Single Review on past events

The Zukunftskolleg cordially invited to an extraordinary, public Jour fixe on 27 July 2021

We offered a hybrid format, which means that you could either participate in person or via Zoom.

Sergui Sava (Research Visit Fellow / Dept. of Philosophy, “Al. I. Cuza” University of Iasi) spoke about the "Elements of Collective Intentionality".

Abstract:
Intentionality is the feature of (certain) mental states of being directed at objects. The existence of an intentional state, however, does not necessarily depend on the existence of the object at which it is directed. For example, I can think of a fictional character, say, Rumpelstilzchen. I thus have a full-fledged intentional state – my thought is indeed directed at an object, that is, Rumpelstilzchen – even if the object does not exist.
Collective intentionality or we-intentionality is, too, the feature of certain mental states of being directed at objects. One specific difference of collective intentionality is that the mental states featuring collective intentionality are not had by a single subject, but by a plural subject. The existence of the collective intentional states, again, does not necessarily depend on the existence of the object at which they are directed. For example, we as a plural subject can think of the same Rumpelstilzchen. We thus have full-fledged collective intentional states – our thoughts are indeed directed at an object, that is, Rumpelstilzchen – even if the object does not exist. The claim I will try to elaborate and defend in my talk pinpoints another specific difference of collective intentionality: An existing object can give rise not only to a collective intentional state, but also to the plural subject itself. I even have examples of such cases, but for that, I am afraid, you will have to wait. Luckily, there are only a few days left until the 27th of July.