Principle of humanity
- This is a definition in philosophy. For another use of the term, see principle of humanity (humanitarian)
The principle of humanity states that when interpreting another speaker we must assume that his or her beliefs and desires are connected to each other and to reality in some way, and attribute to him or her "the propositional attitudes one supposes one would have oneself in those circumstances" (Daniel Dennett, "Mid-Term Examination," in The Intentional Stance, p. 343). The principle of humanity was named by Richard Grandy (then an assistant professor of philosophy at Princeton University) in 1973.