The Great Mystery: Discounted Theories of Consciousness
Although it is widely accepted that a person's mental life is caused by neurobiological processes in the brain, we have no real understanding of how the brain gives rise to consciousness, or what brain processes are specifically responsible. The ide...
Do We Have Free Will?: If Determinism were True...
If determinism is true then would our ideas about moral responsibility and punishment have to change as well? Some philosophers contend that we have to think of ourselves as behaving freely even in a world in which there is just one path open to us....
Chomsky and Language
Philosopher John Searle agrees with Noam Chomsky's contention that a child could not learn a language without some innate mechanism that enables the child to do so. But Professor Searle disagrees with Chomsky's claim that there are universal rules o...
Chess: Humans vs. Computers
Philosopher John Searle talks about how a computer plays chess. He states that the computer playing chess doesn't actually "think" in the way a human does. What the computer does, Professor Searle explains, is perform a massive number of simulations...
Computer Simulations
Philosopher John Searle points out the difference between computer simulations--be they of the brain or a weather event or an explosion--and the real thing. According to Professor Searle, however closely the simulation comes to approximating the app...
Coherence Theory
Philosopher John Searle talks about coherence theory, which he notes was part of idealism (the idea that there is no real world, there's just our system of representations). He adds that coherence theory was an "old-fashioned" objection to correspon...
What is Real?: Reality as a Social Construction
Realists agree with anti-realists that much of reality is a social construction--money, marriage, government, language. But realists also believe there has to be a world that's independent of our representation of how things are. In contrast, anti-r...
Behaviorism, Identity Theory and Functionalism
Philosopher John Searle explores various perspectives on the mind which he believes are all flawed, including behaviorism and identity theory, then discusses functionalism, which he says is essentially a combination of the other two. According to fu...
Consciousness
Philosopher John Searle talks about consciousness, noting that for consciousness to exist, there must be behavior in a causal structure--not simply behavior alone. As an example, Professor Searle talks about his radio which he says provides intellig...
Does Science Give Us Truth?: Coherence Theory of Truth, The
A second general theory of truth that arises as part of idealism holds that truth comes from the way our various beliefs, thoughts and judgments cohere with each other. Coherence theory can be accused of leaving out external reality, but it focuses ...