Editing Chinese room (section)

==== Derived meaning ====
Some respond that the room, as Searle describes it, is connected to the world: through the Chinese speakers that it is "talking" to and through the programmers who designed the [[knowledge base]] in his file cabinet. The symbols Searle manipulates are already meaningful, they are just not meaningful to him.<ref>{{Harvnb|Hauser|2006|p=11}}; {{Harvnb|Cole|2004|p=19}}.</ref>{{efn|The derived meaning reply is associated with [[Daniel Dennett]] and others.}}

Searle says that the symbols only have a "derived" meaning, like the meaning of words in books. The meaning of the symbols depends on the conscious understanding of the Chinese speakers and the programmers outside the room. The room, like a book, has no understanding of its own.{{efn|Searle distinguishes between "intrinsic" intentionality and "derived" intentionality. "Intrinsic" intentionality is the kind that involves "conscious understanding" like you would have in a human mind. [[Daniel Dennett]] doesn't agree that there is a distinction. David Cole writes "derived intentionality is all there is, according to Dennett."{{sfn|Cole|2004|p=19}}}}