Intending as an activity of practical remembering

Talk title: 'Intending as an activity of practical remembering'

Abstract:  This talk identifies intention as practical memory. Intention is memory in carrying the content of a past decision forward in time, persisting until forgotten or (hopefully!) fulfilled. Specifically, intending is a practical remembering that anchors an agent’s conception of her action as intentional, and forms the basis of her keeping track of her action. Practical remembering is a cognitive attending to one’s action. Keeping track of action in this way involves the exercise of practical reasoning, modulating the agent’s attention to her action as she acts. These reflections illuminate the complexity and automaticity of mental action. Special attention will be paid to empirical working memory and its relation to intention and attention.