Much more readable than Consciousness Explained, for which I have just a few chapters remaining. The breakdowns of the influence of language, intentionality, and capacity to conceptualize were a few factors I certainly hadn't fully considered in my brief exposure to this material. With a clarified focus on such phenomena, along with the recommended 'further reading' section at the end of the book, I definitely now have a baseline for future investigation.

Given it's 'to the point' nature, as compared to most of Dennett's other books, this would be on the top of my recommended list for those interested in his work and this particular realm of study.

There's been a boom in "armchair"-style cognitive pop-science books lately but you really have to be familiar with what the long-standing landscape of the topic was; before jumping at every latest fad title. Start with something like this. Anytime any new discovery happens, a spate of books ensues by anyone even remotely involved; the lamers who write science-feature articles for Yahoo are all looking to get their first book out. Remain calm and don't get excited at every little 'startling development'. A book like this helps you gain a sense of perspective.

The only reason I gave 4 stars is that the version I was reading has quite the translation. For a very short book during a busy schedule, I managed to not pick this book often because I don't really like how the translator translates this book. It's sometimes tedious and hard to digest, with a lot of literal translations that just don't go well in Indonesian.
But despite the translation, I can officially say I am in love with Daniel C. Dennet and I am putting his other books on my reading list.
This might be the first book about consciousness that I have ever read, and I picked the right book. Dennet introduces a lot of concepts in a really friendly and not intimidating way, so much so that I can use these newly introduced concepts almost immediately in my day-to-day life. I have always known that consciousness is still something unprovable but the way that Dennet elaborated this idea has really brought that statement to a whole new level for me in an inconclusive way, and that's very philosophical of him. This type of writing and teaching is the one that I like, the one that manages to bring you to think from all perspectives but never really concludes itself. You are the one who's responsible for your subjective conclusions at the end of the ride (Yuval Noah Harari also writes like this. If you haven't read Sapiens already, go read it now!!).
The book also emphasized the implications of consciousness relative to morality, and that leads to animal rights discussions which I also really love.
Go read and love this book if you are into science and philosophical discussions about the kinds of minds.

I liked this book a great deal. Approachable philosophy, not full of jargon and buzzwords either to obscure or because of enough understanding to explain the complex simply. Dennett doe a terrific job going over an immense amount of material from many different sources and bringing it together in plain language and perceptive and clarifying examples to make his points.

I recommend this book unreservedly to anyone wanting to know more about the human mind.

thank you to tsu for the book !
this is a very intricate book and explains the various wonderful discoveries (which also include those yet to-be discovered) and the wonder of the human brain, evolution and what is so called entitled our minds.

as self admitted, this is more an attempt to restructure questions than to outright answer them. what kinds of minds are there, and where should we decide moral consequence? well, it seems important to explore what we really mean by this, first. dennett embraces a functionalist approach that, when flirted with, flows quite wonderfully. it is rather funny which asides he chooses to detail exhaustively and which central arguments he seemingly brushes over (the wittgenstein referencing as an attempt to elegantly dismiss solipsism flew over my head at first, for example), but the playful language and ease of access is continuous, and the invitation to really consider what we so eagerly take for granted is a beautiful success

Setiap bab meninggalkan tanda tanya. Sepertinya memang dibuat seperti ini.

Si ya leíste bastante Dennet no vas a encontrar mucha novedad. Si todavía no leíste, es una linda introducción, porque se para desde un lugar un poco más intuitivo y un poco menos "estoy totalmente loco y pienso que la conciencia no existe". Me resultó entretenido.

Huge points the author assumes you take on faith at the very beginning:
1. solipsism is false because i said so
2. brain = mind

He then bases everything after the fact on those points, interchanging brain with mind constantly which put a sour taste in my mouth.

The best parts of the book come at the absolute end where he theorizes that the closest we can come to understanding any other animal is those that live in close proximity to us, as we change those animals to become more human (i.e. dogs).

Then in a weird finish, he makes a very quick point to say there is no inward suffering without an outward result.

Two big points he could have actually expanded on to make this worthwhile, yet I assume he didn't because I was not his target audience, as this book is more for the person who has never thought about this topic.

Dennettova knjiga Vrste umova: k razumijevanju svijesti provokativna je od prve do posljednje stranice. Ona nas poziva da o problemu uma i svijesti razmišljamo na potpuno drugačiji način od onoga tradicionalnoga prema kojemu su um i svijest nešto posebno, nešto potpuno različito od materije i procesa u njoj, te stoga nešto što je izvan dosega znanstvene spoznaje. Dennetov rad na razmeđi filozofije uma, kognitivne znanosti, umjetne inteligencije i biologije, kao i radovi na temu slobode volje i religije, pristupačno su i poticajno štivo za šire čitateljstvo.

https://www.superknjizara.hr/?page=kn...

the first od Dennet Books I dont agree inmediatly, perhaps because an emotional stance on the issue of animal suffering, but also because is not the most convincing argument I have read of it, nor even by authors of the same line of thinking, as Pinker and Harari.

Buku ini adalah terjemahan dari buku Kinds Of Minds yang terbit tahun 1996. Lalu apakah maksud dari Minds yang diterjemahkan menjadi akalbudi (penulisannya disambung)?. Apakah ini untuk membedakan dengan makna akal budi versi KKBI yang sekedar memaknainya sebagai pikiran sehat ? Atau kata "pikiran" sebagai terjemahan bahasa Indonesia pada kata Minds dirasa tak tepat sasaran? Entahlah.
.
Buku ini adalah buku filsafat. Filsafat tentang akal budi, pikiran dan kesadaran. Layaknya filsafat, permasalahan utamanya adalah penyatuan atau keselarasan makna yang termaksud dengan bantuan kata-kata, atau bahasa. Kita tak mungkin mendiskusikan sesuatu selama kita tak sepakat dengan sesuatu yang sama tersebut dari awal. Biru yang saya maksud adalah warna biru yang sama dengan kata biru dalam pemahaman anda. Kata "biru" mencakup makna yang sama dalam pemikiran kita berdua, baru bisa kita diskusikan.
.
Buku ini sebenarnya sangat menarik. Ada begitu banyak hal yang menggugah saya, mulai dari maksud akal budi itu sendiri, batasan moral yang kemudian menjadi tertuduh ketika kita berbicara soal kesadaran pada makhluk non manusia. Begitupun gagasan penulis berupa Menara-bangkitkan-dan-Tes dalam menguji atau menentukan skala kognitif organisme ataupun artefak.
.
Membaca buku ini seperti mendaki gunung, makin lama makin berat dan membuat tersengal-sengal. Hampir menyerah di 1/3 awal. Satu paragraph yg kadang menghabiskan satu halaman penuh cukup membuat kepala mengepul. Ketika otak kelelahan mengikuti alur buku ini, pembenaran yang paling gampang adalah menuduh penerjemahnya tidak becus.