Editing Daniel Dennett (section)

{{Short description|American philosopher (1942–2024)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2013}}
{{Infobox philosopher
| region           = [[Western philosophy]]
| era              = [[20th-century philosophy|20th]], [[21st-century philosophy]]
| image            = Daniel Dennett 2.jpg
| caption          = Dennett in 2012
| alt              = 
| name             = Daniel Dennett
| birth_name       = Daniel Clement Dennett III
| birth_date       = {{Birth date|1942|03|28}}
| birth_place      = [[Boston|Boston, Massachusetts]], U.S.
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|2024|04|19|1942|03|28}}
| death_place      = [[Portland, Maine]], U.S.
| school_tradition = {{hlist|[[Analytic philosophy]]|[[New Atheism]]<ref name=IEP/>|[[Materialism]]<ref name="MaterialismSource">{{cite web|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/materialism-eliminative/|title=Eliminative Materialism|website=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|access-date=2024-04-20|archive-date=2024-04-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240420010000/https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/materialism-eliminative/|url-status=live}}</ref>}}
| institutions     = [[Tufts University]]
| main_interests   = {{hlist|[[Philosophy of mind]]|[[cognitive science]]|[[free will]]|[[philosophy of religion]]<ref name=IEP>{{Cite IEP|url-id=n-atheis|title=The New Atheists|first=James E.|last= Taylor}}</ref>}}
| notable_ideas    = [[Heterophenomenology]]<br />[[Intentional stance]]<br />[[Intuition pump]]<br />[[Multiple drafts model]]<br />[[Greedy reductionism]]<br />[[Cartesian theater]]<br />[[Belief in belief]]<br />[[Real patterns]]<br />Free-floating rationale<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0GhQSO3bJy4C&pg=PA186|title=Reasoning Across Domains: An Essay in Evolutionary Psychology|first=Harry|last=Witzthum|year=2018|publisher=Peter Lang|isbn=978-3039109784}}</ref><br />Top-down vs bottom-up design<ref>{{cite web|url=http://pp.kpnet.fi/seirioa/cdenn/cogscirv.htm|title=Cognitive Science as Reverse Engineering|website=pp.kpnet.fi|access-date=January 10, 2018|archive-date=January 16, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180116011146/http://pp.kpnet.fi/seirioa/cdenn/cogscirv.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref><br />Cassette theory of dreams<ref>{{cite book|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2017/entries/dreams-dreaming/|title=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|first=Jennifer M.|last=Windt|chapter=Dreams and Dreaming|editor-first=Edward N.|editor-last=Zalta|year=2018|publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University|archive-date=April 20, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240420005243/https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2017/entries/dreams-dreaming/|url-status=live}}</ref><br />Alternative neurosurgery<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ase.tufts.edu/cogstud/dennett/papers/quinqual.htm|title=Quining Qualia|website=ase.tufts.edu|date=March 28, 2023|access-date=April 28, 2019|archive-date=January 2, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190102213327/https://ase.tufts.edu/cogstud/dennett/papers/quinqual.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><br />[[Sphexishness#Use in philosophy|Sphexishness]]<br />[[Brainstorm machine]]<ref>Dennet, Daniel (1997). "Quining Qualia". In Ned Block (ed.). The Nature of Consciousness. Cambridge: MIT Press. p. 623. {{ISBN|0-262-52210-1}}</ref><br />Deepity<ref>{{Cite web|url = https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/may/25/change-your-life-life-deepities-oliver-burkeman|title = This column will change your life: Deepities|website = [[TheGuardian.com]]|date = May 25, 2013|access-date = December 11, 2016|archive-date = November 16, 2018|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181116104544/https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/may/25/change-your-life-life-deepities-oliver-burkeman|url-status = live}}</ref>
| education        = {{ubl|[[Harvard University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])|{{nowrap|[[Hertford College, Oxford]] ([[Doctor of Philosophy|DPhil]])}}}}
| spouse           = {{marriage|Susan Bell|1962}}
| notable_works    = {{ubl|{{nowrap|''[[Consciousness Explained]]'' (1991)}}|{{nowrap|''[[Darwin's Dangerous Idea]]'' (1995)}}|''[[Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon|Breaking the Spell]]'' (2006)}}
| awards           = {{ubl|[[Jean Nicod Prize]] (2001)|[[Mind & Brain Prize]] (2011)|[[Erasmus Prize]] (2012)}}
| thesis_title     = The Mind and the Brain
| thesis_url       = https://dl.tufts.edu/concern/pdfs/sx61dz64t
| thesis_year      = 1965
| doctoral_advisor = [[Gilbert Ryle]]
| signature        = Daniel Dennett signature.svg
}}

'''Daniel Clement Dennett III''' (March 28, 1942 – April 19, 2024) was an American philosopher and cognitive scientist. His research centered on the [[philosophy of mind]], the [[philosophy of science]], and the [[philosophy of biology]], particularly as those fields relate to [[evolutionary biology]] and [[cognitive science]].<ref>Beardsley, T. (1996) ''Profile: Daniel C. Dennett&nbsp;– Dennett's Dangerous Idea'', ''[[Scientific American]]'' '''274'''(2), 34–35.</ref>

Dennett was the co-director of the Center for Cognitive Studies and the Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy at [[Tufts University]] in [[Massachusetts]].<ref name=":0">{{CiteQ|Q126881738}}</ref> Dennett was a member of the [[editorial board]] for ''[[The Rutherford Journal]]''<ref>{{cite web|title=Editorial board|url=http://www.rutherfordjournal.org/editorial.html|work=[[The Rutherford Journal]]|access-date=19 December 2016|archive-date=July 27, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727225155/http://www.rutherfordjournal.org/editorial.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and a co-founder of [[The Clergy Project]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=2014-11-11|title=The Story of The Clergy Project|url=https://clergyproject.org/clergy-project-history/|access-date=2022-09-11|website=The Clergy Project|language=en-US|archive-date=October 14, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221014072855/https://clergyproject.org/clergy-project-history/|url-status=live}}</ref>

A vocal [[atheist]] and [[secularist]], Dennett has been described as "one of the most widely read and debated American philosophers".<ref name=kandell_04192024>{{Cite news|last=Kandell|first=Jonathan|date=2024-04-19|title=Daniel C. Dennett, Widely Read and Fiercely Debated Philosopher, Dies at 82|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/19/books/daniel-dennett-dead.html|access-date=2024-04-19|work=The New York Times|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=April 19, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240419200050/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/19/books/daniel-dennett-dead.html|url-status=live}}</ref> He was referred to as one of the "[[Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse|Four Horsemen]]" of [[New Atheism]], along with [[Richard Dawkins]], [[Sam Harris]], and [[Christopher Hitchens]].