Where Consciousness Is Concerned, The Appearance Is

Many People Mistakenly Suppose That The Essence Of Consciousness Is That Of A Control Mechanism

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.

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.

It Seems To Me Obvious That Infants And Many Animals That Do Not In Any Ordinary Sense Have A Language Or Perform Speech Acts Nonetheless Have Intentional States. Only Someone In The Grip Of A Philosophical Theory Would Deny That Small Babies Can Literally Be Said To Want Milk And That Dogs Want To Be Let Out Or Believe That Their Master Is At The Door.

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.