Concept

Chinese room

Overview

thought experiment arguing that a computer cannot exhibit "understanding"

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).

Philosophers who discussed Chinese room

• John Searle
• Hilary Putnam

Related ideas

• Moral agency
• Mind–body problem
• Ned Block
• Artificial intelligence
• Alan Turing
• Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
• Grammar
• Herbert A. Simon
• Interpretation (logic)
• John Searle
• Consciousness Explained
• Neural correlates of consciousness
• Intentionality
• Functionalism (philosophy of mind)
• Mind
• Mathematical logic
• Marvin Minsky
• Peter Winch
• Mental state
• Neuroscience
• Turing test
• Tim Crane
• Understanding
• Ontology

Opposing perspectives

• Mind–body dualism
• Functionalism (philosophy of mind)
• Behaviorism

Place in the tradition

Part of American philosophy.

Explore Chinese room in the interactive graph →