ABSTRACT
Daniel Dennett advocates an approach to the mind that at first glance might appear similar to Davidson’s. That appearance, as will become evident, is misleading. Dennett’s concern is to further a scientifically informed account of the mind. Like Davidson, he insists on distinguishing practices of propositional attitude ascription from systematic attempts to understand the mechanisms responsible for intelligent action. Unlike Davidson, however, Dennett regards the ascription of propositional attitudes – beliefs, desires, intentions – as constrained only by a weak requirement of ‘rationality’. We can correctly and legitimately ascribe propositional attitudes to any system – animal, vegetable, or mineral – the behavior of which could be construed as rational in light of the system’s ‘ends’. The result is a deliberately ‘instrumentalist’ approach to the mind. (The significance of all this will emerge in the discussion to follow.)
11.2 Taking a stance
According to Dennett, a creature’s having a mind is strictly a matter of our usefully regarding the creature as having a mind. This amounts, in practice, to our treating the creature as ‘one of us’: a being with various (mostly true) beliefs about the world and desires for particular states of affairs; a creature that acts reasonably in light of those beliefs and desires. You observe a robin hunting worms in the garden. You explain – that is, make sense of – the robin’s behavior by supposing that the robin is hungry and so seeking food. The robin believes that worms are food, believes that worms are to be found in the garden, and in consequence desires to hunt worms in the garden. The robin, in sum, acts reasonably in light of its beliefs and desires.
