?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Adc&rft.title=Back+from+the+Drawing+Board&rft.creator=Dennett%2C+Daniel+C.&rft.subject=Philosophy+of+Mind&rft.description=Reading+these+essays+has+shown+me+a+great+deal%2C+both+about+the+substantive+issues+I+have+dealt+with+and+about+how+to+do+philosophy.+On+the+former+front%2C+they+show+that+I+have+missed+some+points+and+overstated+others%2C+and+sometimes+just+been+unable+to+penetrate+the+fog.+On+the+latter+front%2C+they+show+how+hard+it+is+to+write+philosophy+that+works--and+this+is+the+point+that+stands+out+for+me+as+I+reflect+on+these+rich+and+varied+essays.+Philosophical+books+and+articles+routinely+fail+to+achieve+their+manifest+goal+of+persuading+their+intended+audiences+of+their+main+points.+Does+this+make+philosophy+any+worse+off+than+other+writing+endeavors%3F+Most+published+novels+are+failures+of+one+sort+or+another%2C+and+the+press+has+reported+a+recent+study+(whose+methodology+I+wonder+about)+that+concludes+that+the+median+number+of+readers+of+any+paper+published+in+a+psychology+journal+is+zero.+But+it+seems+to+me+that+philosophy+displays+a+particularly+feckless+record%2C+with+such+a+huge+gap+between+authorial+pretense+and+effect+achieved+that+it+is+perhaps+more+comic+than+pathetic.+In+one+weak+moment+I+found+myself+thinking+that+perhaps+some+of+our+French+colleagues+have+the+right+idea%3A+deliberate+obscurantism+and+the+striking+of+stylized+poses--since+the+goal+of+persuading+by+clear%2C+precise+analysis+and+argument+is+so+manifestly+beyond+us.+But+that+worldly+weariness+passed%2C+I'm+happy+to+say%2C+and+my+cock-eyed+American+optimism+returned.+My+ambition+continues+to+be+to+change+people's+minds%2C+and+not+just+to+win+people+over+to+my+way+of+doing+philosophy%2C+as+Bo+Dahlbom+suggests.+But+I+admit+that+it+is+harder+than+I+had+thought.+It's+hard+enough+to+get+a+good+idea%2C+but+sometimes+it's+even+harder%2C+apparently%2C+to+get+others+to+see+what+the+idea+is%2C+and+why+it's+good.&rft.publisher=Blackwell%3A+Oxford&rft.contributor=Dahlbom%2C+Bo&rft.date=1993&rft.type=Book+Chapter&rft.type=PeerReviewed&rft.format=text%2Fhtml&rft.identifier=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F271%2F1%2Fbackdraw.htm&rft.identifier=++Dennett%2C+Daniel+C.++(1993)+Back+from+the+Drawing+Board.++%5BBook+Chapter%5D+++++&rft.relation=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F271%2F