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I have only one real message in this lecture, and that is: consciousness is a biological phenomenon, like photosynthesis, digestion, mitosis—you know all the biological phenomena—and once you accept that, most, if not all about the hard problems of consciousness simply evaporate.

— John Searle Our shared condition — consciousness (2013)

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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.

Consciousness and Language (2002)

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.