Michele Pasin / Quotes

Consciousness anchors intentionality

The next step in nailing this whole account down to the real world is to point to the central role of consciousness. To have an intentional state consciously, for example to think consciously that Caesar crossed the Rubicon, is to be consciously aware of the conditions of satisfaction. To have the same intentional state unconsciously is to have something that is in principle is at least capable of becoming conscious. I will discuss the relation of the conscious and unconscious in detail in chapter 9.

Saved 30 July 2014 / www.amazon.com ↗

#consciousness #intentionality

The computational move

The real bone of contention between computationalists and others is whether to include computations in the list of observer-independent phenomena. Are…

Beyond Zero and One (Andrew Smart) #computation #ontology #consciousness #intentionality

The physicalist starting point

Again, Searle lays out in very clear terms the basic issue about foundational ontology as it relates to consciousness: We know independently that the world…

Beyond Zero and One (Andrew Smart) #materialism #ontology #consciousness #intentionality #artificial-intelligence

Hybrid systems escape Searle's closed world of symbols

It is the connectionist system that supplies the sensory images. By combining symbolic and connectionist systems, Harnard believes we can begin to break out…

Introducing Artificial Intelligence (Henry Brighton and Howard Selina) #symbol-grounding #connectionism #symbols #intentionality

Infinitely many goals explain any behavior

The problem arises because we know that we are intentional systems—our goals are somehow real because we feel like we have goals. Other people might attribute…

Beyond Zero and One (Andrew Smart) #intentionality #behavior #privileged-access #observer

Searle's Chinese gym

Predictably, the resilient Searle stands firm and replies with the Chinese Gym. Instead of a room containing a lone Searle, he imagines a gym full of…

Introducing Artificial Intelligence (Henry Brighton and Howard Selina) #connectionism #intentionality #functionalism #thought-experiment

Symbols by themselves are meaningless shapes

Searle’s argument concerns the inability of the symbols being manipulated to mean anything. By themselves, symbols are meaningless shapes realized by, in the…

Introducing Artificial Intelligence (Henry Brighton and Howard Selina) #symbols #meaning #intentionality #computer