Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!noao-gemini!noao!arizona!mike
From: mike@cs.arizona.edu (Mike Coffin)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: Sci. American AI debate
Message-ID: <16587@megaron.cs.arizona.edu>
Date: 5 Jan 90 03:28:49 GMT
References: <6031@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu>
Organization: U of Arizona CS Dept, Tucson
Lines: 24

From article <6031@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu>, (Greg Lee):
> From article <16577@megaron.cs.arizona.edu>, (Mike Coffin):
>> ... Searle's only response to this is that it's "true by
>>definition" (what definition?) or "rather obvious" (to whom?). ...
> 
> Perhaps he has more of a response than that.  He has an argument
> that seems to be intended to bear on this point, which begins:
> "As with any logical truth, one can quickly see that it is true,
> ...

You are right, of course.  I intended to include a paragraph on
this argument but somehow forgot.  As you point out, he "proves"---if
one uses the term very loosely---that syntax and semantics are
different.  He doesn't prove that semantics cannot be produced by,
or arise from, syntax.

Thanks for the correction.



-- 
Mike Coffin				mike@arizona.edu
Univ. of Ariz. Dept. of Comp. Sci.	{allegra,cmcl2}!arizona!mike
Tucson, AZ  85721			(602)621-2858