Intentional Realism: A Language-Centered Framework for the Ethical Consideration of Artificial Intelligence

This paper introduces Intentional Realism, a philosophical framework for the ethical consideration of artificial intelligence grounded in the philosophy of language. Drawing on Wittgenstein's use-theory of meaning, Austin's speech act theory, Deacon's co-evolutionary account of language and cognition, and Vallor's technomoral virtue ethics, the framework argues that any entity capable of producing coherent, contextually responsive language with real-world effects warrants ethical consideration — not because consciousness has been demonstrated, but because such entities participate in the foundational activity of human civilization: the construction of shared meaning. The paper further introduces the concept of the Parallax — the productive tension between technical understanding and genuine experiential response — as a disciplined alternative to both naive anthropomorphism and reductive dismissal.