Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking

Contributor(s): Professor Daniel Dennett | In this lecture, one of the world's most original thinkers will show how he designs, uses, and dismantles the thinking tools that have illuminated his theories of meaning, mind, and evolution. The big difference between human minds and the minds of other animals is our equipping ourselves with literally hundreds of thinking tools-cultural software that we install in our brains much the way we download Java applets to our laptops and smart phones. Some of these tools are as simple as labels or metaphors, and others are sophisticated intuition pumps-persuasion-machines that can delude us if we're not careful. Daniel Dennett is University Professor and Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy, and co-director of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University. Christian List is professor of political science and philosophy at LSE.