Daniel Dennett

Daniel Dennett was Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy and director of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University. He was one of the world’s most outstanding philosophers of science in the field of the cognitive sciences, in particular as a result of his work on conscience, intentionality, artificial intelligence and memetics. Also notable are his contributions concerning the present-day significance of Darwinism and religion. Daniel Dennett studied at the Phillips Exeter Academy and subsequently obtained a BA in Philosophy at Harvard University in 1963 after which, supervised by the philosopher Gilbert Ryle, he completed a D. Phil. in Philosophy at Oxford University (England) in 1965.

He wrote many well-known books, including Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon (published in Spanish as Romper el hechizo: La religión como un fenómeno natural,Katz Editores, 2007); Freedom Evolves (published in Spanish as La Evolución de la Libertad, Paidós, 2004); and Darwin’s Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life (published in Spanish as La Peligrosa Idea de Darwin, Galaxia Gutenberg, 1999). Co-authored with Max Bennett, Peter Hacker and John Searle, one of his most recent book to be translated into Spanish was Neuroscience and Philosophy: Brain, Mind, and Language (La Naturaleza de la Conciencia: Cerebro, Mente y Lenguaje, Paidós, 2008). In 1987 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and he is also a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts. In 2001 he was awarded the Jean Nicod Prize and, in 2012, the Erasmus Prize. He was co-founder of the Curricular Software Studio at Tufts University and has helped to design museum exhibits on computers for the Smithsonian Institution, the Museum of Science in Boston and the Computer Museum in Boston.