The paradox of intentionality is that, even if we conceptualize intentionality primarily in phenomenal terms – something this book argues is inevitable – when we come to construct an intentional interpretation of our own or another’s behavior, we are obliged to adopt an instrumental viewpoint and methodology. Both conceptions of intentionality are flawed, however, meaning that if intentional interpretation is to succeed, it must be securely founded on a conception of phenomenal intentionality that displays a pragmatic source of ontological validity and one of instrumental intentionality which exhibits mereological integrity. Building on the author’s advocacy of intentional behaviorism as a philosophy of economic psychology, The Paradox of Intentionality proposes conceptual and methodological innovations designed to achieve this. The intensional stance confines intentional explanation to entities that demonstrate intensional fluency, thereby addressing the ontological weakness of phenomenal intentionality, and locates the ascription of intentionality exclusively at the personal level of exposition, thereby addressing instrumental intentionality’s problem of establishing mereological integrity. It additionally advances the idea of Janus-variables to conceptualize how sub-personal (neurophysiological) and super-personal (behavioral) events can be integrated into the subject’s first-personal, subjective, and phenomenological worldview. Hence, the intensional stance provides the perspectives on phenomenal consciousness and phenomenal intentionality that are required for intentional interpretation. This book is of interest to researchers in philosophy concerned with the nature of psychological explanation and behavioral scientists involved with epistemological issues. 

Gordon Foxall is Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus at Cardiff University, UK, and Visiting Research Professor of Economic Psychology at Reykjavik University, Iceland. He holds a PhD in industrial economics and business studies from the University of Birmingham, a PhD in psychology from the University of Strathclyde, and a higher doctorate (DSocSc) from Birmingham. He is the author of more than 300 refereed papers and book chapters and 40 books. He has held visiting positions at the universities of Oxford, Michigan, Guelph, South Australia, and Durham. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and the Learned Society of Wales, as well as the British Psychological Society and the British Academy of Management. His recent books include Intentional Behaviorism: Philosophical Foundations of Economic Psychology (2020), The Theory of the Marketing Firm (2021), and The Continuum of Consumer Choice (2024). His principal research interests include consumer behavior analysis, the theory of the marketing firm, the philosophical implications of consumer neuroscience, and the nature of explanation in economic psychology.