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A Critique of Dennett's Design Stance The interpretation of artifacts : a critique of Dennett's design stance Citation for published version (APA): Amerongen, van, M. (2008). The interpretation of artifacts : a critique of Dennett's design stance. Technische Universiteit Eindhoven. https://doi.org/10.6100/IR636331 DOI: 10.6100/IR636331 Document status and date: Published: 01/01/2008 Document Version: Publisher’s PDF, also known as Version of Record (includes final page, issue and volume numbers) Please check the document version of this publication: • A submitted manuscript is the version of the article upon submission and before peer-review. There can be important differences between the submitted version and the official published version of record. People interested in the research are advised to contact the author for the final version of the publication, or visit the DOI to the publisher's website. • The final author version and the galley proof are versions of the publication after peer review. • The final published version features the final layout of the paper including the volume, issue and page numbers. Link to publication General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal. If the publication is distributed under the terms of Article 25fa of the Dutch Copyright Act, indicated by the “Taverne” license above, please follow below link for the End User Agreement: www.tue.nl/taverne Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us at: [email protected] providing details and we will investigate your claim. Download date: 27. Sep. 2021 According to the philosopher Daniel Dennett, the function of an artifact is what Artifacts of The Interpretation it is best able to do, regardless of what its designer intended it to be, or what users intend to use it for. Dennett’s so-called optimality account of function is his alternative to intentionalistic and causal accounts. It is a crucial component of his theory. It allows Dennett to explain intentionality in terms of the notion of design and this justifies in turn his ideas about the intentional stance as being dependent upon the design stance. This books investigates the consistency of the optimality account in relation to the rest of Dennett’s theory. It analyzes whether the optimality account satisfies standards internal to his theory. The main thesis of the book is that the optimality account does not live up to these standards, thus undermining the very founda- tions on which it is built. Melissa van Amerongen van Melissa The Interpretation of Artifacts ‘Wonder en is A Critique of Dennett’s Design Stance gheen wonder’ Melissa van Amerongen Simon Stevin Series in the Philosophy of in the Philosophy Series Technology Stevin Simon Simon Stevin Series in the Philosophy of Technology The Interpretation of Artifacts A Critique of Dennett’s Design Stance PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, op gezag van de Rector Magnificus, prof.dr.ir. C.J. van Duijn, voor een commissie aangewezen door het College voor Promoties in het openbaar te verdedigen op dinsdag 19 augustus 2008 om 16.00 uur door Melissa van Amerongen geboren te Amsterdam Dit proefschrift is goedgekeurd door de promotor: prof.dr.ir. A.W.M. Meijers Copromotor: prof.dr. C.F.R. Illies Samenstelling promotiecommissie Rector Magnificus, voorzitter prof.dr.ir. A.W.M. Meijers, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, Promotor prof.dr. C.F.R. Illies, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, Co-promotor prof.dr. H. Kornblith, University of Massachusetts (US) prof.dr.ir. P.A. Kroes, Technische Universiteit Delft prof.dr. P.M.F. Oomen, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven prof.dr. M.V.P. Slors, Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen Research for this thesis was made possible by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). © Melissa van Amerongen, 2008 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior permission in writing of the publisher. Van Amerongen, M. The Interpretation of Artifacts; A Critique of Dennett’s Design Stance Den Texstraat 42 II, 1017 ZC, Amsterdam E: [email protected] ISBN: 978-90-386-1339-0 ISSN: 1574-941X Contents Acknowledgements 7 1 Introduction 8 1.1. Specification of the main question 16 1.2. Short overview of the thesis 19 1.3. A matter of courtesy 19 2 Attitude philosophy 20 2.1. Characteristics of attitudes and attitude-explanations 25 2.2. Attitude ascription and attitudes themselves 28 2.3. Normative/descriptive 32 2.4. Folk attitudes and scientific attitudes 33 3 The Essential Dennett 38 