intentionality

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

the property of mental states in virtue of which they are directed toward, about, or represent objects, states of affairs, or contents in the world; coined in its modern philosophical sense by Franz Brentano, who held intentionality to be the mark of the mental — the feature that distinguishes psychological phenomena from physical ones; intentionality raises the question of how mental states can represent a world beyond the mind, and theories of intentionality range from causal and informational accounts to phenomenological approaches emphasising the lived structure of experience; John Searle's Chinese Room argument challenges computational accounts of intentionality by arguing that syntax alone cannot generate genuine semantic content