Philosophy of computer science: an introduction to the issues and the literature william j. rapaport
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An Introduction to the Criminology of Genocide William R. Pruitt
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Library of Congress Cataloging‐in‐Publication Data
Names: Rapaport,William J., author.
Title: Philosophy of computer science : an introduction to the issues and the literature /William J. Rapaport.
Description: Hoboken, NJ :Wiley-Blackwell, 2023. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022039093 (print) | LCCN 2022039094 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119891901 (paperback) | ISBN 9781119891918 (adobe pdf) | ISBN 9781119891925 (epub)
This book is dedicated to my family: Mary, Michael, Sheryl, Makayla, Laura, William, Allyson, Lexie, Rob, and Robert.
List of Figures
Figure 1 What's all the fuss about computers?
Figure 2.1 How to evaluate an argument from premises and to conclusion .
Figure 3.1 Artificial vs. Natural.
Figure 3.2 We're awesome at teaching.
Figure 4.1 World, Observations, Theory.
Figure 4.2 Purity.
Figure 5.1 Malpas's engineering method.
Figure 6.1 1892 computer ad.
Figure 7.1 Snowman algorithm
Figure 7.2 A function “machine” that transforms input into output .
Figure 7.3 A real‐life example of an ambiguous instruction.
Figure 9.1 Abstruse Goose, The Ultimate.
Figure 13.1 A pictorial representation of Chalmers's analysis of implementation.
Figure 15.1 2D photographic model of a real house.
Figure 15.2 B.C. Smith's figure.
Figure 15.3 A cognitive agent.
Figure 16.1 1 = Yes; 2 = No.
Figure 18.1 Syntax, semantics, and syntactic semantics.
Figure 18.2 How a computational cognitive agent perceives the world.
Figure 18.3 Homunculi from an exhibit at the Buffalo Museum of Science(!).
Figure 20.1 Toaster computer.
If you begin with Computer Science, you will end with Philosophy.1
Note
1 “Clicking on the first link in the main text of an English Wikipedia article, and then repeating the process for subsequent articles, usually leads to the Philosophy article. In February 2016, this was true for 97% of all articles in Wikipedia, an increase from 94.52% in 2011” (“Wikipedia:Getting to Philosophy,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Getting_to_P hilosophy).
On 9 August 2021, if you began with “Computer Science,” you would end with “Philosophy” in 11 links: computer science algorithm mathematics quantity counting number mathematical object concept abstraction rule of inference philosophy of logic philosophy.
Preface
This is a university‐level introduction to the philosophy of computer science based on a course that I created at the University at Buffalo in 2004 and taught from 2004 to 2010 (I retired in 2012). At the time I created the course, there were few other such courses and virtually no textbooks (only a few monographs and anthologies). Although there are now more such courses, there are only a very few introductory textbooks in the area. My retirement project was to turn my lecture notes into a book that could be used as an introduction to the issues and serve as a guide to the original literature; this book is the result.
The course is described in Rapaport 2005c. The syllabus, readings, assignments, and website for the last version of the course are online at http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/ ∼rapaport/584/. The Online Resources contain suggested further readings, in‐class exercises (arguments for analysis, in addition to the questions at the ends of some of the chapters), term-paper suggestions, a sample final exam, advice to the instructor on peer‐editing for the exercises, and a philosophy of grading.
Many of the books and articles I discuss are available on the Web. Rather than giving Web addresses (URLs) for them, I urge interested readers to try a Google (or other) search for the documents. Books and journal articles can often be found either by visiting the author's website (e.g. most of my papers are at https://cse.buffalo.edu/ ∼rapaport/papers.html) or by using a search string consisting of the last name(s) of the author(s) followed by the title of the document enclosed in quotation marks (For example, to find Rapaport 2005c, search for “rapaport “philosophy of computer science””). URLs that I give for
Web‐only items (or other hard‐to‐find items) were accurate at the time of writing. Some, however, will change or disappear. Documents that have disappeared can sometimes be found at the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine (https://archive.org/web/). Some documents with no public URLs may eventually gain them. And, of course, readers should search the Internet or Wikipedia for any unfamiliar term or concept.
Sidebars: Sprinkled throughout the book are sidebars in boxes, like this one. Some are Digressions that clarify or elaborate on various aspects of the text. Some are suggestions for Further Reading. Others are Questions for the reader to consider at that point in the text. Additional suggested readings, along with student assignments and an instructor's manual, are in the Online Resources.
Reprinted with permission of ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION. All rights reserved
For comments on, suggestions for, or corrections to earlier versions, my thanks go especially to
Peter Boltuc, Jonathan Bona, Selmer Bringsjord, Jin‐Yi Cai, Timothy Daly, Edgar Daylight, Peter Denning, Eric Dietrich, William D. Duncan, J. Michael Dunn, Frank Fedele, Albert Goldfain, James Graham Maw, Carl Hewitt, Robin K. Hill, Johan Lammens, Cliff Landesman, Nelson Pole, Thomas M. Powers, Michael I. Rapaport, Stuart C. Shapiro, Aaron Sloman, Mark Staples, Matti Tedre, and Victoria G. Traube; as well as to Russ Abbott, Khaled Alshammari, S.V. Anbazhagan, S. Champailler, Arnaud Debec, Roger Derham, Gabriel Dulac‐Arnold, Mike Ferguson, Pablo Godoy, David Miguel Gray, Nurbay Irmak, Patrick McComb, Cristina Murta, Alexander Oblovatnyi, oleg@okmij.org, Andres Rosa, Richard M. Rubin, Seth David Schoen, Stephen Selesnick, Dean Waters, Nick Wiggershaus, and Sen Zhang; and the University at Buffalo Department of Computer Science Information Technology staff for help with LaTex; and my editors at Wiley: Will Croft, Rosie Hayden, and Tiffany Taylor.
About the Companion Website
This book is accompanied by a companion website: https://cse.buffalo.edu/∼rapaport/OR/
This website includes:
An annotated list of further readings for each chapter
Sample “position paper” assignments for argument analysis
Sample term‐paper topics
A sample final exam
An instructor's manual, with information on: how to use the position‐paper assignments how to grade, including: a “triage philosophy of grading” suggested analyses and grading rubrics for the position papers
a discussion of William Perry's scheme of cognitive development and its application to the final exam.
Part I Philosophy and Computer Science
Part I is an introduction to both philosophy and the philosophy of computer science.
1 An Introduction to the Philosophy of Computer Science
Philosophy is often thought of as an activity, which may have considerable theoretical interest, but which is of little practical importance. Such a view of philosophy is … profoundly mistaken. … [P]hilosophical ideas and some kind of philosophical orientation are necessary for many quite practical activities. … [L]ooking at the general question of how far philosophy has influenced the development of computer science[, m]y own view is that the influence of philosophy on computer science has been very great.
Donald Gillies (2002)
Who would have guessed that the arcane research done by the small set of mathematicians and philosophers working on formal logic a century ago would lead to the development of computing, and ultimately to completely new industries, and to the reconfiguring of work and life across the globe?
Onora O'Neill (2013, p. 8)
There is no such thing as philosophy‐free science, just science that has been conducted without any consideration of its underlying philosophical assumptions.
—Daniel C. Dennett (2013a, p. 20)
1.1 What This Book Is About
My mind does not simply receive impressions. It talks back to the authors, even the wisest of them, a response I'm sure they would warmly welcome. It is not possible, after all, to accept passively everything even the greatest minds have proposed. One naturally has profound respect for … [the] heroes of the pantheon of Western culture; but each made statements flatly contradicted by views of the others. So I see the literary and philosophical tradition of our culture not so much as a storehouse of facts and ideas but rather as a hopefully endless Great Debate at which one may be not only a privileged listener but even a modest participant.
Steve Allen (1989, p. 2), as cited in Madigan, 2014, p. 46.
As [the logician] Harvey Friedman has suggested, every morning one should wake up and reflect on the conceptual and foundational significance of one's work.
—Robert Soare (1999, p. 25)
This book looks at some of the central issues in the philosophy of computer science. It is not designed to answer all (or even any) of the philosophical questions that can be raised about the nature of computing, computers, and computer science. Rather, it is designed to “bring you up to speed” on a conversation about these issues – to give you some background knowledge – so that you can read the literature for yourself and perhaps become part of the conversation by contributing your own views.
This book is intended for readers who might know some philosophy but no computer science, readers who might know some computer science but no philosophy, and even
