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Dennett’s Rhetorical Strategies in Consciousness Explained

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Abstract

Dennett’s Consciousness Explained (1991) is an inspiring but also a highly frustrating book. The line of the argument seems to be clear, but then at second sight it fades away. It turns out that Dennett uses six of the seven strategies which I discuss in my “The Seven Strategies of the Sophisticated Pseudo-Scientist: A Look into Freud’s Rhetorical Tool Box” (J. Gen. Phil. Sci., 2001) Discussing important examples of these strategies I show why Consciousness Explained is such a frustrating book. As the examples used do not reflect minor problems but go to the heart of the matter and concern the book’s main areas of contention, it turns out that, in spite of the valuable and insightful details, Dennett’s materialistic view of consciousness is supported mainly by rhetorical sleights of hand.

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  1. Weezenhof 26-10, 6536, JA Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    Anthony A. Derksen

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  1. Anthony A. Derksen
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Correspondence to Anthony A. Derksen.

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Derksen, A.A. Dennett’s Rhetorical Strategies in Consciousness Explained. J Gen Philos Sci 36, 29–48 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10838-005-7598-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10838-005-7598-9

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