Chinese Room Argument Summary

The mind body problem questions what is the nature of the mind and mental states? How are the mind and the body related? How are mental states related to brain states? Descartes says that there are two kinds of elements in the world, bodies and minds. Descartes believes in interactionism which means minds and bodies intermingle with one another. The Chinese Room Argument was introduced by philosopher John Searle. In this experiment He explains an encounter that a human has with a computer that only responds to the Chinese language. The human is not familiar with Chinese, but by following the program he is able to trick the people outside that he is familiar with Chinese. The main argument is that a computer way be able to mimic the ability to understand language but does it actually understand mental states? He proves that the Turning Test is false by saying that the computer only uses syntax to create a response, but has no understanding of the meaning. The conclusion of this argument …show more content…
Duplication. The Robot Reply is when the computer gains access to things like cameras, and can better detect the Chinese symbols it being fed. The idea is that if the robot could interact with the environment, then could it have thoughts. The answer is no because it’s just another way the robot can manipulate the syntax to come up with an accurate response but still lacks understanding. The System Reply is when the human working the machine doesn’t know Chinese but the system does. This still proves his point that computers don’t have mental states because the computer is only working with the syntax and creating an output based off the input. Stimulation Vs. Duplication is the idea that computers don’t have any feelings like feeling fear or pain, but it can generate a correct response based off the program that is made by someone who has felt real