Dennett calls the last element, "inferring what other [people] are thinking," the intentional stance, by which he means a level of perception such that a creature recognizes the presence of an "interior landscape" in (some) other beings. Example: The World's Best Dog (Who is? He is!), with whom I have the honor of sharing my premises, occasionally likes to take the night air. When he wishes to re-enter the house he is obliged to signal the doorman on duty, since canine researchers have still not worked out what Gary Larsen called "the doorknob principle." He does so by scratching very lightly on the door. If this does not elicit the desired response, he repeats the signal with greater audible force. On one occasion when we had gone to bed, forgetting him outdoors, he left off the kitchen door and traversed the premises to another side of the house, where he awakened us with the sound of his great paws clattering against the bedroom window, which suggests that he knew where we were to be found and that the noise would convey his desire to be re-admitted. The intentional stance, incidentally, has been observed in squirrels, who instead of burying their dainties will, if aware that another squirrel is watching, merely feign the burial.

codially,