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Full Idea
An important step towards becoming a person is the step up from a first-order intentional system to a second-order system (which has beliefs and desires about beliefs and desires).
Gist of Idea
Being a person must involve having second-order beliefs and desires (about beliefs and desires)
Source
Daniel C. Dennett (Kinds of Minds [1996], Ch.5)
Book Ref
Dennett,Daniel C.: 'Kinds of Minds' [Phoenix 1997], p.159
A Reaction
Call it 'meta-thought'. I agree. Dennett thinks language is crucial to this, but the hallmark of intelligence and full-blown personhood is meta- and meta-meta-thought. Maybe the development of irony is a step up the evolutionary scale. Sarcasm is GOOD.
| 22019 | Consciousness of an object always entails awareness of the self [Fichte] |
| 5381 | In seeing the sun, we are acquainted with our self, but not as a permanent person [Russell] |
| 7106 | The Ego is not formally or materially part of consciousness, but is outside in the world [Sartre] |
| 9264 | Persons are distinguished by a capacity for second-order desires [Frankfurt] |
| 9266 | A person essentially has second-order volitions, and not just second-order desires [Frankfurt] |
| 4881 | Being a person must involve having second-order beliefs and desires (about beliefs and desires) [Dennett] |
| 2506 | If I have a set of mental modules, someone had better be in charge of them! [Fodor] |
| 3223 | Self-consciousness may just be nested intentionality [Rey] |
| 20589 | Maybe a person's true self is their second-order desires [Tuckness/Wolf] |