Separating language from biology

Dan Everett Dan.Everett at MAN.AC.UK
Thu Dec 5 16:44:48 UTC 2002


> >Date: Thu, 5 Dec 2002 06:48:53 +0000
> >From: Dan Everett <Dan.Everett at MAN.AC.UK>
> >Subject: Re: Conceptually separating language from biology
> >
> >What you have just described is the Turing
> >Test.
>
> Yes, it is.
>
> >Searle effectively showed the inadequacy of this kind of test with
> >his Chinese room scenario.
>
> Our purpose here is not to explore consciousness, but just to
> determine whether language is necessarily biological.
>

Right. Fine. But your test ignores semantics. And, moreover, there are
many people, myself included, who find the evidence strong that language
and consciousness cannot be separated. But ignore that. Just focus on the
semantics.

-- Dan



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