Kinds Of Minds

Daniel C Dennett

I am a philosopher, not a scientist, and we philosophers are better at questions than answers. I haven’t begun by insult-ing myself and my discipline, in spite of first appearances. Finding better questions to ask, and breaking old habits and traditions of asking, is a very difficult part of the grand human project of understanding ourselves and our world. Philosophers can make a fine contribution to this investiga-tion, exploiting their professionally honed talents as ques-tion critics, provided they keep an open mind and restrain themselves from trying to answer all the questions from “obvious” first principles.