The sense in which an automatic door 'understands instructions' from its photoelectric cell is not at all the sense in which I understand English.

Our tools are extensions of our purposes, and so we find it natural to make metaphorical attributions of intentionality to them; but I take it no philosophical…

There are clear cases in which 'understanding' literally applies and clear cases in which it does not apply; and these two sorts of cases are all I need for th…

My car and my adding machine understand nothing: they are not in that line of business.