This paper suggests that amartya sen's con- ception of rationality could benefit from insights borrowed to john searle's philoso- phy of mind. more precisely i argue that the work of searle on intentionality provides a relevant conceptual apparatus to strengthen sen's conceptualization of context-depend- ent preferences in a way that suggests further analytical contributions to the latter's line of research. The arguments developed in the paper are relevant for three interrelated issues on economic rationality that are currently discussed in economic methodology: (1) methodological dualism and intentionalitic explanations in economics, (2) the relation- ships between economics and philosophy, and (3) the recent rise of behavioral eco- nomics within the mainstream of economic theory.