Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking

Name: Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking
Brand: Brilliance Audio
Availability: InStock
Author: Daniel C. Dennett
ISBN: 9781480512214

Author: Daniel C. Dennett

Narrator: Jeff Crawford

Unabridged: 13 hr 21 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Published: 05/06/2013

Categories: Nonfiction, Philosophy

Synopsis

Over a storied career, Daniel C. Dennett has engaged questions about science and the workings of the mind. His answers have combined rigorous argument with strong empirical grounding. And a lot of fun. Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking offers seventy-seven of Dennett’s most successful “imagination-extenders and focus-holders” meant to guide you through some of life’s most treacherous subject matter: evolution, meaning, mind, and free will. With patience and wit, Dennett deftly deploys his thinking tools to gain traction on these thorny issues while offering listeners insight into how and why each tool was built. Alongside well-known favorites like Occam’s Razor and reductio ad absurdum lie thrilling descriptions of Dennett’s own creations: Trapped in the Robot Control Room, Beware of the Prime Mammal, and The Wandering Two-Bitser. Ranging across disciplines as diverse as psychology, biology, computer science, and physics, Dennett’s tools embrace in equal measure light-heartedness and accessibility as they welcome uninitiated and seasoned listeners alike. As always, his goal remains to teach you how to “think reliably and even gracefully about really hard questions.” A sweeping work of intellectual seriousness that’s also studded with impish delights, Intuition Pumps offers intrepid thinkers - in all walks of life - delicious opportunities to explore their pet ideas with powers.

About Daniel C. Dennett

Daniel C. Dennett is the Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy at Tufts University and the author of numerous books including Breaking the Spell, Darwin’s Dangerous Idea, and Consciousness Explained.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Mirek on June 10, 2013

"Intuition pumps and other tools for thinking" is a mixed bag of goods. Don’t let the title fool you: this books is less about "thinking tools" than it is about Daniel Dennet's favorite philosophical thought experiments. Dennet devotes a short and wanting section to general 'thinking tools' (think O......more

Goodreads review by Morgan on November 16, 2014

An intuition pump is a thought experiment or similar cognitive "device" designed to elicit answers to difficult philosophical problems. In --Intuition Pumps And Other Tools For Thinking-- Dennett uses his favorite intuition pumps to (sort of) dismantle difficult philosophical questions such as: evol......more

Goodreads review by Eric on March 15, 2017

If you've read other Dennett masterpieces, you come away thinking both that the man is a genius and that he's a genius that tends to ramble on. That is not the case in his latest work. He combines many of his previous ideas and some new thoughts into this volume of brief insightful chapters. Dennett......more

Goodreads review by David on October 27, 2014

I liked this well enough. Dennett can write clearly and engagingly. But I never got over the nasty taste in my mouth induced by some really mean-spirited drive-by ad hominem assassination of someone I guess Dennett still holds a shiv for -- Stephen Jay Gould. The odd thing is that, on the issues in......more

Goodreads review by AJ on February 26, 2022

Many who have read this probably came away believing that the title should really be extended a bit, adding “Tools for Thinking…like Daniel Dennett.” Which is great if you’re already a materialist like Dennett. The author doesn’t hide this at all. In fact he openly admits it. He would argue that whe......more