Abstract
John Searle with his now-famous Chinese room argument (1980, 1982, 1984) challenges the basis for a strong version of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Searle’s argument has generated diverse and often strong reactions. Roland Puccetti says, “On the grounds he has staked out, which are considerable, Searle seems to me completely victorious,” (1980, p. 441). Douglas Hofstadter remarks, “This religious diatribe against AI, masquerading as a serious scientific argument, is one of the wrongest, most infuriating articles I have ever read in my life” (1980, p. 433). My reaction to Searle’s argument is that it is dead right and dead wrong. That is, his argument is right about a wrong conception of AI and wrong about a right conception of AI. But regardless of one’s position on the Chinese room argument, there is no doubt that the argument raises critical issues about the nature and foundation of AI.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Bynum, T. W.: 1985, ‘Artificial Intelligence, Biology, and Intentional States’, Metaphilosophy 16, 355–377.
Bundy, A. (ed.): 1980, Artificial Intelligence: An Introductory Course, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh.
Campbell, A. N., Hollister, V. F., Duda, R. O. and Hart, P. E.: 1982, ‘Recognition of a Hidden Mineral Deposit by an Artificial Intelligence Program’, Science 217, 927–929.
Cuda, T.: 1985, ‘Against Neural Chauvinism’, Philosophical Studies 48, 111–127.
Dennett, D. C: 1971, ‘Intentional Systems’, The Journal of Philosophy 68, 87–102.
Dennett, D. C: 1980, ‘The Milk of Human Intentionality’, The Behavioral and Brain Sciences 3, 428–430.
Fodor, J. A.: 1968, Psychological Explanation: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Psychology, Random House, New York.
Fodor, J. A.: 1975, The Language of Thought, Thomas Y. Crowell Co. New York.
Fodor, J. A.: 1981, Representations, MIT Press, Cambridge.
Haugeland, J.: 1985, Artificial Intelligence, MIT Press, Cambridge.
Hofstadter, D. R.: 1980, ‘Reductionism and Religion’, The Behavioral and Brain Sciences 3, 433–434.
Hofstadter, D. R. and Dennett, D. C: 1981, ‘Reflections’, in The Mind’s I, Basic Books, New York, pp. 373–382.
Hungerland, I. C. and Vick, G. R.: 1981, Thomas Hobbes: Part I of De Corpore, Abaris Books, Inc., New York.
Moor, J. H.: 1976, ‘An Analysis of the Turing Test’, Philosophical Studies 30, 249–257.
Moor, J. H.: 1978, ‘Three Myths of Computer Science’, British Journal of the Philosophy of Science 29, 213–222.
Moor, J. H.: 1979, ‘Are There Decisions Computers Should Never Make?’ Mature and System 1, 217–229.
Moor, J. H.: 1981, ‘AI and Cargo Cult Science’, The Behavioral and Brain Sciences 4, 544–545.
Pylyshyn, Z. W.: 1984, Computation and Cognition, MIT Press, Cambridge.
Puccetti, R.: 1980, ‘The Chess Room: Further Demythologizing of Strong AI’, The Behavioral and Brain Sciences 3, 441–442.
Putnam, H.: 1964, ‘Minds and Machines’, Minds and Machines, in A. R. Anderson (ed.), Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. pp. 72–97.
Rapaport, W. J.: 1986, ‘Philosophy, Artificial Intelligence, and the Chinese-Room Argument’, Abacus 3, 7–17.
Raphael, B.: 1976, The Thinking Computer — Mind Inside Matter, W. H. Freeman and Company, San Francisco.
Schank, R. C: 1980, ‘Understanding Searle’, The Behavioral and Brain Sciences 3, 446–447.
Schank, R. C. and Abelson, R. P.: 1977, Scripts Plans Goals and Understanding, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, N.J.
Searle, J. R.: 1980, ‘Minds, Brains, and Programs’, The Behavioral and Brain Sciences 3, 417–424,450–457.
Searle, J. R. (1981), “Analytic Philosophy and Mental Phenomena”, Midwest Studies in Philosophy, 6, 405–423.
Searle, J. R.: (1982), ‘The Myth of the Computer’, New York Review of Books April 29, 3–6.
Searle, J. R.: 1983, Intentionality, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Searle, J. R.: 1984, Minds, Brains and Science, Harvard University Press, Cambridge.
Stalker, D. F.: 1978, ‘Why Machines Can’t Think: A Reply to James Moor’, Philosophical Studies 34, 317–320.
Turing, A. M: 1950, ‘Computing Machinery and Intelligence’, Mind 59, 433–460.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1988 Kluwer Academic Publishers
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Moor, J.H. (1988). The Pseudorealization Fallacy and the Chinese Room Argument. In: Fetzer, J.H. (eds) Aspects of Artificial Intelligence. Studies in Cognitive Systems, vol 1. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2699-8_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2699-8_2
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-55608-038-8
Online ISBN: 978-94-009-2699-8
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive