Brainstorms, Fortieth Anniversary Edition: Philosophical Essays on Mind and Psychology

by Daniel C. Dennett

Overview

An anniversary edition of a classic in cognitive science, with a new introduction by the author.

When Brainstorms was published in 1978, the interdisciplinary field of cognitive science was just emerging. Daniel Dennett was a young scholar who wanted to get philosophers out of their armchairs—and into conversations with psychologists, linguists, computer scientists. This collection of seventeen essays by Dennett offers a comprehensive theory of mind, encompassing traditional issues of consciousness and free will. Using careful arguments and ingenious thought experiments, the author exposes familiar preconceptions and hobbling intuitions. The essays are grouped into four sections: “Intentional Explanation and Attributions of Mentality”; “The Nature of Theory in Psychology”; “Objects of Consciousness and the Nature of Experience”; and “Free Will and Personhood.”

This anniversary edition includes a new introduction by Dennett, “Reflections on Brainstorms after Forty Years,” in which he recalls the book's original publication by Harry and Betty Stanton of Bradford Books and considers the influence and afterlife of some of the essays. For example, “Mechanism and Responsibility” was Dennett's first articulation of his concept of the intentional stance; “Are Dreams Experiences?” anticipates the major ideas in his 1991 book Consciousness Explained; and “Where Am I?” has been variously represented in a BBC documentary, a student's Javanese shadow puppet play, and a feature-length film made in the Netherlands, Victim of the Brain.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780262534383
Publisher:	MIT Press
Publication date:	12/15/2017
Series:	The MIT Press
Edition description:	Fortieth Anniversary Edition
Pages:	438
Sales rank:	642,960
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.10(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Daniel C. Dennett is University Professor Codirector of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University. He is the author of Brainchildren: Essays on Designing Minds; Sweet Dreams: Philosophical Obstacles to a Science of Consciousness; Elbow Room: The Varieties of Free Will Worth Wanting; Sweet Dreams: Philosophical Obstacles to a Science of Consciousness (all published by the MIT Press), From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Mind, and other books.

Table of Contents

Preface		ix
Introduction		xi
Part I. Intentional Explanation and Attributions of Mentality
Intentional Systems		3	(20)
Reply to Arbib and Gunderson		23	(16)
Brain Writing and Mind Reading		39	(14)
Part II. The Nature of Theory in Psychology
Skinner Skinned		53	(18)
Why the Law of Effect Will Not Go Away		71	(19)
A Cure for the Common Code?		90	(19)
Artificial Intelligence as Philosophy and as Psychology		109	(20)
Part III. Objects of Consciousness and the Nature of Experience
Are Dreams Experiences?		129	(20)
Toward a Cognitive Theory of Consciousness		149	(25)
Two Approaches to Mental Images		174	(16)
Why You Can't Make a Computer that Feels Pain		190	(43)
Part IV. Free Will and Personhood
Mechanism and Responsibility		233	(23)
The Abilities of Men and Machines		256	(11)
Conditions of Personhood		267	(19)
On Giving Libertarians What They Say They Want		286	(14)
How to Change Your Mind		300	(10)
Where Am I?		310	(14)
Notes		324	(15)
Acknowledgements		339	(4)
Index		343

What People are Saying About This

Noam Chomsky

The problems that Daniel Dennett addresses in his essays are crucial ones for philosophy and contemporary science. With a sure touch and a great deal of insight, he has subjected to analysis questions that lie at, or perhaps just beyond, the frontiers of the scientific study of mind and brain. Dennett's work should help guide progress in the understanding of the profound and troubling issues that have intrigued and perplexed critical minds for many centuries. His work is stimulating and impressive....

From the Publisher

The problems that Daniel Dennett addresses in his essays are crucial ones for philosophy and contemporary science. With a sure touch and a great deal of insight, he has subjected to analysis questions that lie at, or perhaps just beyond, the frontiers of the scientific study of mind and brain. Dennett's work should help guide progress in the understanding of the profound and troubling issues that have intrigued and perplexed critical minds for many centuries. His work is stimulating and impressive. . . .

— Noam Chomsky

Endorsement

The problems that Daniel Dennett addresses in his essays are crucial ones for philosophy and contemporary science. With a sure touch and a great deal of insight, he has subjected to analysis questions that lie at, or perhaps just beyond, the frontiers of the scientific study of mind and brain. Dennett's work should help guide progress in the understanding of the profound and troubling issues that have intrigued and perplexed critical minds for many centuries. His work is stimulating and impressive....

—Noam Chomsky