ABSTRACT
Daniel Dennett is one of the most influential philosophers of our time. Throughout his career, starting in the late 1960s, he has developed a view of consciousness that is in harmony with his wider commitments concerning the nature of the mind. To understand Dennett’s theory of consciousness it is necessary to understand his philosophical background assumptions. First, he believes that all science is made from the objective, third-person’s point of view. The science of consciousness is no exception to this rule. Thus, the science of consciousness cannot be based on a methodology that would heavily rely on introspection or on the subjective first-person perspective. Subjective impressions and intuitions on what consciousness is like have no authority in the science of consciousness. By contrast, it must be based on objective observations and collections of public data about the physical and intentional behaviours of other people, especially their verbal behaviours. The consciousness scientist thus should look at other people’s consciousness as it is revealed from the outside perspective rather than turn inside into one’s own experiences and introspections to find the truth about consciousness.
