  Both (b) and (c) seem to draw out the claim that a material system  lacks understanding. John Searle’s famous ‘Chinese  Room’ argument (Searle 1980; see also the entry on   Chinese room argument)  seems to support this conclusion, at least if the material system takes the form of a classical computer, manipulating symbols according to rules. Searle imagines himself in a room with a letter box through which strings of symbols are posted in, and, following a book of rules, he puts out symbols which the rules dictate, given the strings he is receiving. In fact, Searle says, he has been conducting a conversation in Chinese, because the symbols are Chinese script, and the rules those on which a Chinese computer might work, but he has not understood a word. Therefore neither does a computer understand, so we, understanding creatures, are not computers. If Searle is right, this is the end for the classical ‘syntactic engine’ as a model for thought.