# John Searle ![[50 Resources/51 Attachments/51.03 Public/2026-02-15 John Searle.jpg|400]] John Searle (b. 1932) is an American philosopher best known for the [[Chinese Room Argument]] (1980), which challenges [[Strong AI]]—the claim that appropriately programmed computers literally understand. Searle argues syntax (symbol manipulation) is insufficient for semantics (meaning); the mind has "intentionality" (aboutness) that computers lack. Beyond AI philosophy, Searle made major contributions to speech act theory, social ontology (how institutions exist), and consciousness studies. He defends "biological naturalism"—consciousness is a biological phenomenon, but irreducible to computation. His work connects to the [[Symbol Grounding Problem]] and debates about machine understanding. ## Key Contributions | Contribution | Significance | |--------------|--------------| | Chinese Room | Critique of Strong AI | | Speech acts | Language as action | | Social ontology | How institutions exist | | Biological naturalism | Consciousness as biological | ## Quotes <!-- QueryToSerialize: LIST FROM #type/quote AND [[John Searle]] WHERE public_note = true SORT file.name ASC --> ## Books <!-- QueryToSerialize: LIST FROM #type/book AND [[John Searle]] WHERE public_note = true SORT file.name ASC --> ## Related - [[Chinese Room Argument]] - [[Philosophy of Mind]] - [[Artificial Intelligence (AI)]] - [[Strong AI]] - [[Symbol Grounding Problem]] ## References - Searle, John. "Minds, Brains, and Programs" (1980) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Searle