Knowing may require an intention to know although sometimes learning comes about because of spontaneous generation. Epiphanies are common upon using creative thought or hearing some one speak. Though one might be watching television they might not as much to do with intending information into one's mind.
To know, can be an intention. "I want to know what you did yesterday." We see that if we link knowing to our desires we can intend to know things about the world.
Some categories for acquiring knowledge are of,
A) The temporal & B) ontological "What did you do yesterday?" We see here that the question is asking about : the noun of a person, its behaviors or experiences, and a point in time. What is the ontological (did you do) question about temporal particulars (yesterday).
C) Structure and properties, "What is a television made of?" Here we again think of the ontological question of what. Next we think of the categorical term, or primary attribute of a whole, television. Next we ask for the parts of it.
D) Causes and effects, "Why is the TV? " and E) mechanical interactions, "how does the tv work? The tv is the mechanism. Without a mechanism involved, even atomic mechanisms there is NO how that can be asked to acquire information about the working parts of the thing. If we ask "how" does a rock work, we do not begin to think of its nature as mechanistic. We could ask "how is the rock a tangible thing?", and have possible answers. If we ask why a rock exists, we might take the rock and think of any of its results or any of the causes for the existence of the rock.
Knowing itself is different from intending in that knowing is a mental activity that doesn't result in action of the body, but rather accommodation of information. Once something is known, it can be used for intention. "I learned how to jump" is an example of how knowledge of behavior is knowledge of intention, and the knowledge of intention can be used to intend.
Even ontological knowledge of properties can be used as intentions, as in endowing things; extracting properties into mind, than forcing them out upon things, then taking the properties and adding them into the thing. This of course is not a science, as chemical properties have domain over all things, rather than just imagination of x having some property k.
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