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Essay about John Searle's Chinese Room Argument

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John Searle's Chinese Room Argument The purpose of this paper is to present John Searle’s Chinese room argument in which it challenges the notions of the computational paradigm, specifically the ability of intentionality. Then I will outline two of the commentaries following, the first by Bruce Bridgeman, which is in opposition to Searle and uses the super robot to exemplify his point. Then I will discuss John Eccles’ response, which entails a general agreement with Searle with a few objections to definitions and comparisons. My own argument will take a minimalist computational approach delineating understanding and its importance to the concepts of the computational paradigm. Searle's argument delineates what he believes to be …show more content…

Understanding the notion of the Chinese room requires a bit of an explanation. Imagine you are solely an English speaking person in a room by yourself, armed with a pencil, and the only things on the walls are a series of instructions and rules. There is a door in the room, and on the other side is a Chinese speaking person. This Chinese speaker is able to slide cards under the door upon which are written Chinese symbols and sentences. The instructions written on the walls allow you to respond appropriately to each symbol, well enough so that the Chinese speaker is fooled into thinking you have a formidable grasp of Chinese. Now imagine that instead of a Chinese speaker outside the room, there is an English speaker, and the same things are written. You would still respond appropriately, convincing the other that you are a native English speaker, which of course, you are. Searle feels that the two positions are unique in that, in the first instance, you are "manipulating uninterpreted formal symbols," simply an instantiation of a computer program. In the second instance, you actually understand the English being given to you. In response to the first claim of the computationalists, Searle states, although you respond appropriately, in no way do you understand the Chinese that you are being given and responding with. As far as the second condition, he counterclaims that the computer is simply "functioning and there

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