a feature of certain mental states (such as beliefs) by which they are directed at or are about objects or states of affairs in the world

The processing that goes on in the brain between the intake of raw sensory data and the end product of cognition of an object. Intentionality is the primary object of study in phenomenology.

Directedness of consciousness towards its objects (content); the "directional shape of experience" ( Ihde). Intentionality should be carefully distinguished from intention in the ordinary sense of our intending to do something.

The quality of `aboutness', or `world-directedness', that has been claimed to be a distinguishing feature of mental processes as opposed to physical ones. It has been proposed that `intelligent' computer performances possess only a secondary, or derivative, intentionality: this has been used as an attack on the pretensions of artificial intelligence to explain the human mind. See also Computationalism, Functionalism, Intentional System/Intentional Stance, Turing test.

Property of a representation or mental state that it is about some aspect of the world.

The term intentionality is often simplistically summarized as "aboutness" or the relationship between mental acts and the external world. Originally intentionality was a concept from scholastic philosophy. The concept of intentionality was later reintroduced in 19th century contemporary philosophy by the philosopher and psychologist Franz Brentano in his work Psychologie vom Empirischen Standpunkte.