Philosophy of Mind, Part 4: Intentionality and the Mind

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You are invited to join us virtually from wherever you are this Sunday morning, Aug. 31, 2025 at 9:00, for our Plato's Cave forum.

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TITLE: Philosophy of Mind

DESCRIPTION
Philosophy of mind explores the nature of consciousness, our personal thoughts, and our mental states. In addition, how does the mind relate to the body, and how are we affected by life experience? One of the pillars of this topic is understanding what causes us to act: how our desires, beliefs, intentions, and emotions translate into physical behavior. We will review both ancient and modern ideas in this series of 7 dialogues.

Part 4: Intentionality and the Mind

This week, we consider another aspect of Philosophy of Mind: how do humans set intentions and create a mental representation of it? Using a suggestion from our friend Ben, we will examine the Chinese Room and related concepts. If we have time, we can also review the ideas of Jerry Fodor (the mind is like a computer, where thoughts are like lines of programming), plus John Searle (the mind considers worldly things as objects and relates things about those objects).

READING

The basics of setting intentions
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/be-the-sun-not-the-salt/202405/living-intentionally-and-its-impact

What is intentionality (read section 1)
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/24740500.2024.2485164#abstract

The Chinese Room (read the Introduction)
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/chinese-room/

Optional: The Chinese Room (read section 1)
https://iep.utm.edu/chinese-room-argument/#H1

Hosted by:

Plato's Cave
https://www.meetup.com/PlatosCave/

And

Orlando Stoics
https://www.meetup.com/orlando-stoics/

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