Machine Intelligence and Explication

摘要

The thesis attempts to answer the question whether machines can think by conceptual analysis. The argument in the essay follows a nonideal route: It defines a machine according to concepts in computer science and systems theory and attempts to explain why that definition adequately captures informal intuitions about the nature of machine-like, mechanical processes. This leads to an explication of explicity described processes, and a replacement of the question whether machines can think with the question whether machines can explicate. The argument is defended against possible counterarguments and compared with two well-known criticisms of artificial intelligence. Practical and metaphysical consequences of the thesis are explored.