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Click the link below to read the article and then answer the questions:
Daniel Dennett and the purpose of philosophy
The article refers to Gilbert Ryle’s “ghost in the machine” criticism of Descartes’ substance dualism. What did Ryle mean by this? Can you explain his assertion that Cartesian dualism commits a category error?
Dennett claims that some philosophers could be “weirdly complacent in their ignorance of brains and psychology”. Do you think this is a fair criticism of any of the theories of mind you have studied?
Jonathan Derbyshire, the article’s author, criticises Dennett’s view of the philosopher’s job as a “kind of under-labourer to the natural sciences,” describing it as “somewhat narrow, if not stunted”. What do you think the purpose of philosophy is?
Bernard Williams wrote that: “The starting point of philosophy is that we do not understand ourselves well enough”. Can philosophy help us to better understand ourselves? How? What are the limits of philosophy?
Jack Robertson, Queen Elizabeth’s School
