Mind, Language, and Society: Philosophy in the real word by John R. Searle is a book that I picked up after reading about the "Chinese Room" argument against "strong" artificial intelligence. I believe that I read the argument in The Most Human Human which talked about a classic artificial intelligence test. I like the idea of reading modern philosophy and, particularly, philosophy of the mind, but I have had some trouble figuring out who to read. It has ended up being Minsky and company and the attempts to find artificial intelligence through language. Searle, therefore, is a natural outgrowth of that line of reasoning and is a giant in the field having received numerous awards.
Started: 9/25/2014
Completed: 10/17/2014
Recommendation: Highly Recommended for those interested in Philosophy
Recommended By: Nobody
Words and Concepts for which I sought help:
Russell's Paradox -- This is the paradox that in set theory it is logically possible to have a set of all sets that are not members of themselves. The paradox comes that if this set is not a member of itself, then it would have to include itself. But, by definition, it should include itself. This is presented symbolically as:
Verdical -- coinciding with reality
Vertiginous disorientation -- confusion, disorientation, and dizziness caused by a discrepancy between the reports given us by our vestibular sense and those emanating from other sense organs.
Review:
This is hardcore philosophy. There are lots of concepts presented with probably annoying levels of detail for most people. Philosophy, itself, tends to go into sometimes annoying detail over tiny details one could hardly imagine is consequential. It turns out that sometimes the detail is crucially important and, therefore, we get it. Personally, I like the attention to detail (despite the frequent glossing over of areas that clearly have tons if issues inside). The ability to take the information presented in this book and apply it is wonderful. I'm so happy to have found this book with a coherent philosophy I can espouse.
This is hardcore philosophy. There are lots of concepts presented with probably annoying levels of detail for most people. Philosophy, itself, tends to go into sometimes annoying detail over tiny details one could hardly imagine is consequential. It turns out that sometimes the detail is crucially important and, therefore, we get it. Personally, I like the attention to detail (despite the frequent glossing over of areas that clearly have tons if issues inside). The ability to take the information presented in this book and apply it is wonderful. I'm so happy to have found this book with a coherent philosophy I can espouse.
