Journal of Logic, Language, and Information 9 (4):467-490 (2000)
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Abstract |
I advocate a theory of syntactic semantics as a way of understanding how computers can think (and how the Chinese-Room-Argument objection to the Turing Test can be overcome): (1) Semantics, considered as the study of relations between symbols and meanings, can be turned into syntax â a study of relations among symbols (including meanings) â and hence syntax (i.e., symbol manipulation) can suffice for the semantical enterprise (contra Searle). (2) Semantics, considered as the process of understanding one domain (by modeling it) in terms of another, can be viewed recursively: The base case of semantic understanding âunderstanding a domain in terms of itself â is syntactic understanding. (3) An internal (or narrow ), first-person point of view makes an external (or wide ), third-person point of view otiose for purposes of understanding cognition
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Keywords | Chinese Room Internalism Logic Representation Semantics Syntax Turing Test |
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DOI | 10.1023/A:1008319409770 |
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References found in this work BETA
Methodological Solipsism Considered as a Research Strategy in Cognitive Psychology.Jerry A. Fodor - 1979 - Behavioral and Brain Sciences 3 (1):63-73.
On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the N Tscheidungsproblem.Alan Turing - 1936 - Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society 42 (1):230-265.
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Citations of this work BETA
How Helen Keller Used Syntactic Semantics to Escape From a Chinese Room.William J. Rapaport - 2006 - Minds and Machines 16 (4):381-436.
Yes, She Was!: Reply to Ford’s “Helen Keller Was Never in a Chinese Room”.William J. Rapaport - 2011 - Minds and Machines 21 (1):3-17.
What Did You Mean by That? Misunderstanding, Negotiation, and Syntactic Semantics.William J. Rapaport - 2003 - Minds and Machines 13 (3):397-427.
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