A student of Gilbert Ryle at Oxford, Dennett spent most of his career at Tufts University, working closely with scientists. He argued that minds, meaning and even free will can be explained by evolution and the brain, without any ghost in the machine. A lively writer and debater, he also became one of the best known faces of the new atheism.
Core ideas
Consciousness is what the brain does, not a hidden inner theater
Natural selection explains design in nature without any designer
Free will is real in the sense that matters, even in a physical world
The tradition: Naturalist philosopher of mind
Naturalism in philosophy of mind tries to explain thought and consciousness with the tools of science. Dennett is its boldest and most readable champion, close to Darwin and far from any dualism.
