creators_name: Dennett, Daniel C type: journalp datestamp: 1998-04-14 lastmod: 2011-03-11 08:53:47 metadata_visibility: show title: The Message is: There is no Medium ispublished: pub subjects: phil-mind full_text_status: public abstract: Sydney Shoemaker notes that my "avoidance of the standard philosophical terminology for discussing such matters" often creates problems for me; philosophers have a hard time figuring out what I am saying and what I am denying. My refusal to play ball with my colleagues is deliberate, of course, since I view the standard philosophical terminology as worse than useless--a major obstacle to progress since it consists of so many errors trapped in the seductively lucid amber of tradition: "obvious truths" that are simply false, broken-backed distinctions, and other cognitive illusions. I want to shift the perspective of philosophy of mind, and for that task using the standard terminology would be counterproductive. Fortunately, the inevitable communication-difficulties my policy provokes are forced into the open by occasions such as this constructive confrontation, permitting me to clarify my shocking message. I am grateful to Shoemaker, and to Michael Tye, Frank Jackson and David Rosenthal, for their vigorous and sympathetic reactions to my book. date: 1993 date_type: published publication: Philosophy & Phenomenological Research. volume: 53 number: 4 pagerange: 889-931 refereed: TRUE citation: Dennett, Daniel C (1993) The Message is: There is no Medium. [Journal (Paginated)] document_url: http://cogprints.org/272/1/msgisno.htm