intenjon

Intenjon is a term used in speculative discussions of cognition and artificial intelligence to denote the process by which an agent identifies, commits to, and pursues a goal. It is presented as a dynamic counterpart to the more static notion of an intention, emphasizing the unfolding sequence of decisions, actions, and revisions that lead from goal discovery to goal pursuit.

Etymology and usage contexts

The word intenjon is described as a blend of intention with a suffix that signals a process or state. It does not have a standardized definition in mainstream philosophy or AI literature, but appears in online essays and informal discussions as a shorthand for goal formation, subgoal generation, and continuous planning during action execution.

Conceptual focus

Core ideas associated with intenjon include goal identification, commitment to a chosen goal, hierarchical subgoaling, action planning, progress monitoring, and adaptive revision in response to feedback or changing circumstances. Proponents view intenjon as a bridge between belief-desire theories of action and practical reasoning, highlighting how goals evolve as agents interact with their environment.

Relation to other concepts

Intenjon is distinguished from a static intention by its emphasis on processuality and dynamism. It is related to planning, motivation, and intentionality, but is framed to foreground how goals are formed, updated, and enacted over time rather than merely stated or held as mental states.

Critique and reception

Because intenjon is not a standardized term, critics argue that its meaning can be ambiguous and overlap with existing concepts like planning and goal-directed behavior. Supporters suggest it provides a useful heuristic for modeling dynamic goal pursuit in cognitive architectures and AI alignment discussions.

See also: intention, goal, planning, intentionality.