 Many (perhaps all) mental states are about things, or are directed on to things, in the way that a belief that spring is coming is about spring coming, or in the way that a desire for chocolate is directed on to chocolate. In the terminology re-introduced into philosophy by Franz Brentano (1874/1924), such mental states exhibit intentionality. Alternatively, they can be characterized as representational states, or states with representational content. Prima facie, the fact that mental states have content, i.e. the fact that they exhibit this particular form of directedness towards the world, is rather mysterious. Teleological theories of mental content, like other theories of mental content, attempt to dispel this mystery: they aim to explain how mental states can be about things, directed on to things, or represent   things.[1] 