Fred Dretske

Frederick Irwin Dretske (December 9, 1932 – July 24, 2013) was a philosopher noted for his contributions to epistemology and the philosophy of mind. His later work centered on conscious experience and self-knowledge. Additionally, he was awarded the Jean Nicod Prize in 1994. Dretske received his Ph.D from The University of Minnesota and taught for a number of years at the University of Wisconsin–Madison before moving to Stanford University. After retiring from Stanford, he moved to Duke University where he was Senior Research Scholar in Philosophy until his death in 2013.

Dretske held externalist views about the mind, and thus he tried in various writings to show that by means of mere introspection one actually learns about his or her own mind less than might be expected.