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Top 25 John Searle Quotes (2025 Update)

John Searle Quote: “If you can’t say it clearly, you don’t understand it yourself.”

1. “If you can’t say it clearly, you don’t understand it yourself.”

— John Searle

John Searle Quote: “The Intentionality of the mind not only creates the possibility of meaning, but limits its forms.”

2. “The Intentionality of the mind not only creates the possibility of meaning, but limits its forms.”

— John Searle

John Searle Quote: “Nowadays nobody bothers, and it is considered in slightly bad taste to even raise the question of God’s existence. Matters of religion are like matters of sexual preference: they are not discussed in public, and even the abstract questions are discussed only by bores.”

3. “Nowadays nobody bothers, and it is considered in slightly bad taste to even raise the question of God’s existence. Matters of religion are like matters of sexual preference: they are not discussed in public, and even the abstract questions are discussed only by bores.”

— John Searle

John Searle Quote: “There is no success or failure in Nature.”

4. “There is no success or failure in Nature.”

— John Searle

John Searle Quote: “The reason that no computer program can ever be a mind is simply that a computer program is only syntactical, and minds are more than syntactical. Minds are semantical, in the sense that they have more than a formal structure, they have a content.”

5. “The reason that no computer program can ever be a mind is simply that a computer program is only syntactical, and minds are more than syntactical. Minds are semantical, in the sense that they have more than a formal structure, they have a content.”

— John Searle

John Searle Quote: “Where conscious subjectivity is concerned, there is no distinction between the observation and the thing observed.”

6. “Where conscious subjectivity is concerned, there is no distinction between the observation and the thing observed.”

— John Searle

John Searle Quote: “We do not live in several different, or even two different, worlds, a mental world and a physical world, a scientific world and a world of common sense. Rather, there is just one world; it is the world we all live in, and we need to account for how we exist as part of it.”

7. “We do not live in several different, or even two different, worlds, a mental world and a physical world, a scientific world and a world of common sense. Rather, there is just one world; it is the world we all live in, and we need to account for how we exist as part of it.”

— John Searle

John Searle Quote: “Dualism makes the problem insoluble; materialism denies the existence of any phenomenon to study, and hence of any problem.”

8. “Dualism makes the problem insoluble; materialism denies the existence of any phenomenon to study, and hence of any problem.”

— John Searle

John Searle Quote: “How do we get from electrons to elections and from protons to presidents?”

9. “How do we get from electrons to elections and from protons to presidents?”

— John Searle

John Searle Quote: “Our tools are extensions of our purposes, and so we find it natural to make metaphorical attributions of intentionality to them; but I take it no philosophical ice is cut by such examples.”

10. “Our tools are extensions of our purposes, and so we find it natural to make metaphorical attributions of intentionality to them; but I take it no philosophical ice is cut by such examples.”

— John Searle

John Searle Quote: “I will argue that in the literal sense the programmed computer understands what the car and the adding machine understand, namely, exactly nothing.”

11. “I will argue that in the literal sense the programmed computer understands what the car and the adding machine understand, namely, exactly nothing.”

— John Searle

John Searle Quote: “The problem posed by indirect speech acts is the problem of how it is possible for the speaker to say one thing and mean that but also to mean something else.”

12. “The problem posed by indirect speech acts is the problem of how it is possible for the speaker to say one thing and mean that but also to mean something else.”

— John Searle

John Searle Quote: “You do not understand your own tradition if you do not see it in relation to others.”

13. “You do not understand your own tradition if you do not see it in relation to others.”

— John Searle

John Searle Quote: “An utterance can have Intentionality, just as a belief has Intentionality, but whereas the Intentionality of the belief is intrinsic the Intentionality of the utterance is derived.”

14. “An utterance can have Intentionality, just as a belief has Intentionality, but whereas the Intentionality of the belief is intrinsic the Intentionality of the utterance is derived.”

— John Searle

John Searle Quote: “Where consciousness is concerned, the appearance is the reality.”

15. “Where consciousness is concerned, the appearance is the reality.”

— John Searle

John Searle Quote: “Where questions of style and exposition are concerned I try to follow a simple maxim: if you can’t say it clearly you don’t understand it yourself.”

16. “Where questions of style and exposition are concerned I try to follow a simple maxim: if you can’t say it clearly you don’t understand it yourself.”

— John Searle

John Searle Quote: “Whatever is referred to must exist. Let us call this the axiom of existence.”

17. “Whatever is referred to must exist. Let us call this the axiom of existence.”

— John Searle

John Searle Quote: “My car and my adding machine understand nothing: they are not in that line of business.”

18. “My car and my adding machine understand nothing: they are not in that line of business.”

— John Searle

John Searle Quote: “We often attribute ‘understanding’ and other cognitive predicates by metaphor and analogy to cars, adding machines, and other artifacts, but nothing is proved by such attributions.”

19. “We often attribute ‘understanding’ and other cognitive predicates by metaphor and analogy to cars, adding machines, and other artifacts, but nothing is proved by such attributions.”

— John Searle

John Searle Quote: “Materialism ends up denying the existence of any irreducible subjective qualitative states of sentience or awareness.”

20. “Materialism ends up denying the existence of any irreducible subjective qualitative states of sentience or awareness.”

— John Searle

John Searle Quote: “I want to block some common misunderstandings about understanding: In many of these discussions one finds a lot of fancy footwork about the word understanding.”

21. “I want to block some common misunderstandings about understanding: In many of these discussions one finds a lot of fancy footwork about the word understanding.”

— John Searle

John Searle Quote: “There are clear cases in which understanding literally applies and clear cases in which it does not apply; and these two sorts of cases are all I need for this argument.”

22. “There are clear cases in which understanding literally applies and clear cases in which it does not apply; and these two sorts of cases are all I need for this argument.”

— John Searle

John Searle Quote: “The ascription of an unconscious intentional phenomenon to a system implies that the phenomenon is in principle accessible to consciousness.”

23. “The ascription of an unconscious intentional phenomenon to a system implies that the phenomenon is in principle accessible to consciousness.”

— John Searle

John Searle Quote: “Many people mistakenly suppose that the essence of consciousness is that of a control mechanism.”

24. “Many people mistakenly suppose that the essence of consciousness is that of a control mechanism.”

— John Searle

John Searle Quote: “In many cases it is a matter for decision and not a simple matter of fact whether x understands y; and so on.”

25. “In many cases it is a matter for decision and not a simple matter of fact whether x understands y; and so on.”

— John Searle

John Searle Quote: “Berkeley had a liberal element in the student body who tended to be quite active. I think that’s in general a feature of intellectually active places.”

26. “Berkeley had a liberal element in the student body who tended to be quite active. I think that’s in general a feature of intellectually active places.”

— John Searle

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