Introduction
Daniell C. Dennett, American philosopher, is Distinguished Arts and Sciences Professor, Professor of Philosophy, and Director of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University (USA). His main concern is the philosophy of mind. He intends to give a mechanical explanation of the functioning of consciousness, harmonizing ideas from Wittgenstein, Ryle, Quine, and current results from experimental psychology. For this reason, he may be described as a thinker who advocates a certain type of Behaviorism by means of: (i) a skeptical attitude towards traditional philosophical discourse; (ii) a thoroughgoing nominalism which rejects essences and ultimate truths; (iii) an optimistic scientism which includes the belief that the best explanation of the functioning of consciousness will be provided by an account of human beings qua biological organisms under evolutionary constraints. Dennett’s approach is not only naturalistic, but also functionalist, in the sense that human...
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Pinto, P.R.M. (2017). Dennett, Daniel (1942–). In: Peters, M.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Educational Philosophy and Theory. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-588-4_303
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