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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.

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Title Speaker

December 10th, 2013, Serial No. 04086

Emotions, Bell, Intention
Dec 10 2013

December 9th, 2011, Serial No. 03914

Effort, Intention
Dec 09 2011

December 8th, 2011, Serial No. 03912

Intention, Hindrances, Nirvana
Dec 08 2011

September 10th, 2011, Serial No. 03879

Intention, Effort, Letting Go
Sep 10 2011

August 23rd, 2011, Serial No. 03872

Enlightenment, Meditation, Intention
Aug 23 2011

April 7th, 2011, Serial No. 03838

Meditation, Koan, Intention
Apr 07 2011

December 12th, 2009, Serial No. 03698

Ceremony, Intention, Stillness
Dec 12 2009

March 19th, 2009, Serial No. 03642

Intention, Suffering, Posture
Mar 19 2009

November 23rd, 2008, Serial No. 03603

Lotus Sutra, Intention, Buddha Ancestors
Nov 23 2008

May 5th, 2007, Serial No. 03430

Intention, Time, Separation
May 05 2007

February 25th, 2007, Serial No. 03411

Discrimination, Evil, Intention
Feb 25 2007

February 24th, 2007, Serial No. 03408

Intention, Discrimination, Evil
Feb 24 2007

February 24th, 2007, Serial No. 03410

Discrimination, Intention, Evil
Feb 24 2007

February 23rd, 2007, Serial No. 03407

Intention, Discrimination, Evil
Feb 23 2007

January 23rd, 2007, Serial No. 03396

Intention, Sangha, Diversity
Jan 23 2007

January 16th, 2007, Serial No. 03391

Practice, Intention, Buddha
Jan 16 2007

January 14th, 2007, Serial No. 03390

Intention, Study, Practice
Jan 14 2007

January 12th, 2007, Serial No. 03389

Karma, Intention, Study
Jan 12 2007

January 6th, 2007, Serial No. 03386

Intention, true dharma, Pain
Jan 06 2007

September 17th, 2006, Serial No. 03344

Intention, Buddha, Study
Sep 17 2006

August 18th, 2006, Serial No. 03333

Intention, Study, Vow
Aug 18 2006

August 17th, 2006, Serial No. 03332

Intention, Study, Karma
Aug 17 2006

August 12th, 2006, Serial No. 03328

Interdependence, Intention, Zendo
Aug 12 2006

August 12th, 2006, Serial No. 03327

Intention, Vow, Karma
Aug 12 2006

August 2006 talk, Serial No. 03341

Intention, Ceremony, Study
Aug 2006

August 2006 talk, Serial No. 03342

true dharma, Intention, Karma
Aug 2006

August 2006 talk, Serial No. 03338

Intention, Practice, Delusion
Aug 2006

August 2006 talk, Serial No. 03337

Intention, true dharma, Study
Aug 2006

August 2006 talk, Serial No. 03339

Delusion, Study, Intention
Aug 2006

July 23rd, 2006, Serial No. 03326

Intention, Vow, true dharma
Jul 23 2006

May 27th, 2006, Serial No. 03307

Intention, Karma, Fox
May 27 2006

May 27th, 2006, Serial No. 03308

Intention, Skandas, Karma
May 27 2006

May 15th, 2006, Serial No. 03305

Karma, Intention, Skandas
May 15 2006

June 7th, 2004, Serial No. 03202

Yoga, Ceremony, Intention
Jun 07 2004

February 22nd, 2004, Serial No. 03175

Intention, Meditation, Time
Feb 22 2004

September 2003 talk, Serial No. 03130

Buddha, Intention, Posture
Sep 2003

August 25th, 2001, Serial No. 03031

Samadhi, Attachment, Intention
Aug 25 2001

June 22nd, 1998, Serial No. 02888

Karma, Study, Intention
Jun 22 1998

June 16th, 1997, Serial No. 02860

Karma, Intention, Renunciation
Jun 16 1997