Chinese Room Argument Searle

Philosopher john searle formulated the chinese room argument to discredit the idea that a computer can be programmed with the appropriate functions to behave the same way a human mind would.

Chinese room argument searle.

The chinese room argument. There is a room. The argument asks the reader to imagine a computer that is programmed to understand how to read and communicate in chinese. The chinese room argument was introduced in searle s 1980 paper minds brains and programs published in behavioral and brain sciences.

It eventually became the journal s most influential target article 1 generating an enormous number of commentaries and responses in the ensuing decades and searle has continued to defend and refine the. Chinese room argument 1980. It is one of the best known and widely credited counters to claims of artificial intelligence ai that is to claims that computers do or at least can someday might think. He calls his argument the chinese room argument note.

According to searle s original presentation the argument is based on two key claims. Searle asks you to imagine the following scenario. In this article searle sets out the argument and then replies to the half dozen main objections that had been raised during his earlier presentations at various university campuses see next section.