Mind: A Brief Introduction (John R. Searle) / quote 114 of 138
How is intentionality possible at all
I. HOW IS INTENTIONALITY POSSIBLE AT ALL? This problem is supposed to be as difficult as the problem of consciousness, so the sorts of solutions that are supposed to solve it are much like the solutions proposed for the problem of consciousness. The dualistic solution is to say that as there are two different realms, the mental and the physical, so the mental realm has its own sorts of powers not possessed by the physical realm. The physical realm is incapable of referring, but the mental realm is essentially capable of thinking, and thinking involves reference. I hope it is obvious that this dualistic solution is no solution at all. To explain the mystery of intentionality it appeals to the mystery of the mental in general. I think that the most common contemporary philosophical solution to the problem of intentionality is some form of functionalism. The idea is that intentionality is to be analyzed entirely in terms of causal relations. These causal relations exist between the environment and the agent and between various events going on inside the agent. On this view there is nothing mysterious about intentionality. It is just a form of causation. The only special feature is that intentional relations exist between the agent’s cerebral innards and the external world. And, by this time, I do not need to tell the reader that the most influential version of functionalism is computer functionalism, or Strong Artificial Intelligence. Finally, there is the eliminativist view of intentionality: there really are no intentional states. The belief that there are such things is just a residue of a primitive folk psychology, one that a mature science of the brain will enable us to overcome. A variant of the eliminativist view is what we might…