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Full Idea
The 'intentional stance' is the tactic of interpreting an entity by adopting the presupposition that it is an approximation of the ideal of an optimally designed (i.e. rational) self-regarding agent.
Gist of Idea
The 'intentional stance' is a way of interpreting an entity by assuming it is rational and self-aware
Source
Daniel C. Dennett (Daniel Dennett on himself [1994], p.239)
Book Ref
'A Companion to the Philosophy of Mind', ed/tr. Guttenplan,Samuel [Blackwell 1995], p.239
A Reaction
This is Dennett's 'instrumentalism', a descendant of behaviourism, which strikes me as a pragmatist's evasion of the ontological problems of mind which should interest philosophers