more from John Searle

Single Idea 3489

[catalogued under 15. Nature of Minds / B. Features of Minds / 4. Intentionality / a. Nature of intentionality]

Full Idea

Intentional phenomena such as meanings, understandings, interpretations, beliefs, desires, and experiences only function within a set of Background capacities that are not themselves intentional.

Gist of Idea

Intentional phenomena only make sense within a background

Source

John Searle (The Rediscovery of the Mind [1992], Ch. 8.I)

Book Reference

Searle,John R.: 'The Rediscovery of the Mind' [MIT 1999], p.175


A Reaction

Why would the background not be intentional? Presumably the background is a set of beliefs about, or images of, how the world is taken to be.