In many cases it is a matter for decision and not a simple matter of fact whether x understands y; and so on.

Many people mistakenly suppose that the essence of consciousness is that of a control mechanism

Where conscious subjectivity is concerned, there is no distinction between the observation and the thing observed.

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 ice is cut by such examples.

Because we do not understand the brain very well we are constantly tempted to use the latest technology as a model for trying to understand it. In my childhood we were always assured that the brain was a telephone switchboard...Sherrington, the great British neuroscientist, thought the brain worked like a telegraph system. Freud often compared the brain to hydraulic and electromagnetic systems. Leibniz compared it to a mill...At present, obviously, the metaphor is the digital computer.

In many cases it is a matter for decision and not a simple matter of fact whether x understands y; and so on.

We often attribute 'understanding' and other cognitive predicates by metaphor and analogy to cars, adding machines, and other artifacts, but nothing is proved by such attributions.