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A longtime member of the philosophy faculty at Tufts University, Professor Dennett was best-known within philosophy for his work in philosophy of mind and on free will, although outside philosophy he was famous as one of the "New Atheists" and as a champion of evolutionary explanations. Comments are open for remembrances from those who knew Professor Dennett or for those who wish to comment on the significance of his work.
(Thanks to Eric Schliesser for the information about his death.)
Possibly the greatest philosopher of our time. One who blended philosophy with science and challenged the entrenched and dated orthodoxies of the field. Sad to see him go, grateful he was here.
By now I've been to many hundreds of professional philosophy talks. Probably the very best one was Dennett's theatrical presentation of "Where am I?" As an undergraduate, I was thrilled.
such a gut punch. such a loss. he was so alive, and so much larger than life. RIP dan.
I loved Dan, and I loved his work. By any measure he must qualify as one of the greatest philosophers in the last century. I personally owed him a great deal, and dedicated a recent book to him (fittingly, it was on consciousness) with the words, "Whose work awoke me from my Wittgensteinian slumbers." The world is now a duller place.
Anyone who heard Dan deliver :āwhere I am I: remembers where he.she was at the time.!
He was great to talk with and read. At least we can still read his profound and witty writings.
Barry Loewer
On recommendation of BL, I'll share this, though it is not exactly a rememberance. Daniel Dennett was one of the great philosophers of our time, and likely the strongest member of the new atheism movement. It's almost poetic that his last public appearance* was last week on Jordan Peterson's podcast, discussing religion (with Peterson, though agnostic, being one of the popular defenders of religion); Dennett believed that the power of dialogue, especially between opposing views, is what human civilisation stands on.
They showed a (for me) astonishing number of agreements, on virtually all issues discussed, including religion, perception, and psychology. Notably, Dennett mentioned at the end of the podcast that he believes that the problem of counterfeit people** posed by AI is a fundamental threat to human civilisation, partly because it threatens the basis of trust on which dialogue thrives. This was his last, and greatest concern ā one which he also shared with Peterson, and one on which they had discussed collaboration.
Dennett will be greatly missed.
*
**https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/05/problem-counterfeit-people/674075/
Over and above his individual contributions, which were many and towering, Daniel Dennett exemplified what it means to do philosophy in a way that engages critically but constructively with science and with scientists. He once wrote that "There is no philosophy-free science; there is only science whose philosophical baggage was taken on board without examination", but he recognized more clearly than almost anyone in philosophy how transformed its own deepest questions were by modern science, most of all by the theory of evolution. These are lessons that have penetrated deeply into areas of philosophy far from Dennett's own home territory: his work has had a great influence on modern philosophy of physics, for instance. (He has been one of the greatest inspirations and exemplars for my own work.)
He was one of the greatest philosophers of the last century, and one of the very few who have had a transformative influence far beyond academic philosophy. This is a devastating loss.
Regarding Dennett's views on Wittgenstein, here is an excerpt from an e-mail exchange with Dennett in 2013, in which I shared a paper defending a non-standard view of Wittgenstein and he replied in part:
"I think one of the great misfortunes of philosophy in the last 40 years or so is the simple sociological fact that most of the philosophers who have been entranced by Wittgenstein have been sciencephobic, and hence eager to read their hero as providing a bulwark against scientific encroachment into their precious precincts. They misuse the master, and you've given a fine example of it. (You might be amused to know that when TIME magazine invited me to do the essay on Wittgenstein for their millennial issue on geniuses of the previous century I asked first if Turing was also to be highlighted, and if not, I'd rather do Turing. But Turing was on their list, so I agreed to do Wittgenstein MAINLY because I knew it would annoy the Wittgenstein cabal immensely, since MY Ludwig is not THEIR St Ludwig. TIME red-penciled my closing sentence, probably just as well. It was about neo-Wittgensteinians, and my observation was that they were like ticks on a grizzly bearādisgusting, but don't worry; they can't hurt the big fellow all that much."
I've taught "Where Am I?" several times, but I didn't know about Dennett's theatrical performance of it. Can someone describe it?
I think I will always remember Dr. Dennett's argument against qualia. It was fantastically curious.
Dennett is my favorite philosopher. I wouldn't have gone into the field if I hadn't read him as an undergrad English major. He will be missed.
Here's an old video of him reenacting Where am I?
https://youtu.be/KP7rTp2vwTs?feature=shared
One of my early formative moments in philosophy was visiting Craig Waterman's Metaphysics office hours at U. Texas (where is he now, I wonder?) & talking through Dennett's Consciousness Explained & other works, learning how to think and argue philosophically.
Aside from making very good philosophy, engaging with his work made good philosophers.
He sharpened people's thinking and framed so many issues well, even (especially) for those taking an opposing line, which is always one of the best measures of a great philosopher, I think.
Beyond that, he provided a way of thinking about naturalizing so many philosophical problems, which has gone on to ground so much of the most active work happening in philosophical thinking these days.
Those are I think two of his biggest contributions.
I give my respects.
I personally found his Intentional Systems Theory, as put forward most forcefully in The Intentional Stance, to be one of the most interesting and useful ideas I've encountered.
Dennett's work was the first philosophy I read outside of class, before taking philosophy proper as an undergraduate (and beyond). From then until now, my current profession as a cyber security professional struggling with AI and people's reactions to it, his important ideas challenged, improved, and enriched my own thinking, teaching style and humanity. As many have said, a philosopher's philosopher – and a public intellectual for everyone. What a rare combination!
