The Personal/Sub-personal Distinction

Dennett distinguishes descriptions of persons and their activities from explanations of contributing subpersonal processes. The distinction helps avoid assigning the complete personal capacity to an unexplained internal part.

A person recognizes a friend, makes a promise, or chooses to leave; a subpersonal account investigates processes that help make those activities possible. The descriptions answer connected but different questions. Trouble arises when a mechanism is given the whole person's capacity without specifying what limited operation it performs.

The distinction does not prohibit all intentional shorthand for components. It requires clarity about whether such language is an analogy, a functional role, or a literal attribution. It also does not map neatly onto Marr's levels, which distinguish computational, algorithmic, and implementational questions within an explanatory project.

When to use it

Use when explanations of cognition mix persons, brain regions, or computational components without clarifying the intended attribution.

How it can help

Specify the level of the question, the component's narrower role, and the evidence linking the mechanism to the person's activity.