Intentionality, Qualia, and the Stream of Unconsciousness

A philosophical argument that the essence of mentality is content-carrying qualitative character—mental qualities that can exist both consciously (as phenomenal experiences) and unconsciously. This reconciles Brentano's intentionality-based view with the phenomenal-qualitative approach, and accommodates the Freudian and cognitive-scientific posit of unconscious mental content. The author defends this unified conception against historical objections and explains its theoretical virtues.

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Abstract

According to Brentano, mentality is essentially intentional in nature. Other philosophers have emphasized the phenomenal-qualitative aspect of conscious experiences as core to the mind. A recent philosophical wave – the ‘phenomenal intentionality programme’ – seeks to unite these conceptions in the idea that mental content is grounded in phenomenal qualities. However, a philosophical and scientific current, which includes Freud and contemporary cognitive science, makes widespread use of the posit of unconscious mentality/mental content. I aim to reconcile these disparate, influential strands of thought concerning mentality’s essence, by defending a conception of the mark of the mental as consisting in content-carrying qualitative character (or mental qualities) – but understood as properties that can exist both in conscious (i.e. phenomenal) form and unconsciously. I describe this conception, deal with major historical objections to the notions of unconscious qualitative character and mentality, and explain the virtues of construing the mark of the mental in this way.