01UndatedThe problem for language was how to get from sound to meaning. Nothing ever has an absolute existence, not even planets or hydrogen atoms. They just “show up”. Consciousness is a mental and therefore not physical feature of the brain. Our capacity for consciousness is and other mental phenomena are a result of long periods of biological evolution. If the supernatural existed, it too would have to be natural.John Rogers Searle / quote ↗
02UndatedIt seemed to a number of philosophers of language, myself included, that we should attempt to achieve a unification of Chomsky's syntax, with the results of the researches that were going on in semantics and pragmatics. I believe that this effort has proven to be a failure. Though Chomsky did indeed revolutionize the subject of linguistics, it is not at all clear, at the end the century, what the solid results of this revolution are. As far as I can tell there is not a single rule of syntax that all, or even most, competent linguists are prepared to agree is a rule.John Rogers Searle / quote ↗
03UndatedMoods are not to be confused with emotions. Moods will dispose you to having an emotion. Certain moods you're more likely to get angry than others, as we all know, but emotion is not the same as mood. Emotions, I think, always have to do with agitated forms of desire. Whenever you're in an emotional state, you have some sort of agitated desire. So, emotions are fairly special -- I am not always in some sort of emotional state or other, but I think I am always in some mood or other.John Rogers Searle / quote ↗
04UndatedIn general, I feel if you can't say it clearly you don't understand it yourself.John Rogers Searle / quote ↗
