Philosophy as Reverse Engineering: The Case of Daniel C. Dennett

Daniel C. Dennett approaches philosophy of mind in a manner typical for reverse engineering. He studies the construction and behaviour of a mechanism in order to discover what are the functions of various units in the system. He applies this method to explain some biological facts and then to interpret specifically mental operations. The author tries to establish why Dennett uses this approach and proposes that his main reason may have been to sustain a naturalistic conception of mind.