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Hello favorite book in the entire world - how are you? Really? No, I already had breakfast, but thanks...Oh, you want to sit down and be read again for the 300th time? Okay, that is so nice of you, sure favorite book in the entire world, I would love to read you again since you are brilliant and thoughtful and funny and lyrical and perfectly researched and everything else a book needs to be all at the same time. Do you mind if I eat a Ho-Ho while I read you over here on this couch and then tab a...
It has been a while since I have read Dennett, and rereading the Intentional Stance in the context of philosophy of science (one of the areas I'm working more on lately) was incredibly thought provoking. In the course of the discussion, Dennett unpacks a pragmatic strategy for talking about different sorts of systems and individuals; the defense is incredibly striking as a lot of philosophers are work more and more as discussing science as a pragmatic enterprise, and Dennett seems clearly to hav...
Well written but way too technical. So technical I couldn't finish it. More for professional philosophers than for rank amateurs like me. I enjoyed Dennett's other books which were challenging but this one kicked my ass.
Having been a huge fan of Dennett for a couple of years, through his talks, interviews, debates, articles and papers (all of those mostly on the topic of religion but some on philosophy), I'm actually a loss to explain why this is the first time I've read one of his books, especially since I've been aware for a while now, since reading "Quining Qualia" and "True Believers: The Intentional Strategy and Why It Works", that he's such a brilliant and entertaining (while always on topic, rational and...
The first few chapters/articles expose, in an overall clear formulation, many of Dennett's better ideas. The accompaniment of each article with a "commentary" chapter (which critically reviews it and expands on it) is an extraordinarily efficient and stimulating format.These first chapters seem to make clear progress, smooth sailing on a clear sea, far above the depths of complexity of the ideas he leaves behind. But the second half, starting with Beyond Belief, struggle in stormy waters and, de...
The Intentional Stance is a good summary of how philosophy saw the human brain working around 1980. Special attention is given to the importance of understanding others intentions. There is also a fair amount of discussion on AI, in particular if a computer can ever become indistinguishable from a human, organic brain.Reading this book takes attention so it requires a lot of time. Be prepared to spend a couple of weeks to get through the 400 pages. It is well worth the time if you are interested...
This book is the precursor to Sweet Dreams and Consciousness Explained. Roughly the “Intentional stance” is a predictive tool or position, where one makes the assumption (or gives ascription to) of rationality to an entity outside of ones consciousness, for the purpose of predictive behavior of that exterior entity (i.e. computers, aliens, humans, mice, and maybe bats). This position makes the assumption that the exterior system is in fact an intentional system and attributes to it beliefs, desi...
Dennett's take on the Philosophy of Mind, covering discussions in the USA, including Quine, Behaviourism, and the resulting backlash as embodied by Fodor's "Language of Thought". Especially the second half is very interesting. For Dennett, minds don't exist as such, but only as a consequence of taking a certain perspective of looking at the things - i.e., the Intentional Stance. If this sounds like it doesn't make any sense, this book is for you, as it points out the problems arising from altern...
This collection of articles presents Dennett's theory of intentionality, the philosophical study of belief, desire, and rational behavior. Dennett also compares his view to that of related philosophers. I always enjoy reading Dennett -- his style is crisp and punchy.
Dennett's position as developed by the late 80s, with issues about instrumentalism and realism in focus, and less about the architectural questions that turned up in earlier books. The final chapter is a good survey of how analytic philosophy of mind/language had developed since Wittgenstein.
This book (along with Dennett's 'Explaining Consciousness') completely and permanently changed the way I think about the mind. I wish more psychologists would read it.
Somewhere in this book, something very important and interesting and insightful is said. Can you find it?
supplanted by Consciousness Explained
I agree with what he says, I love the subject. I deplore his writing style. Turgid, verbose, prolix, logorhea.
I got a little bit out of this, but it certainly wasn't worth the 8hrs I spent on it. All the important ideas have been republished in Dennett's more recent work.
