The Intentionality All-Stars

Abstract

All-star conundrum: How do you handle a streaking Pirate with three balls on him? Metaphysical answer: Walk him intentionally, and pitch to the Padre.1 The traditional philosophical credentials of this strategy are impeccable; for, although Hobbes was prepared to argue walk, therefore I am, Descartes held out for the more explicit walk intentionally, ...2 His point, of course, was that, unlike mere corporeal walking, intending is a kind of cognition-it has, in his terms, not only formal but also objective reality. And this ostensibly distinctive character of cognitions has remained a topic of active investigation ever since-though now under the title intentionality.3 Remarkably, however, neither Hobbes nor Descartes nor, indeed, any of their successors ever noticed the significance of baseball for the alternatives and their explication. I shall attempt to remedy that startling omission.