The heyday of discussions initiated by Searle's claim that computers have syntax, but no semantics has now past, yet philosophers and scientists still tend to frame their views on artificial intelligence in terms of syntax and semantics. In this paper I do not intend to take part in these discussions; my aim is more fundamental, viz. to ask what claims about syntax and semantics in this context can mean in the first place. And I argue that their sense is so unclear that that their ability to act as markers within any disputes on artificial intelligence is severely compromised; and hence that their employment brings us nothing more than an illusion of explanation.

塞尔声称计算机有句法，但没有语义的说法引发了讨论的鼎盛时期，但哲学家和科学家仍然倾向于从句法和语义的角度来构建他们对人工智能的看法。在本文中，我不打算参与这些讨论；我的目标更基本，即。首先要问在这种情况下关于语法和语义的主张可能意味着什么。我认为，他们的意识非常模糊，以至于他们在人工智能争议中充当标记的能力受到严重损害；因此，他们的使用给我们带来的只不过是一种解释的幻觉。