Philosophy in a New Century Selected Essays [Paperback]

This collection of essays spans nearly two decades and covers all three areas of Searle's main philosophical interest.John Searle has made profoundly influential contributions to three areas of philosophy: philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, and philosophy of society. This volume gathers together in accessible form a selection of his essays in these areas, and will be valuable for all who are interested in Searle's work.John Searle has made profoundly influential contributions to three areas of philosophy: philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, and philosophy of society. This volume gathers together in accessible form a selection of his essays in these areas, and will be valuable for all who are interested in Searle's work.John R. Searle has made profoundly influential contributions to three areas of philosophy: philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, and philosophy of society. This volume gathers together in accessible form a selection of his essays in these areas. They range widely across social ontology, where Searle presents concise and informative statements of positions developed in more detail elsewhere; artificial intelligence and cognitive science, where Searle assesses the current state of the debate and develops his most recent thoughts; and philosophy of language, where Searle connects ideas from various strands of his work in order to develop original answers to fundamental questions. There are also explorations of the limitations of phenomenological inquiry, the mind-body problem, and the nature and future of philosophy. This rich collection from one of America's leading contemporary philosophers will be valuable for all who are interested in these central philosophical questions.Introduction; 1. Philosophy in a new century; 2. Social ontology: some basic principles; 3. The Turing Test: 55 years later; 4. Twenty-one years in the Chinese room; 5. Is the brain a digital computer?; 6. The phenomenological illusion; 7. The self as a problelã¶