Conscious Intentions

Abstract

It has recently been widely argued that all consciousness is perceptual, including the conscious experience of action. This paper argues that there can be a conscious component of the experience of action that is not perceptual. The argument is based on Searle's concept of "direction of fit" and the conditions of satisfaction of an intention. The conditions of satisfaction of an intention differ from those of a perception. If the intention involved in action is conscious, that conscious mental state cannot be exclusively perceptual. Hence not all consciousness is perceptual.


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