The fiction of phenomenal intentionality
Consciousness & Emotion December 31, 2003 Nicholas Georgalis 8 citations
The paper argues that phenomenal intentionality—the idea that intentional states have a special kind of conscious feel—does not exist. The author claims that advocates mistakenly apply the concept of "what it is like" (WIL) to intentional states in the same way as to sensory states, but this application is asymmetrical and invalid. While agreeing that consciousness must be involved in intentionality, the author contends that the arguments for phenomenal intentionality fail due to this asymmetry. Instead, the paper proposes that there is a phenomenology of intentionality—a conscious experience associated with intentional states—but not a distinct phenomenal intentionality. The argument is grounded in a critical overview of recent philosophy of mind.