Kinds of Minds (Science Masters)

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Last edited by ImportBot
June 17, 2023 | History

Kinds of Minds (Science Masters)

Re-issue edition
  • 4.00 ·
  • 1 Rating
  • 7 Want to read
  • 0 Currently reading
  • 2 Have read

In Kinds of Minds, Dennett asks the ultimate metaphysical questions: What is a mind and who else (besides the questioner) has one?

Combining ideas from philosophy, artificial intelligence, and neurobiology, Dennett leads the reader on a fascinating journey of inquiry, exploring such intriguing possibilities as: Can any of us really know what is going on in someone else's mind? What distinguishes the human mind from the minds of animals, especially those capable of complex behavior? If such animals, for instance, were magically given the power of language, would their communities evolve an intelligence as subtly discriminating as ours?

Would they be capable of developing the uniquely human ability to theorize about the world they inhabit? Will robots, once they have been endowed with sensory systems like those that provide us with experience, ever exhibit the particular traits long thought to distinguish the human mind, including the ability to think about thinking?

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Dennett address these questions from an evolutionary perspective. Beginning with the macromolecules of DNA and RNA, whose evolution was determined by Darwinian natural selection, Dennett shows how, step by step, animal life moved from a simple ability to respond to frequently recurring environmental conditions to much more powerful ways of beating the odds, ways of using patterns of past experience to predict the future in never-before-encountered situations.

He argues that a series of small but revolutionary steps moved us from there to the unique human capability to frame and execute specific long-range intentions. These changes included first the emergence of speech, then, because of situations in which the ability to keep secrets conferred an evolutionary advantage, a skill in conversing with ourselves, and finally, the creation of artifacts that permit us to expand our minds into the surrounding environment.

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Previews available in: English

Edition Availability
Cover of: Kinds of Minds
Kinds of Minds
2013, Orion Publishing Group, Limited
in English
Cover of: Kinds of Minds
Kinds of Minds: Toward an Understanding of Consciousness
2008, Basic Books
in English
Cover of: Kinds of Minds (Science Masters)
Kinds of Minds (Science Masters)
July 5, 2007, Phoenix (an Imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd ), Orion Publishing Group, Limited
Paperback - Re-issue edition
Cover of: Kinds of Minds ("Daily Telegraph" Talking Science)
Kinds of Minds ("Daily Telegraph" Talking Science)
December 4, 2000, Orion (an Imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd )
Audio Cassette - Abridged Ed edition
Cover of: Kinds of Minds
Kinds of Minds: Towards an Understanding of Consciousness (Science Masters Series)
August 1997, Basic Books
in English
Cover of: Kinds of Minds
Kinds of Minds: Towards an Understanding of Consciousness (Science Masters S.)
1996, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, Orion Publishing Group, Limited
Hardcover
Cover of: KINDS OF MINDS
KINDS OF MINDS
1996, Basic Books, Inc., Orion Publishing Group, Limited
Paperback
Cover of: Kinds of minds
Kinds of minds: toward an understanding of consciousness
1996, Basic Books
in English - 1st ed.
Cover of: Kinds of minds
Kinds of minds: toward an understanding of consciousness
1996, Basic Books
- 1st ed.
Cover of: Kinds of minds : towards an understanding of consciousness

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Book Details


The Physical Object

Format
Paperback
Number of pages
192
Dimensions
7.6 x 5.1 x 0.9 inches
Weight
8.5 ounces

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL7988007M
ISBN 10
0753800438
ISBN 13
9780753800430
Library Thing
2074112
Goodreads
2076

Source records

Better World Books record

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History

Download catalog record: RDF / JSON / OPDS | Wikipedia citation
June 17, 2023 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
July 18, 2021 Edited by Mek Merge works
June 20, 2012 Edited by Robin Lionheart merge authors
August 6, 2010 Edited by IdentifierBot added LibraryThing ID
April 29, 2008 Created by an anonymous user Imported from amazon.com record