Mental Content Phenomenal or Intentional?- Problems of Philosophy of Mind

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The problem of the mental content whether it is phenomenal or Intentional is one of the most pertinent problems in the area of philosophy of Mind. Many hold that the mental content is individuated solely by the first person experience without an inkling to the outside world. As against, the Strong Phenomenalists we have the other group, called the Strong Intentionalists who argue that the mental content is individuated by the directional aspect to the outside world. In between these two extremes, we have a third group called the Weak intentionalists who tries to negotiate between these two extreme views and strike a balanced perspective of the same.

This book is an elaboration on the various theories of the mind and highlights how the weak intentionalism can be the ideal way to deal with the problem of the Mental content. Along with this balanced theory, this book also highlights the approach to this tricky mental problem from the Analytical and Phenomenological standpoints. It tries to seek a dialogue, if any, between these two methodologies and come to a holistic mental framework where both the 1st person and 3rd person mental states are accommodated.

ANANYAA BARUA was (b. 1982) and raised in Shillong, Meghalaya. Post her schooling in Shillong, she did her undergraduate studies from Indraprastha College, Delhi University securing a 1st division, in 2004. She proceeded to do her post-graduation in Philosophy from Hyderabad Central University, topping the list of the successful candidates in her Masters programme and was awarded the University Gold Medal in 2006-07. She did her Ph.D. in the area of Philosophy of Mind on the problem of the mental content under the able guidance of Dr. Manidipa Sen from Jawaharlal Nehru University in 2013.

During her student days she has been conferred upon with many prestigious awards, including getting nominated for the Commonwealth Scholarship for a split-site Ph.D. at University College London in 2008. In connection to her research work, she had gone to Sigmund Freud University, Vienna, Austria, to present a paper on the Cartesian Problem of the Mind in 2010. Besides Philosophy of Mind, her area of interest ranges from issues in Ethics, Early Greek Philosophy to Northeast Studies. She has been associated with Prof. Sanjoy Hazarika since 2007 and has worked with him on projects on Illegal Immigration from Bangladesh and many other allied areas on Northeast themes. Her constant effort has been to make Northeast, more inclusive to the mainland India. She has to her record, participated and presented in many regional, national and international conferences and seminars and has quality publications to her credit.

She has been teaching philosophy at Hindu College, Delhi University, as a permanent faculty, since 2009 and has been the faculty advisor for Northeast Studies of her students in college.

The very first thing that I would like to put across here is the reason for writing this book. I did my Ph.D. on the theme of the problem of mental content and realised during my 6 years time of research work that very scanty work has been made accessible or are available to the readers from India. That was the precise moment when I felt the urge to make my work accessible, if and when I was through with my research. Also, a paper on Philosophy of Mind has been floated in many universities for the undergraduate and postgraduate students in India. While the materials from the West are plentifully available, scarcity of the same from home authors was deeply felt. This book will be a good introduction for all the beginners who have been looking for a comprehensive work to deal with and understand the problem of the mind. Though this book does deal with the technical terminologies of philosophy of mind, attempts have been made to simplify them as and when they have been introduced. Once the Ph.D. degree had been conferred upon, I started to re-work on my research to make it publishable. In other words, to make it available to all those who are looking for readings in the area of Philosophy of Mind.

My main inspiration for this work is without an iota of doubt my Ph.D. supervisor, Dr. Manidipa Sen. It was she who introduced me to this fascinating theme of the mental world.Mental here has been explicitly used in terms of philosophical nuance which deals broadly, with the problem of the mental content.Mental or mind has been used interchangeably whereas, content deals with that upon which the mind is directed at. Besides, my supervisor I have largely been fascinated by the works of the contemporary Western thinkers. It has been my good fortune that during my research work, the various national and international conferences and seminars that I participated, I have personally been benefited with interactions from Tim Crane, David Chalmers, Dan Zahavi, R.C. Pradhan, Bhagat Oinam and many others.

Mental content, its nature and its importance in individuating mental states, has been one of the most important areas of study in contemporary philosophy of mind. Mental content is that to which mental states are directed. Or to put it in other words, mental states, by their very nature, is "about" something that constitutes the "content" of that mental state. However, having accepted the "aboutness" or "directionality" of mental states towards its content, philosophers differ as to the nature of mental content. In recent literature in philosophy of mind we see a resurgence of discussion centering round what could be the nature of such content. On the one hand, some philosophers are of the view that mental content should be characterized by the subjectivity and experientiality, that is, how it feels to the subject to experience her mental state from a first-personal point of view. On the other, there are those philosophers who claim that mental content, being representational, is characterized by its intententionality. These philosophers, known as intentionalists, try to explain away the experiential dimension of mental content in terms of intentional character of mental states. It is this debate between the intentionalists and their opponents that constitute the focus of this laudable work.

The main aim of this book is to explore the nature of mental content. It does so by a thorough investigation of this recent debate in philosophy of mind.Ananyaa Barua's entry into this debate is unique in three ways: 1. She rightly places this debate in a broader historical context, and thus systematically delves into and succinctly places before the reader some of the classic works in the study of mental content; 2. She skillfully connects up these classic works to the ongoing debates in philosophy of mind; and 3. Most importantly, she is able to bring a new life to this debate by competently straddling between two methodological paradigms of analytic philosophy and phenomenology - two most important movements in 20th century philosophy. She does all this with great ease and competence. It is a work, as Barua rightly points out, in trying to bridge the gap between the phenomenal and the intentional. The result is a well-articulated, vastly informative, and thoroughly enjoyable book, accessible even to those readers who are entering the subject for the first time. It will be of interest both to the experts as well as to students in the field of philosophy of mind. I congratulate Ananyaa Barua for being able to bring out a book of this kind, which must be one of its kinds in India.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages