Philosophy notes15

Husserl on Intentionality: “The essence of consciousness is intentionality” The task of phenomenology is to isolate intentional structures of consciousness without their contingencies and in all their purity.

Consciousness is a unity or an outward moving vector consisting of three moments: a subject pole, an object pole and the movement between the two poles.

1.Intentionality is derived from the Latin verb ‘intendo’ –to point (at), aim (at), extend (toward), aboutness.

2.Husserl is influenced by Franz Brentano in his account of intentionality. However, there are major differences between their versions of intentionality. Husserl provides a non-psychologisitic and active characterization of intentionality (unlike Brentano). But, they do share much in terms of their philosophical projects despite their differences.

3.Husserl’s notion of intentional perception differs considerably from the empiricist approach to the same, which can be seen in theories such as that of Locke. The basic problem with empiricists in Husserl’s view is that (a)they treat consciousness as a passive receptacle or a box. (b)they confuse two senses of the term ‘idea’: subjective presentation of a thing and a presented object.

In the words of David Bell then Husserl raises two major objections to empiricism: (i)Descriptive Objection (ii)Analytic Objection Husserl’s intentional perception is an active process involving two stages: the vehicle stage of the founding act and the semantic/meaning giving stage of the founded act.

Perception is a process where consciousness actively confers meaning/form onto material sense data or hyle. For instance one hears a song rather than mere sounds. Intentionality consists in a noema-noesis relation.

4.Intentionality can be classified in terms of four functions: a.It objectivates b.It unifies c.It relates. Here the notion of fulfillment of the promise contained in the intentional act is important. This requires taking into account the background or the horizon against which the act occurs. As Husserl notes, the object is “is always something more than we actually perceive of it” Expectations play a role in intentionality attempt to relate. d.It constitutes.

Books: (1)Spiegelberg’s chapter on Husserl contains a lucid version of intentionality.

(2)Peter Koestenbaum’s Introduction to Husserl’s Paris Lectures (3)David Bell’s Book also contains a good discussion of intentionality.

(4)Sections of Husserl’s Paris Lectures.

(5)’Intentionality’ Article in the Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Ed. Paul Edwards)