Consciousness would seem to be pretty useless, from an evolutionary perspective, if it were merely subjective and self-contained--a purely passive effect of the organism's environment. Likewise, intentional psychology would seem anomalous and incomplete, if it cannot capture the phenomenon of consciousness in some fashion. One way out of these dilemma is to view consciousness as determinable by reference to its content. This may be viewed as a version of Brentano's thesis of intentionality. By linking consciousness to content, and refusing to view consciousness as something that may exist independent of content, this view may also allow it to take up a special inter-subjective status via the relationship of its particular determinate forms to ranges of possible actions, reactions and behavior. 

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