Languages of Intentionality: A Dialogue Between Two Traditions on Consciousness

Description

Intentionality - the relationship between conscious states and their objects - is one of the most discussed topics in contemporary debates in philosophy of mind, cognitive neuroscience and the study of consciousness. Long a foundational concept in Phenomenology, it has also received considerable coverage in the writings of analytic philosophers. This book is the first study to offer an impartial, well-informed assessment of the two traditions' approaches through an in-depth investigation of the principal thinkers' ideas, so that their positions emerge side-by-side, converging and diverging on certain shared themes.Beginning with a historical discussion of thedevelopment of the term in the work of Continental thinkers in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the book considers the work of Brentano and Husserl and subsequent existentialist critiques. From there, it explores how empirical-analytic philosophers took up the topic, drawn as they were to materialist and computer models of the mind. Finally MacDonald presents a new 'hybrid' account of intentionality that will be a crucial work for scholars working on consciousness and the mind. Cover Halftitle Series Title Copyright Contents Chapter 1. Current Issues and Debates on Intentionality Chapter 2. Beginnings of the Phenomenological Theory Twardowski’s Distinction of Content and Object Edmund Husserl’s Phenomenological Orientation Chapter 3. Existentialist Critiques of Husserl’s Theory Heidegger’s Existential Reorientation Jean-Paul Sartre and the Conduct of the For-Itself Merleau-Ponty on the Lived-Body and Corporeal Intentionality Chapter 4. Language-Analytic Accounts and the New Empiricism Chisholm on Intentional Sentences Wilfrid Sellars’ New Empiricism Chapter 5. Computer Models and Functionalist Explanations Daniel Dennett on Intentional Systems Jerry Fodor on Computation and Representation Fred Dretske on Information and Representation Chapter 6. Criticisms of the Analytic-Empirical Approach Chapter 7. Extensions of the Phenomenological Theory Chapter 8. A Hybrid Project—the Best of Both Approaches Notes Bibliography Index