarded the Jean Nicod Prize in 2001(Ruse)
    Michael Ruse. “The Evolution Wars: A Guide to the Debates.” Daniel Dennett, 2nd ed., Grey
    House Publishing, 2009, https://search.credoreference.com/articles/Qm9va0FydGljbGU6MzA5NDk1Ng==?q=Daniel+Dennett&aid=105594

  • Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon

    Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon
    In this work, Daniel Dennett argues that religious practices and beliefs should be subjected to scientific scrutiny. The book and lecture poses hard questions about religion and adds to the debate of evolution vs. intelligent design.(Daniel Dennett)
    Daniel Dennett: Breaking the Spell - Religion as a Natural Phenomenon. Directed by The
    University of Edinburgh, 2009. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=5WhQ8bSvcHQ.