I echo the many tremendous tributes here. Besides enjoying his presentations at APAs, Consciousness Explained and Elbow Room had profound influence on my thinking. I wish he could know the debt I owe him.
Mr Dennett you were such an inspiration to me. Thank you for sharing your wisdom with us
We may have disagreed. But haven't we actually all learned a lot from him?
It's a rare treat to find a philosopher with whom one profoundly disagrees, yet wants to read more and more of. Most of my thinking about religion and the mind has developed in dialogue with, and opposition to, Dennett, who was simply a brilliant and original writer. My favourite passage from him, skewering analytic pretensions in McGinn:
'" A type of mind M is cognitively closed with respect to a property P (or theory T) if and only if the concept-forming procedures at M's disposal cannot extend to a grasp of P (or an understanding of T)." (p.3) (Don't be misled about the apparent rigor of this definition; the author A never puts it to any use U in any formal derivation D.)'
It will be a long time before anyone counterfeits, replicates, or otherwise replaces Daniel C. Dennettā¦
Professor Dennett was an inspiration for me. Along with the Churchlands, he opened my eyes to an empirically informed way of doing philosophy. I had the opportunity to see him in action once during a conference in San SebastiƔn (Basque Country). I was still doing my doctorate, I was young and shy. But I will always regret not having asked him for a photo together. May he rest in peace.
A nice sense of humour too – his comment on the Pike photo I'd stuck on his interview: 'Thanks. Well done. I'm not so keen on the antique Pike pic, but I suppose it serves to show how gracefully I've aged!'
Be a philosopher, Hume said, but amidst all your philosophy be still a man. Dan Dennett honored that maxim In everything he did. And he was the most important philosopher of his age.
His interview here gives a nice short overview of some of his preoccupations I think: https://www.3-16am.co.uk/articles/intuition-pumping?c=end-times-archive
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/apr/21/daniel-dennett-obituary
This obituary of Daniel Dennett (link above), just published in The Guardian by Jane O'Grady, will be of interest. It is a lucid account both of his philosophy and important aspects of this life.
Piers Benn
There seems to be some confusion about Dennett's relation to Wittgenstein, but as he himself writes in "Consciousness Explained," "My debt to Wittgenstein is large and longstanding. When I was an undergraduate he was my hero, so I went to Oxford, where he seemed to be everybody's hero. When I saw how most of my fellow graduate students were (by my lights) missing the point, I gave up trying to 'be' a Wittgensteinian and just took what I thought I had learned from the Investigations and tried to put it to work." And in fact most of Dennett's philosophy of mind based on the idea of what he calls the intentional stance is deeply Wittgensteinian in spirit, as well as in some detail.
The IAI is deeply saddened to say goodbye to the remarkable Daniel Dennett. With the passing of Dennett, philosopher Keith Frankish reflects on his life and the power of his thought. You can read the full article here: https://iai.tv/articles/daniel-dennett-the-man-who-saw-realitys-patterns-auid-2816?_auid=2020
I know Dan fought the myth of individual genius in his work and believed that thinking is deeply collaborative, a proces of mutual "infection" with good memes (he wanted to title his memoirs "šš've been thinking"). But what brilliant, generous, wise man he was. We'll miss him dearly. I wrote an 'In Memoriam' for him here, with some personal memories: https://maartenboudry.substack.com/p/farewell-to-a-beautiful-mind
Dear Professor Leiter:
The NYT flub is particularly egregious, since Professor Dennett, in addition to his theological foursome, also belonged to the Compatibilist Quartet (along with Professors John Martin Fischer, Harry Frankfurt, and Susan Wolf) during the splendid fin-de-siĆØcle revival of the free will debate: devoted to singing the praises of various uplifting forms of Soft Determinism- in counterpoint to nihilistic Illusionism!
Some of my favorite numbers of his include:
Free and Bobby McGee: there is a lot to be said for having ānothing left to loseā and contentment is a seriously underrated aspect of Freedom (Page 122, Elbow Room. And, yes, Kris Kristofferson is in the Index thereof: right under Kant and Kierkegaard.)
The Bounds of Freedom: written in response to voluntaristic PAPists like Scotus, who fail to realize that there are some actions that a person should not just want to avoid, but āhopeā to be incapable of. Bribery, Torture, Rape, and Murder are his obvious examples. (Pages, 132-35, Elbow Room.)
It's the Polis, Stupid: Basically his advice when I asked him after an APA presentation where a Compatibilist might find a higher practical purpose in life.
Those SURE were some fun philosophical times. āAnd feeling good is good enough for me ā¦
Respectfully yours,
Robert Allen
Daniel Dennett continues to be the greatest inspirer of my work. I've a book on Dennett which needs his review. He answered most of my mails which gave me a very cordial feeling and confidence. I keep most of his books including signed ones and cherish his memory.
(This is hearsay, but from a source I trust.)
I was told that Dennett (in, I guess, the late 1970s) reached out to a young philosopher (a Ph.D. candidate, not in Dennett's own department, a member of a racial minority, and I suspect the first in their family to attend university)) to mentor them: doing things like reading paper drafts and advising on how to revise so as not to shock the sensibilities of (white and conventionally educated) journal editors, And so helped them get started on (what turned out to be) a successful academic career. I trust that, should Dennett turn out to have been wrong in his "new atheism," this practical help for an outsider will be deemed more important than his pamphleteering.
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