The renowned philosopher, Prof Daniel Dennett, is to speak at Stellenbosch University on 1 April. Prof Dennett is the Co-Director of the Centre for Cognitive Studies and the Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts in the USA.

According to Prof Anton van Niekerk, Chairperson of the Department of Philosophy and Director of the Centre for Applied Ethics at Stellenbosch University, Prof Dennett is arguably one of the most famous and, at the same time, one of the most controversial live philosophers in the world today.

"Prof Dennett has made hugely influential contributions to cognitive science, and is famous as one of the foremost proponents of evolutionary theory. He is closely associated with Richard Dawkins who is regarded by many as the world’s most influential current-day intellectual - and has written widely, profoundly and provocatively on Darwin and evolutionism."

The lecture, themed ‘From animal to person’, will be held in the Auditorium of the JS Gericke Library from 11:30 – 12:45 on Wednesday 1 April. In his presentation Prof Dennett will provide an overview of some of his most important arguments in support of Darwinian evolution in relation to humans.

"Although his views may be controversial in certain circles, they have been very influential," Prof Van Niekerk added. "Prof Dennett must count amongst one of the best-known philosophers that have ever visited our campus. It is a unique opportunity to listen to one of the world’s most famous philosophers."

• Contact Prof Anton van Niekerk on tel 021 808 2418 or via e-mail at a href="mailto:aavn@sun.ac.za">aavn@sun.ac.za for more information

More information on Daniel Dennett:
Daniel C. Dennett, the author of Breaking the Spell (Viking, 2006), Freedom Evolves (Viking Penguin, 2003) and Darwin's Dangerous Idea (Simon &Schuster, 1995), is University Professor and Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy, and Co-Director of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University.

He lives with his wife in North Andover, Massachusetts, and has a daughter, a son, and a grandson. He was born in Boston in 1942, the son of a historian by the same name, and received his B.A. in philosophy from Harvard in 1963. He then went to Oxford to work with Gilbert Ryle, under whose supervision he completed the D.Phil. in philosophy in 1965. He taught at U.C. Irvine from 1965 to 1971, when he moved to Tufts, where he has taught ever since, aside from periods visiting at Harvard, Pittsburgh, Oxford, and the École Normale Supérieure in Paris.

His first book, Content and Consciousness, appeared in 1969, followed by Brainstorms (1978), Elbow Room (1984), The Intentional Stance (1987), Consciousness Explained (1991), Darwin's Dangerous Idea (1995), Kinds of Minds (1996), and Brainchildren: A Collection of Essays 1984-1996 (MIT Press and Penguin, 1998). Sweet Dreams: Philosophical Obstacles to a Science of Consciousness was published in 2005 by MIT Press. He co-edited The Mind's I with Douglas Hofstadter in 1981.

He is the author of over three hundred scholarly articles on various aspects on the mind, published in journals ranging from Artificial Intelligence and Behavioral and Brain Sciences to Poetics Today and the Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism.

He gave the John Locke Lectures at Oxford in 1983, the Gavin David Young Lectures at Adelaide, Australia, in 1985, and the Tanner Lecture at Michigan in 1986, among many others. He has received two Guggenheim Fellowships, a Fulbright Fellowship, and a Fellowship at the Center for Advanced Studies in Behavioral Science. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1987.

He was the Co-founder (in 1985) and Co-director of the Curricular Software Studio at Tufts, and has helped to design museum exhibits on computers for the Smithsonian Institution, the Museum of Science in Boston, and the Computer Museum in Boston.

He spends most of his summers on his farm in Maine, where he harvests blueberries, hay and timber, and makes Normandy cider wine, when he is not sailing. He is also a sculptor.

Visit http://ase.tufts.edu/cogstud/incbios/dennettd/dennettd.htm for more information