Abstract
Intentionality has been understood as the ability to think and behave in accordance with goals previously elaborated by the individual, or the teleological property of mind. In this sense, intentional mental states are typically characterized by displaying contents secondary to the achievement of cognitive and/or behavioral goals underlying the constitution of beliefs, judgments, desires, and expectations directed toward the external world or the subject itself. If, on the one hand, the philosophical interest in the theme goes back to the scholastics, in the scientific sphere, the first empirical research programs on the characteristics and functional role of intentionality for psychological functioning only started in the first decades of the last century. In this entry, the relationship between intentionality and the possible will be analyzed from the role played by intentionality in the formulation, execution, and evaluation of possible action plans. To this end, the rich intersection established between intentionality, free will, and context in determining action directions will be used as a background for the discussion of how the dimension of the possible is established in intentional action through the interaction between intentional autonomy, free choice, and socio-contextual events. Prior to this discussion, we will present a summary of the state of the art in philosophical and scientific studies about intentionality, aiming to provide introductory information about its ontological, neurocognitive, and conceptual characterization.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ayer, A. J. (1973). The concept of a person and others essays. London: The Macmillan Press.
Bonicalzi, S., & Haggard, P. (2019). From freedom from to freedom to: New perspectives on intentional action. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 1–14.
Boussaoud, D. (2001). Attention versus intention in the primate premotor cortex. NeuroImage, 14, 40–45.
Brentano, F. (1995). Psychology from an empirical standpoint. New York: Routledge.
Crane, T. (2001). Elements of mind: An introduction to the philosophy of mind. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Dennett, D. C. (1981). Brainstorms: Philosophical essays on mind and psychology. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Dennett, D. C. (1996). Kinds of minds: Toward an understanding of consciousness. New York: Basic Books.
Haggard, P. (2008). Human volition: Towards a neuroscience of will. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 9, 934–946.
Hoefer, C. (2016). Causal determinism. The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/determinism-causal/. Accessed 4 June 2021.
Lau, H. C., Rogers, R. D., Haggard, P., & Passingham, R. E. (2004). Attention to intention. Science, 303, 1208–1210.
Libet, B., Gleason, C. A., Wright, E. W., & Pearl, D. K. (1983). Time of conscious intention to act in relation to onset of cerebral activity (readiness-potential): The unconscious initiation of a freely voluntary act. Brain, 106(3), 623–642.
Mckenna, M. (2019). Compatibilism. The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/compatibilism/. Accessed 7 June 2021.
Merleau-Ponty, M. (1962). Phenomenology of perception (trans: Smith, C.). London/New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Miller, A. G., Galanter, E., & Pribram, K. H. (2013). Plans and the structure of behavior. New York: Henry Holt.
Moore, J. W., & Obhi, S. (2012). Intentional binding and the sense of agency: A review. Consciousness and Cognition, 21, 546–561.
Rice, H. (2018). Fatalism. The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/fatalism/. Accessed 4 June 2021.
Searle, J. (1983). Intentionality: An essay in the philosophy of mind. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Strawson, G. (2010). Freedom and belief. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Tolman, E. C. (1932). Purposive behavior in animals and men. New York: Century.
Tolman, E. C., & Honzik, C. H. (1930). “Insight”: In rats (Vol. 4, pp. 215–232). Berkeley: University of California, Publications in Psychology.
Tomasello, M., & Carpenter, M. (2007). Shared intentionality. Developmental Science, 10(1), 121–125.
Wegner, D. (2002). The illusion of conscious will. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Magalhães, J.H.G., de Araujo, J.P.M. (2022). Intentionality. In: The Palgrave Encyclopedia of the Possible. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98390-5_210-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98390-5_210-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-98390-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-98390-5
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences