I've Been Thinking
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Summary
'A generous book written by a figure who has made a significant impact on philosophy ... Anyone interested in philosophy should read it' Nigel Warburton, Times Literary Supplement
'One of today's most readable, intellectually nimble and scientifically literate philosophers' Nature
'Who would have guessed that a philosopher's life could be so full of adventures?'
Daniel C. Dennett, philosopher and cognitive scientist, has spent his career considering consciousness. I've Been Thinking traces the development of Dennett's own intellect and instructs us how we too can become good thinkers.
Dennett's restless curiosity leads him from his childhood in Beirut to Harvard, and from Parisian jazz clubs to 'tillosophy' on his tractor in Maine. Along the way, he encounters and debates with a host of legendary thinkers, and reveals the breakthroughs and misjudgments that shaped his paradigm-shifting philosophies. Thinking, Dennett argues, is hard, and risky. In fact, all good philosophical thinking is inevitably accompanied by bafflement, frustration and self-doubt. It is only in getting it wrong that we, very occasionally, find a way to get it right.
This memoir by one of the greatest philosophers of our time will speak to anyone who seeks a life of the mind with adventure and creativity.
'One of today's most readable, intellectually nimble and scientifically literate philosophers' Nature
'Who would have guessed that a philosopher's life could be so full of adventures?'
Daniel C. Dennett, philosopher and cognitive scientist, has spent his career considering consciousness. I've Been Thinking traces the development of Dennett's own intellect and instructs us how we too can become good thinkers.
Dennett's restless curiosity leads him from his childhood in Beirut to Harvard, and from Parisian jazz clubs to 'tillosophy' on his tractor in Maine. Along the way, he encounters and debates with a host of legendary thinkers, and reveals the breakthroughs and misjudgments that shaped his paradigm-shifting philosophies. Thinking, Dennett argues, is hard, and risky. In fact, all good philosophical thinking is inevitably accompanied by bafflement, frustration and self-doubt. It is only in getting it wrong that we, very occasionally, find a way to get it right.
This memoir by one of the greatest philosophers of our time will speak to anyone who seeks a life of the mind with adventure and creativity.
Reviews
We are lucky that Dennett exists ... This is a generous book written by a figure who has made a significant impact on philosophy ... Anyone interested in philosophy should read it and consider how he achieved his distinctive voice.
Nigel Warburton, TLS
