Intentionality (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2003, 2010)

Intentionality (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2003, 2010)

Intentionality is the power of minds to be about, to represent, or to stand for, things, properties and states of affairs. The puzzles of intentionality lie at the interface between the philosophy of mind and the philosophy of language. The word itself, which is of medieval Scholastic origin, was rehabilitated by the philosopher Franz Brentano towards the end of the nineteenth century. ‘Intentionality’ is a philosopher's word. It derives from the Latin word intentio, which in turn derives from the verb intendere, which means being directed towards some goal or thing.

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/intentionality/

1. Contemporary discussions of the nature of intentionality are an integral part of discussions of the nature of minds: what are minds and what is it to have a mind?

7. To see how the theory of intentional objects flows from Brentano's characterization of intentionality, recall (from section 2) that it follows from the nature of intentionality (as described by Brentano's first thesis) that nothing could exhibit intentionality unless there were objects -- intentional objects -- that satisfied the property Brentano called “intentional inexistence.”

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