Dennett's Philosophy : A Comprehensive Assessment

by Don Ross, Andrew Brook and David Thompson (Eds.)

• ISBN13: 9780262681179
• ISBN10: 026268117X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-10-23
• Publisher: Bradford Books

Summary

The influential philosopher Daniel Dennett is best known for his distinctive theory of mental content, his elucidation of how the complex components of mental processing seem to come together in the relatively coherent narratives that we tell ourselves about ourselves and in his vivid accounts of how to think about minds in their evolutionary setting. The essays in this collection step back to ask: Do the complex components of Dennett's work on intentionality, consciousness, evolution, and ethics themselves come together into a coherent philosophical system? The essays, which grew out of a conference attended by Dennett, consider evolution, intentionality, consciousness, ontology, and ethics and free will. Unusually, for a collection of this kind, the authors were able to take account of Dennett's comments on their views. In the concluding essay, "With a Little Help from My Friends," Dennett offers his own thoughts on the comprehensiveness of his philosophy. Contributors Andrew Brook, Timothy Crowe, Daniel C. Dennett, Paul Dumouchel, Timothy Kenyon, Dan Lloyd, Ruth Garrett Millikan, T. Brian Mooney, Thomas Polger, David Rosenthal, Don Ross, William Seager, David Thompson, Christopher Viger.

Table of Contents

Contributors	vii
Preface	ix
Introduction: The Dennettian Stance	1	(26)
Don Ross
Daniel Dennett's Views on the Power and Pervasiveness of Natural Selection: An Evolutionary Biologist's Perspective	27	(14)
Timothy M. Crowe
Good Tricks and Forced Moves, or, The Antinomy of Natural Reason	41	(14)
Paul Dumouchel
Reading Mother Nature's Mind	55	(22)
Ruth Garrett Millikan
Indeterminacy and Realism	77	(18)
Timothy Kenyon
Real Patterns and Surface Metaphysics	95	(36)
William Seager
Where Do Dennett's Stances Stand? Explaining Our Kind of Mind	131	(16)
Christopher Viger
Rainforest Realism: A Dennettian Theory of Existence	147	(22)
Don Ross
Popping the Thought Balloon	169	(32)
Dan Lloyd
Phenomenology and Heterophenomenology: Husserl and Dennett on Reality and Science	201	(18)
David L. Thompson
Judgments and Drafts Eight Years Later	219	(40)
Andrew Brook
Zombies Explained	259	(28)
Thomas W. Polger
Content, Interpretation, and Consciousness	287	(22)
David M. Rosenthal
Dennett on Ethics: Fitting the Facts against Greed for the Good	309	(18)
T. Brian Mooney
With a Little Help from My Friends	327	(62)
Daniel C. Dennett
Name Index	389	(2)
Subject Index	391