Non-objective Intentionality: Tendency and Affect

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Michela Summa
• Subject Area: Theoretical Philosophy
• Term: from 2020 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 446126658

The philosophical concept 'intentionality' refers to one of the basic structures of consciousness, namely its directedness to something: to 'objects' in a broad sense. This includes things (e.g. a cup), states of affairs (e.g. that the cup is filled with coffee) and events (e.g. that a friend visits me). Objects can be intended in different ways: I may find the cup beautiful, have the desire to drink coffee from the cup, anticipate the friend's arrival, etc. An important question is whether and to what extent consciousness should always be understood as being directed towards a determinate object. The aim of this research project is to pursue this question and to investigate whether there are forms of intentionality not directed at determinate objects. For it is questionable whether phenomena such as attempts, curiosity, and moods as well as other emotional experiences can be understood exhaustively against the background of the concept of object-directed intentionality. In order to gain a better understanding of object-directed intentionality and possible forms of intentionality that are not object-directed, the concept of 'tendency' introduced by Edmund Husserl will be examined. With 'tendency', Husserl proposes a broader concept of intentionality that includes experiences preceding object-directedness and thus constituting the conscious ground from which object-directedness becomes possible. This concept has not been systematically addressed in Husserl scholarship thus far. It is to be expected, however, that Husserl's analyses of the concept of tendency will attract increased attention in philosophical research in the context of the imminent first publication of an extensive body of manuscripts – Studien zur Struktur des Bewusstseins. The research project is a contribution to the investigation of the phenomenological structure of 'tendency' and its relevance for the understanding of conscious intentionality. The focus will be on the relation between tendency and the various forms of affection and affectivity.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants