Intention is an agent's specific purpose in performing an action or series of actions, the end or goal that is aimed at. Outcomes that are unanticipated or unforeseen are known as unintended consequences.
Intentional behavior can also be just thoughtful and deliberate goal-directedness. Recent research in experimental philosophy has shown that other factors may also matter for whether or not an action is counted as intentional.
Read more about Intention: Philosophy, Related Terms
Famous quotes containing the word intention:
“You enter a state of controlled passivity, you relax your grip and accept that even if your declared intention is to justify the ways of God to man, you might end up interesting your readers rather more in Satan.”
—Ian McEwan (b. 1938)
“O Lord, deliver me from the man of excellent intention and impure heart: for the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)
“Laws should be interpreted in a liberal sense so that their intention may be preserved.”
—Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 B.C.)