Volume 27, Issue 1, Spring 2022
Józef Bremer
, Mariusz Flasiński
Pages 5-25
The Turing Test, or a Misuse of Language when Ascribing Mental Qualities to Machines
In this paper we discuss the views on the Turing test of four influential thinkers who belong to the tradition of analytic philosophy: Ludwig Wittgenstein, Noam Chomsky, Hilary Putnam and John Searle. Based on various beliefs about philosophical and/or linguistic matters, they arrive at different assessments of both the significance and suitability of the imitation game for the development of cognitive science and AI models. Nevertheless, they share a rejection of the idea that one can treat Turing test as a test for “machine thinking.” This seems to stem from a concern for the proper use of language—one that is a fundamental methodological commitment of analytic philosophy.