-
Daniel Dennett 1942-Present Created the Idea of Intentional Stance
During his philosophical work in the fields of biology and the mind, Daniel Dennett coined the term "intentional stance". This is one of three "stances" that Dennett believes describe each way humans interpret the behavior of everything. Intentional stance would mean one treats something as if it has rational motives based on thought and desires (like anthropomorphism). The other two stances are called the "physical stance" and the "design stance". (Dennett, pars. 1-5) -
Daniel Dennett 1942-Present Explaining Consciousness
Dennett received praise and criticism for his book "Consciousness Explained". In it, he makes a compelling argument which says that there is not a two-step consciousness in where the brain takes in information and the mind then makes a decision on how to act on the information. He uses Cartesian Dualism as an example and makes the claim that for there to be two steps, there must be three because the decision from the mind would have to be interpreted by the brain (Young, pars. 7-12). -
Daniel Dennett 1942-Present Darwin's Dangerous Idea
Dennett published his issues with Darwinism in a book titled "Darwin's Dangerous Idea". In it, he says that natural selection is a mindless algorithmic process. He believes that Darwin's idea of evolution is dangerous because of the effect it had on the world once it was publicized. The previous collective worldview was that a creator made everything and Darwin proved otherwise (Darwins Dangerous Idea). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1GEU81wQ90 -
Daniel Dennett 1942-Present Contribution to Atheist Philosophy
Dennett began writing more about atheist ideas. The first of such works was titled "Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon", in which he makes the argument that religious behavior should be studied by science to better predict its future. His contributions to atheist philosophy earned him a nickname alongside Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Christoper Hitchens as the "Four Horsemen of New Atheism" (Rachlin, pars. 4-10). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8rNb6-V2Oo
