Is intentionality an essential property of consciousness?

Intentionality refers to properties such as perception, beliefs of the kind that point to some object (or state of affairs). The common sense and philosophical traditions generally hold that intentionality is a property of at least some states of consciousness. However, the phenomenological tradition, as well as a few contemporary philosophers of mind, hold that intentionality is an essential property of consciousness, i.e., that intentionality is a property that all states of consciousness *** have. This view has been opposed by philosophers of mind such as Searle and Rosenthal, who have offered as counterexamples mere feelings and apparently unintended states of consciousness. We examine and attempt to respond to their challenge and argue that consciousness is essentially intentional.