There are clear cases in which "understanding" literally applies and clear cases in which it does not apply; and these two sorts of cases are all I need for this argument.
More Quotes from John Searle:
Where conscious subjectivity is concerned, there is no distinction between the observation and the thing observed.John Searle
My car and my adding machine understand nothing: they are not in that line of business.
John Searle
In many cases it is a matter for decision and not a simple matter of fact whether x understands y; and so on.
John Searle
I want to block some common misunderstandings about "understanding": In many of these discussions one finds a lot of fancy footwork about the word "understanding."
John Searle
Berkeley became a left-wing community as a result of the '60s. The university is about the same as it was before politically. But the city is much more to the left than it was prior to all of this.
John Searle
Where questions of style and exposition are concerned I try to follow a simple maxim: if you can't say it clearly you don't understand it yourself.
John Searle
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