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Daniel C. Dennett

The Intentional Stance (A Bradford Book) Paperback – March 6, 1989

by Daniel C. Dennett (Author)

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How are we able to understand and anticipate each other in everyday life, in our daily interactions? Through the use of such "folk" concepts as belief, desire, intention, and expectation, asserts Daniel Dennett in this first full-scale presentation of a theory of intentionality that he has been developing for almost twenty years. We adopt a stance, he argues, a predictive strategy of interpretation that presupposes the rationality of the people―or other entities―we are hoping to understand and predict.

These principles of radical interpretation have far-reaching implications for the metaphysical and scientific status of the processes referred to by the everday terms of folk psychology and their corresponding terms in cognitive science.While Dennett's philosophical stance has been steadfast over the years, his views have undergone successive enrichments, refinements, and extensions. The Intentional Stance brings together both previously published and original material: four of the book's ten chapters―its first and the final three―appear here for the first time and push the theory into surprising new territory. The remaining six were published earlier in the 1980s but were not easily accessible; each is followed by a reflection―an essay reconsidering and extending the claims of the earlier work. These reflections and the new chapters represent the vanguard of Dennett's thought. They reveal fresh lines of inquiry into fundamental issues in psychology, artificial intelligence, and evolutionary theory as well as traditional issues in the philosophy of mind.

A Bradford Book.

Print length

400 pages
Language

English
Publisher

A Bradford Book
Publication date

March 6, 1989
Grade level

12 and up
Reading age

18 years and up
Dimensions

9.01 x 5.92 x 0.89 inches
ISBN-10

0262540533
ISBN-13

978-0262540537
See all details

Albert-László Barabási
97
Hardcover
$55.99
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Dennett's essays are vivid, witty and admirably provocative.

―P. N. JohnsonLaird, The London Review of Books

Review

This is Dennett in action: reflecting, joking, clarifying, criticizing―and always stimulating...Anyone interested in the philosophy of mind will find both interest and excitement in these essays.

―Margaret Boden, Sussex University

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ A Bradford Book; Reprint edition (March 6, 1989)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 400 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0262540533
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0262540537
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 18 years and up
Grade level ‏ : ‎ 12 and up
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.15 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 9.01 x 5.92 x 0.89 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,287,224 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #768 in Humanist Philosophy
- #2,188 in Medical Cognitive Psychology
- #2,506 in Modern Philosophy (Books)

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4.3 out of 5

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Stella de Vulder

Access into the difficult world of consciousness

Reviewed in the United States on February 29, 2012

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Dennett makes philosophy of the mind accessible through his entertaining writing style. That sentence however diminishes the fact that it is Dennett's clear and rational thinking about 'intentionality' that is captured in this book. He cites his critics and uses their arguments against his propositions to further explicate his position, this offers a broad view of the current discussion around 'intentionality' and is extremely useful to those studying philosophy of the mind.

3 people found this helpful

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Richard H.

On my reading list

Reviewed in the United States on January 26, 2014

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I have not had the time to read it, but I hope to some day soon. I have always found Dennett's books interesting and very thought provoking.

One person found this helpful

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Driftwin Books

Completely satisfied!

Reviewed in the United States on July 24, 2015

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Arrived very quickly! Completely satisfied!

Reviewed in the United States on February 15, 2003

I believe this work should be considered a classic given the enormous influence the articles in it have had on philosophy of mind, among other areas in philosophy. Much in here is stated more clearly about the Intentional Stance than it is in later works, such as Brain Children. That isn't a criticism. I think that around the time this work was published Dennett was more into legitimizing and explaining the Intentional Stance than into polishing up his account of mind. Indeed in later works, such as "Consciousness Explained" and "Kinds of Minds", he builds off the foundation he laid here to develop his account of mind more fully.
In IS, Dennett comments on just which philosophical schools he aligns himself with, for instance, interpretivism, methodological behaviorism, and functionalism. Part of the message to take home about exactly where he aligns himself is that it isn't really important to him. He lays his arguments down and lets others worry about whether that makes him an interpretivist or methodological behaviorist. A clearer statement of his position regarding categorization of his views can be found in the "Back to the Drawing Board" chapter in "Dennett and His Critics".
In later works, Dennett further clarifies in what sense the entities the Intentional Stance makes use of are real, entities such as beliefs and desires. The most important of these later works is probably "Real Patterns", which appears in "Brain Children". In short, beliefs are part of compression algorithms of behavior that has been subjected to radical interpretation (See Davidson) from the Intentional Stance. A compression algorithm is (you guessed it) something that compresses some series of data. For instance, imagine you wanted to print 1000 1's and you had a computer that understood a programming language that would allow you to do so. One way to output the 1000 1's would be to specify that the computer print 1 and to repeat this command a thousand times. This doesn't compress anything however. Instead, you might tell the computer to "print 1 x 1000". This program has far fewer bits than does 1000 1's. 1000 1's has 1000 bits; the program has around log (base 2) 1000 bits. Hence, because it has fewer bits than what itd output does, that program is a compression algorithm of what it outputs. I recommend reading Gregory Chaitin for further info on Algorithmic Information Theory. In "Real Patterns" (in Brain Children), Dennett makes nice use of the mathematical definition of randomness to define compression algorithms and to set a plausible standard for what makes something a useful abstract object and thus, in a sense, just as real as are all the other useful scientific objects. Much more can be said about this, but this is enough for now.
This book is an excellent starting point for future study. Dennett's writing is as always engaging, insightful, and fairly straightforward.

26 people found this helpful

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Ivan L Freitas S

not fo the light reader

Reviewed in the United States on October 26, 2008

I've been trying to read every Dennett book since 1996 when I got to read the "elbow room" that really impressed my way of thinking, specially being a psychologist. I usually don't shift books on an author till I got to finish the one I'm into and its been almost two years trying to finish this book to start reading "breaking the spell" that's getting covered in dust.

This book unlikely the most recent Dennett books its a pretty deep investigation and defense into one of the most important ideas of the author as it is the intentional system, but in a rigorous way, so rigorous that some times it gets tedious so I have to let it go for a few days before continue the struggling to keep going through the pages.

I recommend this book only for those who want to know how Dennett got to the "Consciousness Explained" in a step by step and detailed way, but you can get to "Consciousness Explained" and understand it in a "mild" language skipping this sound step if you want to.

I will continue my pain since I decided to read all his books, but like I said before you can enjoy all his other great books skipping this one, but if you do, arm yourself with lots of patience cause you will see as the chapter you'r reading never comes to an end.

Good luck

7 people found this helpful

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The Intentional Stance (A Bradford Book) Paperback – March 6, 1989

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Follow the Author

The Intentional Stance (A Bradford Book) Paperback – March 6, 1989

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Daniel C. Dennett

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