Psychology Dictionary of ArgumentsHome
| |||
|
| |||
| Chinese Room: thought experiment by J.R. Searle - in a locked room sits a man who does not understand Chinese and translates notes that are slipped through under the door into Chinese with the help of a book with instructions. The discussion is about whether one can describe the system as a whole as an understanding system._____________Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments. | |||
| Author | Concept | Summary/Quotes | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Steven Pinker on Chinese Room - Dictionary of Arguments
I 121f Chinese Room/Searle: Understanding is not symbol processing. ChurchlandVsSearle: then you can refute Maxwell’s electromagnetism: a man swung a bar magnet: then it generates electromagnetic waves, but there is no light. It is wrong to conclude, therefore light would not be electromagnetic waves. Extrapolation: then at higher frequencies there would be no light. Analogy: Searle has slowed down computing so that you do not take it anymore as understanding. Pinker: if someone used all of the rules from the translation manual applying them in a matter of seconds, we would not say that he could not speak Chinese. PinkerVsSearle: Searle examines only the meaning of the word understanding - but you need not to use the word. >Understanding, >Translation, >Thinking, >Language, >Symbol processing, >Symbol._____________Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition. |
Pi I St. Pinker How the Mind Works, New York 1997 German Edition: Wie das Denken im Kopf entsteht München 1998 |
||
> Counter arguments against Pinker
> Counter arguments in relation to Chinese Room
