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 began his college education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and subsequently became a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University where he obtained a doctorate in philosophy. Functionalists claim that consciousness can be defined as a set of informational processes inside the brain. Searle did not consider Derrida's approach legitimate philosophy or even intelligible writing.

Widely noted for his contributions to the philosophy of language philosophy of mind and social philosophy he began teaching at Berkeley in 1959. Among his notable concepts is the "Chinese room" argument against "strong" artificial intelligence.