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The general nature of the speech act fallacy can be stated as follows, using “good” as our example. Calling something good is characteristically praising or commending or recommending it, etc. But it is a fallacy to infer from this that the meaning of “good” is explained by saying it is used to perform the act of commendation.

— John Searle Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language (1969)

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More quotes by John Searle

Dualism makes the problem insoluble; materialism denies the existence of any phenomenon to study, and hence of any problem.

Consciousness and Language (2002)

The Intentionality of the mind not only creates the possibility of meaning, but limits its forms.

Intentionality: An Essay in the Philosophy of Mind (1983)

Materialism ends up denying the existence of any irreducible subjective qualitative states of sentience or awareness.

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You do not understand your own tradition if you do not see it in relation to others.

"Akrasia" [weakness of will] in rational beings is as common as wine in France.

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: John Searle (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.