Mind: A Brief Introduction (John R. Searle) / quote 122 of 138
Intentionality is the structure of our mental life
The formal structure of the intentionality that I have described is no trivial matter. This is in fact the structure of our conscious life. Indeed, it is the structure of our mental life, both conscious and unconscious. When we come to understand a social situation we are in, when we make up our minds to engage in some course of action, when we perceive the heavens on a starry night, when we suddenly have recollections of our childhood while eating a madeleine—all of these are manifestations of the formal structure that I have been describing. In order to understand our lives, we have to understand the structure of intentionality. It is important to emphasize that none of this…