3.1. Dennett’s third person view on the mind 41 3.2. Interpretationism and radical translation 44 3.3. Interpretationism and science 48 3.4. Characterizing intentional explanations 49 3.5. Pragmatic foundations 54 3.6. Interpretationism and some ontological issues 58 3.7. Two standards 63 4 Interpretationism as Non-Reductionism 66 4.1. Intentional systems Theory and Subpersonal Psychology 67 4.2. The reductionism scale 70 4.3. The intentional stance as non-reductive explanation 78 4.4. Conclusion 81 5 The Optimality Principle 83 5.1. The three stances 84 5.2. Two of a kind 86 5.3. Four claims about the interpretation of artifacts 89 5.4. (IA1) Thesis of attitude generosity 92 5.5. (IA2) Thesis of design primacy 95 5.6. (IA3) Thesis of function generality 99 5.7. (IA4) Thesis of optimality 105 5.8. Two arguments against intentionalism 112 5.9. Arguments for the optimality account 119 6 Taking a Stance as Daily Practice 121 6.1. The stances in cognitive psychological research 122 6.2. Seeds of action and design: the naïve intentional stance 125 6.3. The development of the design stance 131 6.4. Three models of the development of teleological reasoning 133 6.5. X is for Y: The development of the design stance 135 6.6. Functional reasoning is intentional reasoning 142 6.7. Discussion: The relevance of empirical (developmental) research 147 7 Taking a Stance as a Method 149 7.1. Evaluating the stances as (scientific) methodology 149 7.2. The intentional stance as a method in cognitive ethology 152 7.3. Dennett and cognitive ethology 159 7.4. The design stance as method in archaeology 162 7.5. Optimality and intentionality 168 7.6. The failure of the optimality account as method 175 8 Conclusion: The Interpretation of Artifacts 183 8.1. Introduction 183 8.2. The argument against the optimality account 184 8.3. The conclusion 192 8.4. Discussion: artifact interpretation revisited 195 References 200 Index of names 212 Summary (in English) 213 Nederlandstalige samenvatting 215 Acknowledgements So this is it. About five years of full time work, more than 200 pages, many cancellations of appointments with family and friends, even more terrible moods, and no prospect of being able to contribute to building a spaceship with it or curing a terrible disease. The result: the discovery of a contradiction. From that perspective, completing a philosophical book is not so much a test of competence, but rather a test of perseverance. There are many people that I want to thank for their support and help. My colleagues at the Philosophical Department. Anthonie Meijers and Christian Illies, for supervision and guidance, for interesting philosophical discussions in unusual places, and for helping me get the dissertation to the finish. I am certainly not the easiest person to supervise. Rianne Schaaf for helping me get the manuscript to the publisher in time. Palmyre Oomen for her sharp and detailed criticism on the final manuscript and the long and deeply motivating discussions that followed. Giacomo and Krist for their tough criticism, essential input, moral support and most of all, for being such great company. I feel terribly guilty that I beat both of you to it. Beers are on me next time. Staff and students of the department of Philosophy at Amherst, for a great time that I will never forget. Lynne Baker and Hilary Kornblith for their hospital- ity, and excellent feedback. Seamus, with whom I unfortunately lost contact. Emile, Sabine, Sofie, Conor, Arnold, Rogier, Sam, Jeroen, and my sister Floor. You’re not only great friends, but really helped me during some difficult times when I couldn’t see the end coming. Your repertoire was as diverse as it was effective. Last minute editorial advise, teasing, compassionate looks of recognition, newborn seals, cynical, relativizing statements about science in general and philosophy in particular, chocolate-with-orange with beer and Idols, excellent dinners, kinky pink suits, and calling my cards when you should not have. My parents Liesbeth and Ben for putting up with me and their patience. Juliette and Norfried for extra parental care, Ineke and Bert for always being close by. The Kennisnet research department, Alfons, Ronald, Hilda, Nadine and Jackie, for time and a free mind to finish the dissertation. And Take, for still being my boy friend. You’re crazy. Let’s get old together. 1 Introduction Technology is an important phenomenon in human life, and in human action. Technical artifacts mediate and influence our actions, enlarge our capacities, and they are almost omnipresent in our environment.
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