Intentional Objects and Object‐Relationalism

Relationalism, that is, the view that intentional states are essentially relational, and non‐relationalism, that is, the view that intentional states are non‐relational, is an ongoing debate within the domain of Intentionality. The advocates of non‐relationalism deny relationalism primarily on the grounds that it compromises ontological minimalism and physicalist metaphysics. In this paper, we advocate object‐relationalism, that is, the view that intentional states are relation to intentional objects, a specific variant of relationalism. We argue that object‐relationalism neither compromises ontological minimalism nor is inconsistent with physicalist metaphysics.