Are there any objectless mental states?
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Are there any objectless mental states?
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Brentano, Husserl, and many other philosophers who defend the representationalist theory of mind contend that all mental states exhibit intentionality. Beliefs, desires, perceptions, hopes, fears, judgements etc are all typical examples of intentional mental states which we are in in most of our everyday life. The mind is directed to objects in these conscious states. However, are there any objectless mental states? That is to ask: is non-intentional mental state possible? I would like to argue that there are two conter-examples to the claim that all mental states are intentional. The first one is meditation, and the second one is “Angst”, or “Anxiety”, in the Heideggerian sense.
