Searle’s steadfast refusal to consider perfectly reasonable replies to his position, and his general recalcitrance in the debate on this and related questions, makes him unusually vulnerable to slightly uncharitable readings. The fact that his justification seems to be “human brains have unspecified magic that make humans conscious, and no I will not budge from that position because I have very strong intuitions” means, I think, that my reading is not even very uncharitable.
Searle’s steadfast refusal to consider perfectly reasonable replies to his position, and his general recalcitrance in the debate on this and related questions, makes him unusually vulnerable to slightly uncharitable readings. The fact that his justification seems to be “human brains have unspecified magic that make humans conscious, and no I will not budge from that position because I have very strong intuitions” means, I think, that my reading is not even very uncharitable.