Dennett on the Mind and Evolution

Daniel C. Dennett is one of the most influential contemporary philosophers and cognitive scientists as well as a best-selling author.  The papers in this selection focus on his most famous and controversial ideas.  The opening piece by György Kampis defines Dennett’s place both in the philosophical tradition and in the American intellectual context, thereby providing background to the following articles. Kampis discusses the special character and problematic aspects of Dennett’s attitude to Darwinism.  Gergely Ambrus explores Dennett’s theory of consciousness.  He focuses on three central issues: the rejection of  the “Cartesian theatre”, the idea that being conscious is like watching a show inside our head; the analysis of subject experiential qualities; the construal of the self as the center of gravity for narratives.  Gábor Forrai analyses the theory of ‘stances,’ which Dennett employs both to explain the relation between various types of psychological and cognitive theories and to give account of the characteristics of our everyday psychological discourse.  The paper also highlights how Dennett’s ideas come to bear on some of the main questions in current philosophy of mind.  Csaba Pléh applies Dennett’s ‘stances’ to the history of psychology.  He shows how Dennett’s distinction can be used in reconstructing some major episodes in the history of psychology, like the emergence of the notion of reflex.