Sadler's Lectures
Sadler's Lectures
Lectures on classic and contemporary philosophical texts and thinkers by Gregory B. Sadler
John Searle - Minds, Brains, and Programs - Digital Computers And Intentionality - Sadler's Lectures
12 minutes Posted Jul 16, 2026 at 5:05 pm.
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Show notes
This lecture discusses key ideas John Searle's article "Minds, Brains, & Programs", first published in The Behavioral And Brain Sciences In 1980, considered to be an important contribution to theorizing about the possibility and nature of artificial intelligence, not least by introducing his famous "Chinese Room" thought experiment.
Specifically it examines his discussion bearing on whether digital computers running programs are able to think, understand, and so on solely in virtue of being a computer with the right sort of program, which Searle answers in the negative.
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Get John Searle, Minds, Brains, & Programs here - https://home.csulb.edu/~cwallis/382/readings/482/searle.minds.brains.programs.bbs.1980.pdf