Strong AI and the method of explication

This paper argues that the concept of human mindedness may be employed as a Carnapian explicatum that enables progress to be made in the debate about strong AI, that is, the thesis that ‘the appropriately programmed computer really is a mind’. It is shown that a holistic notion of human mindedness – conceived as all of what may typically occur in the mental life of a human being – yields greater precision without sacrificing simplicity or similarity to ordinary psychological concepts, including consciousness and intelligence, which were formerly central to the debate. The alternative approach is assessed by reference to Carnap’s four criteria of adequacy – similarity, precision, fruitfulness, and simplicity – and defended against Strawson’s charge of changing the subject. The paper concludes that explication provides a methodologically superior framework for testing strong AI and promises progress on further issues in the philosophy of AI.