Searle versus Derrida ?

Searle on Perception *

In the course of his discussion of perception, Searle criticizes representative theories in general. In this paper I will argue that, even though his criticisms may be adequate regarding a certain form of these theories, perhaps the most frequently defended by philosophers of perception, a version I will outline here escapes to them. A second issue I raise concerns Searle’s claim that his theor...

Minds, machines and Searle

Searle's celebrated Chinese Room Argument has shaken the foundations of Artificial Intelligence. Many refutations have been attempted, but none seem convincing. This paper is an attempt to sort out explicitly the assumptions and the logical, methodological and empirical points of disagreement. Searle is shown to have underestimated some features of computer modeling, but the heart of the issue ...

Searle on Brains as Computers

Is the brain a digital computer? Searle says that this is meaningless; I say that it is an empirical question. Is the mind a computer program? Searle says no; I say: properly understood, yes. Can the operations of the brain be simulated on a digital computer? Searle says: trivially yes; I say yes, but that it is not trivial.

Derrida, Butler and an Education in Otherness

Guerra ’ s interpolation using Derrida - Ruelle cascades

New results about Poisson-Dirichlet point processes and Derrida-Ruelle cascades allow us to express Guerra’s interpolation entirely in the language of Derrida-Ruelle cascades and to streamline Guerra’s computations. Moreover, our approach clarifies the nature of the error terms along the interpolation.