Various Levels Of Abstraction Of The Intentional Stance By Daniel Dennett

The intentional stance is a term used by philosopher Daniel Dennett for the “various levels of abstraction in which we view the behavior of a thing in terms of its mental properties”. It belongs to the mental content theory initially proposed by Dennett, which provides the baseline structure of his later works on free will, consciousness, folk psychology, and evolution.

The international stance is described as initially treating an objects behavior as a predictable rational agent; then one determines said objects beliefs in accordance to its place and purpose in the world; Then one evaluates the desires it is believed to have, on the same considerations, and finally to claim that the rational agent will act only to further its goals in light
At this level, one is concerned with things such as weight, power, rate, and the chemical makeup of said agent. For example when predicting where a ball is going to land based one calculates its trajectory, in doing so one is taking the physical stance. Another example of the physical stance comes into play when one examines two types of metals bonded together, one assesses how it might bend as the temperature increases or decreases, based on the physical properties of the two elements.

A more abstract level defined by Dennett is the design stance, which encompasses biology and engineering. At this level one is interested in things such as purpose, function and design. When we predict a fish is able to breath underwater using its gills on the basis that gills are used for breathing underwater, one is taking the design. Likewise, one is able to understand the bimetallic strip as a type of thermometer, not confusing ones self with the irrelevant details of how the thermometer works. One can recognize a purpose that said thermometer would serve inside a thermostat and then generalize about other kinds of thermostats that may use a different type of thermometer. From this predicament one is able to explain the different uses a thermostat might have, identifying that it tracks temperature and would turn on
If one were to attempt to understand a thermostat at the intentional stance level, evaluating its beliefs on how hot it is and its desire to keep said temperature just right, one would gain no results over the problem as compared to remaining at the design stance level, undoubtedly one would generate theoretical commitments exposing ones self to illogicality, such as the improbability of the thermostat not being in the mood to work today because the weather is nice. Choosing a particular stance is determined on how successful that stance is when being