John Searle (Contemporary Philosophy in Focus)

This book is an athology of essays commissioned for this athology. If you are interested in the individual authors and topics, I suggest you take a look, as of writing this review amazon let you look inside the book. I have only read the extensive essay on Searle's Chinese Room Argument. I was very pleased with it. The article presents a synopsis of what the author takes to be the main force of the thought experiment and argument that Searle continues to present as the Chines Room Argument. It also presents a critical examination of the many critical remarks that have been made of said argument. It is this discussion of the critical remarks that are of particular merit. The author of this essay presents the main types of responses, discusses implications of these responses, and presents any rebuttal Searle may have mustered. For someone that has found it hard to find all the literature on this funny little argument, this little essay was a God send. The bibliography was also quite helpful in directing this reviewer to the literature that is relelevant to this dicussion. I was immensely pleased with the essay overall. If the other articles are as informative and helpful as the one on the Chinese Room Argument, I will be very pleased with the book.