John Searle: Mind, Machines, and a Contested Legacy

John Searle (July 31, 1932 – September 17, 2025) was a leading American philosopher who taught at the University of California, Berkeley since 1959. He has shaped debates about language, consciousness and artificial intelligence. His 1980 paper 'Minds, Brains, and Programs' introduced the Chinese Room thought experiment, which argues that symbol manipulation alone does not produce understanding. Searle also defended 'biological naturalism,' the view that conscious states are biological phenomena. He was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2004 for work on the mind.

Although his work was influential, his career was marred by misconduct findings. In June 2019 Berkeley revoked his emeritus title after a university determination that he violated sexual harassment policies. While some readers continue to study his arguments, others have criticized his behavior and its impact on students and colleagues. Searle died on September 17, 2025 at age 93. He also wrote books such as Speech Acts (1969) and The Construction of Social Reality (1995), which influenced social philosophy. Therefore many students and scholars still discuss his arguments in classrooms and conferences.