Does intentionality depend on mind, or mind on intentionality? Those interested in the question might check out our comment thread under Concrete Thoughts, starting at Charlie Huenemann's question here.
A somewhat similar question -- does metabolism depend on "life" (i.e., living cells or protocells), or life on metabolism? -- is addressed here (via 3 Quarks Daily). The action starts here (page 3):
In our version of Metabolism First, the earliest steps toward life
required neither DNA nor RNA, and may not even have involved spatial
compartments like cells; the earliest reactions could have occurred in
the voids of porous rock, perhaps filled with organic gels deposited as
suggested in the Oparin-Haldane model. We believe this early version of
metabolism consisted of a series of simple chemical reactions running
without the aid of complex enzymes, via the catalytic action of
networks of small molecules, perhaps aided by naturally occurring
minerals. If the network generated its own constituents—if it was
recursive—it could serve as the core of a self-amplifying chemical
system subject to selection. We propose that such a system arose and
that much of that early core remains as the universal part of modern
biochemistry, the reaction sequences shared by all living beings.
Further elaborations would have been added to it as cells formed and
came under RNA control, and as organisms specialized as participants in
more complex ecosystems.
