Daniel Dennett Biography

Young Dennett spent major part of his early years in Lebanon where his father worked as a secret counter intelligence agent with the Office of Strategic Services posing as a cultural attache to the American Embassy

At the age of five, he returned to Massachusetts after the death of his father in a mysterious plane crash. It was at the age of 11 that he was introduced to philosophy during a summer camp.

He attended Philips Exeter Academy after which he enrolled for a year at the Wesleyan University. In 1963, he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy from Harvard University

Completing his graduate studies, he enrolled at the University of Oxford for further studies under Gilbert Ryle. In 1965, he passed out with a Doctorate of Philosophy. While at the university, he was a member of Hertford College

Following his doctorate degree, he took up a teaching position at UC Irvine for six years, from 1965 to 1971. Thereafter, he moved to the University of Tufts where he has been serving as a Professor till date.

Additionally, he also served as the co-director of the Center for Cognitive Studies, the Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy.

While continuing in his teaching position, he came up with a number of publications, the first of which was “Brainstorms: Philosophical Essays on Mind and Psychology”. Published in 1978, the book deals with artificial intelligence and uses the same to develop his ideas on consciousness.

Following this, he came up with the works ‘The Mind’s I: Fantasies and Reflection on Self and Soul’ in 1981 and ‘Elbow Room: The Varieties of Free Will Worth Wanting’ in 1984. The latter dealt with philosophical issues related to free will and determinism.

While working on the philosophical theories pertaining to mind, biology and science, he coined a term ‘intentional stance’ that described the level of abstraction and mental properties that we view regarding the behaviour of things. He came up with three levels of abstraction, the physical stance, the design stance and intentional stance.

In 1991, he came up with the work ‘Consciousness Explained’ in which he dealt with how physical and cognitive processes in the brain lead to an awakening of the consciousness. In the book, he explained the multiple drafts model of consciousness

Starting 1990s, he concentrated much of his work on the evolutionary debate concentrating on what distinguishes a human mind from the animal mind and how free will is compatible with the naturalistic view of the world. He brought about certain theories which greatly influenced the works of evolutionary psychologist, Geoffrey Miller

In 1995, he came up with his magnum opus, Darwin’s Dangerous Idea, in which he crashed on the Darwinism theory of evolution that explained natural selection was a mechanical and algorithmic process. The book was nominated and rose up to become a finalist for the 1995 National Book Award in non-fiction and the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for general non-fiction.

Taking the concepts explained in ‘Intentional Stance’, ‘Elbow Room’ and ‘Consciousness Explained’ further, he came out with a book in 2003 titled ‘Freedom Evolves’. The book gave an account of free will and moral responsibilities that was in sync with his views on consciousness and personhood.

His later works included, ‘Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon’, ‘Sweet Dreams: Philosophical Obstacles to a Science of Consciousness’, ‘Neuroscience and Philosophy: Brain, Mind, and Language’, Science and Religion’, ‘Intuition Pumps And Other Tools for Thinking’ and ‘Inside Jokes: Using Humor to Reverse-Engineer the Mind’

He was the proud recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship, two Guggenheim Fellowships, and a Fellowship at the Center for Advanced Studies in Behavioral Science. He was a Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry

In 2004, the American Humanist Association named him Humanist of the Year. He also received a Humanist Laureate of the International Academy of Humanism

In 2010, he was enlisted in the Freedom From Religion Foundation's Honorary Board of distinguished achievers

In 2012, he received the Erasmus Prize for his contribution in translating the cultural significance of science and technology to a wide range of audience.

He tied the marital knot with Susan Bell in 1962. The couple was blessed with a son and a daughter. 

Not many know the fact that other than being a philosopher, he was an avid sailor as well.

A secularist, he was a member of the Secular Coalition for America Security Board and was an outspoken member of the Brights movement.

A string atheist, he was often referred to as one of the ‘Four Horsemen of New Atheism’ along with Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and the late Christopher Hitchens

Daniel Dennett died of interstitial lung disease on April 19, 2024, at the age of 82.

An American philosopher and cognitive scientist, he was popularly known as one of the ‘Four Horsemen of New Atheism’.