Intention Talks

An intention is a mental state in which a person commits themselves to a course of action. Having the plan to visit the zoo tomorrow is an example of an intention. The action plan is the content of the intention while the commitment is the attitude towards this content. Other mental states can have action plans as their content, as when one admires a plan, but differ from intentions since they do not involve a practical commitment to realizing this plan. Successful intentions bring about the intended course of action while unsuccessful intentions fail to do so. Intentions, like many other mental states, have intentionality: they represent possible states of affairs.

Theories of intention try to capture the characteristic features of intentions. The belief-desire theory is the traditionally dominant approach. According to a simple version of it, having an intention is nothing but having a desire to perform a certain action and a belief that one will perform this action. Belief-desire theories are frequently criticized based on the fact that neither beliefs nor desires involve a practical commitment to performing an action, which is often illustrated in various counterexamples. The evaluation theory tries to overcome this problem by explaining intentions in terms of unconditional evaluations. That is to say that intentions do not just present the intended course of action as good in some respect, as is the case for desires, but as good all things considered. This approach has problems in explaining cases of akrasia, i.e. that agents do not always intend what they see as the best course of action. A closely related theory identifies intentions not with unconditional evaluations but with predominant desires. It states that intending to do something consists in desiring it the most. Opponents of this approach have articulated various counterexamples with the goal of showing that intentions do not always coincide with the agent's strongest desire. A different approach to the theories mentioned so far is due to Elizabeth Anscombe and denies the distinction between intentions and actions. On her view, to intend a goal is already a form of acting towards this goal and therefore not a distinct mental state. This account struggles to explain cases in which intentions and actions seem to come apart, as when the agent is not currently doing anything towards realizing their plan or in the case of failed actions. The self-referentiality theory suggests that intentions are self-referential, i.e. that they do not just represent the intended course of action but also represent themselves as the cause of the action. But the claim that this happens on the level of the content of the intention has been contested.

The term "intention" refers to a group of related phenomena. For this reason, theorists often distinguish various types of intentions in order to avoid misunderstandings. The most-discussed distinction is that between prospective and immediate intentions. Prospective intentions, also known as "prior intentions", involve plans for the future. They can be subdivided according to how far they plan ahead: proximal intentions involve plans for what one wants to do straightaway whereas distal intentions are concerned with a more remote future. Immediate intentions, on the other hand, are intentions that guide the agent while they are performing the action in question. They are also called "intentions-in-action" or "act-related" intentions. The term "intention" usually refers to anticipated means or ends that motivate the agent. But in some cases, it can refer to anticipated side-effects that are neither means nor ends to the agent. In this case, the term "oblique intention" is sometimes used. Intentions are rationally evaluable: they are either rational or irrational. Conscious intentions are the paradigmatic form of intention: in them, the agent is aware of their goals. But it has been suggested that actions can also be guided by unconscious intentions of which the agent is not aware.

The formation of intentions is sometimes preceded by the deliberation of promising alternative courses of action and may happen in decisions, in which the agent chooses between these alternatives. Intentions are responsible for initiating, sustaining, and terminating actions and are frequently used to explain why people engage in a certain behavior. Understanding the behavior of others in terms of intentions already happens in early childhood. Important in this context is the role of gestures, pointing, attention, and eye movement to understand the intentions of others and to form shared intentions. In the philosophy of action, a central question is whether it is true for all intentional actions that they are caused or accompanied by intentions. The theory of reasoned action aims to predict behavior based on how pre-existing attitudes and subjective norms determine behavioral intentions. In ethics, the intention principle states that whether an action is morally permissible sometimes depends on the agent's intention for performing this action.

From intention on Wikipedia

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Title Speaker

2008.10.26-serial.00191

Intention, Precepts, Right Speech, Lay, Soto Zen
Oct 26 2008

2008.09.28-serial.00221B

Letting Go, Intention, Way-Seeking Mind, Emotions, Thich Nhat Hanh
Sep 28 2008

2008.09.28-serial.00221D

Death, Emotions, Intention
Sep 28 2008

2004.03.13-serial.00184

Dharma Transmission, Transmission, Intention, Culture, Priest
Mar 13 2004

2003.07.13-serial.00019

Shikantaza, Emptiness, zen meditation, Mill Valley, Intention
Jul 13 2003

2002.12.30-serial.00175

Vow, Offering, Intention, Letting Go, Community
Dec 30 2002

2002.12.30-serial.00213

Vow, Offering, Intention, Letting Go, Community
Dec 30 2002

2001.08.20-serial.00168

Samadhi, Commitment, Greed, Intimacy, Intention
Aug 20 2001

2001.04.09-serial.00162

Enemies, Intention, Passions, Letting Go, Peace
Apr 09 2001

2000.07.03-serial.00157

Intention, Ordination, Commitment, Zendo, Posture
Jul 03 2000

1999.02.15-serial.00140

Conversation, Buddha Nature, Avalokiteshvara, Interview, Intention
Feb 15 1999

1998.08.10-serial.00319

Freedom, Letting Go, Hyakujo, Intention, Koan
Aug 10 1998

1998.MM.DD-serial.00137A

Posture, Desire, Bowing, Intention, confusion
1998

1997.08.13-serial.00129

Big Mind, Money, Intention, Don't Know Mind, Liberation
Aug 13 1997

1992.03.29-serial.00109

Daily Life, Buddha Mind, Intention, Commitment, Community
Mar 29 1992

1992.03.29-serial.00110

Daily Life, Buddha Mind, Intention, Commitment, Community
Mar 29 1992

1991.02.22-serial.00090

Intention, Desire, causation, Peace, Balance
Feb 22 1991

1991.02.22-serial.00091

Intention, Desire, causation, Peace, Addiction
Feb 22 1991

1991.02.07-serial.00095

Intention, Community, Thich Nhat Hanh, Culture
Feb 07 1991

1990.12.06-serial.00084

Intention, Avalokiteshvara, Forgiveness, Culture, Bowing
Dec 06 1990

1990.12.06-serial.00085

Intention, Avalokiteshvara, Forgiveness, Culture, Bowing
Dec 06 1990

1988.07.29-serial.00061

Enemies, Intention, Intimacy, Vow, Gratitude
Jul 29 1988

1987.05.10-serial.00246A

Thich Nhat Hanh, Equanimity, Intention, Daily Life
May 10 1987

1984.04.07-serial.00242

Big Mind, Samadhi, Vow, Bell, Intention
Apr 07 1984

1984.02.23-serial.00281

Right Effort, Practice Period, Concentration, Emptiness, Intention
Feb 23 1984

1984.02.13-serial.00311

Delusion, Blue Cliff Record, Freedom, Intimacy, Intention
Feb 13 1984

YYYY.06.25-serial.00301

Ego, Big Mind, Intention, Practice Period, Lay
Jun 25