I’ve Been Thinking

by Daniel C. Dennett

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Book Overview: I’ve Been Thinking

Daniel C. Dennett, preeminent philosopher and cognitive scientist, has spent his career considering the thorniest, most fundamental mysteries of the mind. Do we have free will? What is consciousness and how did it come about? What distinguishes human minds from the minds of animals? Dennett’s answers have profoundly shaped our age of philosophical thought. In I’ve Been Thinking, he reflects on his amazing career and lifelong scientific fascinations.

Dennett’s relentless curiosity has taken him from a childhood in Beirut and the classrooms of Harvard, Oxford, and Tufts, to “Cognitive Cruises” on sailboats and the fields and orchards of Maine, and to laboratories and think tanks around the world. Along the way, I’ve Been Thinking provides a master class in the dominant themes of twentieth-century philosophy and cognitive science–including language, evolution, logic, religion, and AI–and reveals both the mistakes and breakthroughs that shaped Dennett’s theories.

Key to this journey are Dennett’s interlocutors–Douglas Hofstadter, Marvin Minsky, Willard Van Orman Quine, Gilbert Ryle, Richard Rorty, Thomas Nagel, John Searle, Gerald Edelman, Stephen Jay Gould, Jerry Fodor, Rodney Brooks, and more–whose ideas, even when he disagreed with them, helped to form his convictions about the mind and consciousness. Studded with photographs and told with characteristic warmth, I’ve Been Thinking also instills the value of life beyond the university, one enriched by sculpture, music, farming, and deep connection to family.

Dennett compels us to consider: What do I really think? And what if I’m wrong? This memoir by one of the greatest minds of our time will speak to anyone who seeks to balance a life of the mind with adventure and creativity.

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Editorial Reviews

Praise for Daniel C. Dennett

“Dennett is the mild-mannered super wizard of philosophical brainstorms.”
— 3: AM Magazine

“There seems to be no stopping Daniel Dennett. In academic circles, he has long been recognized as a leading figure. He has played a major role in integrating philosophy of mind with cognitive science, and his ideas have been widely discussed for decades…It is no accident that [he] has gained such a wide readership. He is always fun to read. He has few equals at explaining complex topics, and his positive theories are never boring.”
— David Papineau, Times Literary Supplement

“If you have not encountered [Daniel Dennett’s] work, you surely should…Very few contemporary thinkers have supplied us with so many ‘thinking tools.’…Dennett’s book is astonishingly rich and will introduce you to most of the key ideas in the terrain he strides energetically across.”
— Adam Zeman, Standpoint

About the Author

Daniel C. Dennett

Daniel C. Dennett, a renowned American philosopher and cognitive scientist, is hailed globally for his influential contributions to the fields of philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, and philosophy of biology. Born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1942, Dennett’s notable academic journey was dawned at Harvard University where he studied philosophy, thereafter pursuing his doctoral degree from the University of Oxford. His immersive ideas on consciousness, evolutionary theory, and artificial intelligence have marked him as a leading figure in the realm of philosophical interpretation and analysis.

Dennett’s publications encompass both scholarly and popular works, demonstrating his ability to provoke intellectual curiosity among a wide range of readers. Famous for his books like “Consciousness Explained,” “Darwin’s Dangerous Idea,” and “From Bacteria to Bach and Back,” Dennett has masterfully linked philosophical concepts with scientific theories, providing a unique perspective on understanding our minds and the world around us. He received the Erasmus Prize in 2012 for his valuable contributions to culture, society, or social science in Europe.

Apart from his extensive research and writing, Dennett has been teaching as University Professor and Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy at Tufts University. His passion for fostering a new generation of thinkers reflects his commitment towards the advancement of philosophical studies. Daniel C. Dennett’s role as a thought-provoker in philosophy and cognitive science continues as he persistently pursues answers to some of the most complex queries of our existence.