  This approach to the basic problem of metaphysics is highly significant because it circumvents the dualisms of classical philosophy: subject vs. object, impression vs. a priori principles as the basis of knowledge, freedom vs. determinism, and so on. The emphasis on intentionality avoids these dualisms because it entails, on the one hand, that all meanings are constituted through acts of human consciousness, thus insisting on the active role of the subject in the formulation of any meaningful aspect of the world. On the other hand, however, the theory of intentionality also implies that the world already contains the meanings that consciousness reveals, either because these meanings are potentialities from the point of view of human action (this is Sartre’s view), or simply because these meanings are already in the world (Merleau-Ponty’s view, but also that of Marcel, for whom true knowledge arises from the openness to the fullness of Being).