The Turing Test, or a Misuse of Language when Ascribing Mental Qualities to Machines

Abstract

The views on the Turing test of the four influential thinkers who belong to the tradition of analytic philosophy, namely Ludwig Wittgenstein, Noam Chomsky, Hilary Putnam and John R. Searle, are discussed in the paper. Based on various philosophical/linguistic beliefs, they differ in their assessment of both the significance and the suitability of the imitation game for the development of cognitive science and Artificial Intelligence models. At the same time, they share the rejection of treating TT as the test for the “thinking of machines”. It seems to result from the caring for the proper use of language which is the fundamental methodological commitment of analytic philosophy.