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Intuition pumps and other tools for thinking

One of the world's leading philosophers offers aspiring thinkers his personal trove of mind-stretching thought experiments.

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  • "One of the world's leading philosophers offers aspiring thinkers his personal trove of mind-stretching thought experiments."@en
  • "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 readers 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 readers 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 new powers."
  • "Daniel Dennett, one of the world's most original and provocative thinkers, takes readers on a profound, illuminating and highly entertaining philosophical journey as he reveals a collection of his favorite thinking tools, or "intuition pumps", that he and others have developed for addressing life's most fundamental questions."
  • ""Riflettere in maniera corretta e con eleganza su questioni difficili" è l'obiettivo di Daniel Dennett nel presentare qui una selezione di strumenti per pensare. Ma non è questa la vocazione di chiunque eserciti l'onesto mestiere del filosofo? Dennett ha con la filosofia una relazione privilegiata: non si tratta soltanto di rendere trasparente "l'atmosfera linguistica" in cui vengono posti i grandi problemi della tradizione, ma di attingere a quanto ci offrono discipline come la biologia evoluzionistica, la neurofisiologia, la logica matematica e le varie teorie della cosiddetta intelligenza artificiale. Ne emerge una inedita concezione dell'essere umano, destinata a mutare i presupposti delle più disparate "scienze morali", dall'antropologia alla storia, dal diritto all'etica. E tutto questo "gonfiando o sgonfiando" le varie pompe dell'intuizione a cui i filosofi ricorrono nel sostenere opposte tesi su questioni come la natura del significato, le funzioni della mente e il libero arbitrio. Costellato di diaboliche delizie, il volume di Dennett sfida lettori intrepidi di qualsiasi estrazione a esplorare le proprie idee predilette con nuove capacità e, se è il caso, a cambiarle."
  • ""Thinking is hard - yet barely a waking moment passes when we're not labouring away at it. A few of us may be natural geniuses, able to work through the toughest tangles in an instant; others, blessed with reserves of willpower, stay the course in the dogged pursuit of truth. Then there's the rest of us. Not prodigies and a little bit lazy, but still aspiring to understand the world and our place in it. What can we do?"--Inside front flap."@en
  • "A philosophy professor offers exercises and tools to stretch the mind, offering new ways to consider, discuss, and argue positions on dangerous subject matter including evolution, the meaning of life, and free will."

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  • "Miscellanea"@en
  • "Miscellanea"

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  • "Strumenti per pensare"@it
  • "Strumenti per pensare"
  • "Gereedschapskist voor het denken"
  • "Dźwignie wyobraźni i inne narzędzia do myślenia"@pl
  • "Intuition pumps and other tools for thinking"@en
  • "Intuition pumps and other tools for thinking"

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