Daniel Dennett

Lore & Background

Daniel Dennett was an American philosopher and cognitive scientist whose work centered on the philosophy of mind, science, and biology, particularly as these fields intersect with evolutionary biology and cognitive science. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and spent part of his childhood in Lebanon, where his father served as a covert counter-intelligence agent during World War II. After his father’s death in a plane crash, his mother brought him back to Massachusetts. Dennett first encountered philosophy at age eleven at a summer camp, when a counselor told him he was a philosopher. He earned a BA in philosophy from Harvard University, where he studied under Willard Van Orman Quine, and a DPhil from the University of Oxford under Gilbert Ryle. He taught at the University of California, Irvine, before spending five decades at Tufts University, where he was co-director of the Center for Cognitive Studies and the Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy. Dennett described himself as an autodidact who benefited from informal tutorials with leading scientists. He argued for breaking down disciplinary silos and collaborated widely with computer scientists, cognitive scientists, and biologists. He co-edited *The Mind’s I* with Douglas Hofstadter and wrote an afterword for Richard Dawkins’ *The Extended Phenotype*. A confirmed compatibilist on free will, he defended a two-stage model of decision making. In philosophy of mind, he was a proponent of materialism, arguing that consciousness results entirely from physical brain processes, as presented in his book *Consciousness Explained*. He was a vocal atheist and secularist, referred to as one of the “Four Horsemen” of New Atheism, and a co-founder of The Clergy Project.

Reader's Guide

Dennett was born on March 28, 1942, in Boston, Massachusetts, to Ruth Marjorie (née Leck) and Daniel Clement Dennett Jr. His father, who had a PhD in Islamic studies from Harvard University, was killed in a plane crash in Ethiopia in 1947. Dennett graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1959, spent one year at Wesleyan University, and received his BA in philosophy at Harvard University in 1963. He earned his DPhil in philosophy at the University of Oxford in 1965. He taught at the University of California, Irvine from 1965 to 1971, then at Tufts University for five decades, retiring emeritus in 2022. He was a proponent of materialism in the philosophy of mind and a compatibilist on free will, articulating a two-stage model of decision making.

Did You Know?

• Dennett was first introduced to philosophy at age 11 at Camp Mowglis in New Hampshire.
• He co-edited and co-authored the 1981 collection The Mind's I with Douglas Hofstadter.
• He wrote an afterword for the 1999 reissue of The Extended Phenotype by Richard Dawkins.
• He was a recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship and two Guggenheim Fellowships.

Notable Quotes (Wikiquote)

"We really have to think of reasoning the way we think of romance, it takes two to tango. There has to be a communication." — Daniel Dennett "Daniel Dennett in a panel under the title "Can Rationality Be Taught?" at TAM 2014." — Daniel Dennett "I think religion for many people is some sort of moral viagra." — Daniel Dennett "Not a single one of the cells that compose you knows who you are, or cares." — Daniel Dennett