From newshub.ccs.yorku.ca!ists!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!news-server.ecf!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!psych.toronto.edu!christo Thu Feb 20 15:21:47 EST 1992
Article 3835 of comp.ai.philosophy:
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
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>From: christo@psych.toronto.edu (Christopher Green)
Subject: Re: Definition of understanding
Message-ID: <1992Feb18.200220.21192@psych.toronto.edu>
Organization: Department of Psychology, University of Toronto
References: <1992Feb18.153833.10164@oracorp.com>
Date: Tue, 18 Feb 1992 20:02:20 GMT

In article <1992Feb18.153833.10164@oracorp.com> daryl@oracorp.com writes:
>Michael Gemar writes:
>
>> When Steven Harnad came to the University of Toronto to give a
>> colloquium on *his* solution to the Chinese Room, he noted, "Everyone
>> thinks that defining understanding is so difficult.  Well, here..." at
>> which point he spouted something entirely incomprehensible in a
>> non-English language.  "There," he said, "that was Hungarian.  Did you
>> understand that?  If not, then you know what understanding
>> involves..."
>
>In my opinion, Harnad was being silly. There is a common core of
>meaning to the word "understand", which is that lack of competence in
>a language implies lack of understanding. This is the case with my
>lack of understanding of Hungarian (or Chinese). This common core of
>meaning does not suffice to answer questions such as "does the Chinese
>Room understand?"
>
I think you're right but not in the way you intended. The question is,
"Does the Chinese room understand *Chinese*?"
Insofar as I understand, this is the ONLY question relevant to the Chinese
room. It is the aritificial intelligentsia who have tried to make the
question obscure. Searle's question was very straightforward, and Harnad's
explication is dead on.

-- 
Christopher D. Green                christo@psych.toronto.edu
Psychology Department               cgreen@lake.scar.utoronto.ca
University of Toronto
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