Intention, Bedeutung und die polnische Phänomenologie

The relation between meaning and intention is considered, reflecting the theoretical approaches of J.R. Searle in comparison with early phenomenological authors like A. Marty and the polish philosopher K. Twardowski. The latter is seen as a founder of important distinctions in the philosophy of language and semiotics, as for example the one between the content and the object of presentations. The Twardowskian concept of meaning is genuinely oriented towards the hearer, and in this respect it is different from that of J.R.Searle, who claims – in his intentionalist writings – that meaning consists only in representation, not in communication. Insofar Twardowski’s approach can be considered as constituting an influential – even though presently underestimated – impetus in direction of a communication-based conception of meaning within intentionalist semantics.