Intentionalism about episodic reference

This paper provides a defense of intentionalism about episodic reference. This is the view that a person’s intentions and self-interpretations determine the singular events to which their episodic rememberings and future directed episodic thoughts refer. Intentionalism distinguishes itself by providing a single account of reference for memory and imagination, where some other approaches result in an awkward disjunction. The view is also shown to be compatible with the spirit of both simulationist and causalist approaches to memory and coheres well with the experimental methodologies and empirical findings that motivate those approaches. Intentionalism is able, in addition, to accommodate the phenomenon of unintentional remembering, be it during intrusive memories or mind wandering.