Professor John McCarthy
Father of AI

Articles

Philosophical Premises of Logical AI

A collection of philosophical presuppositions and scientific premises of logical AI.

A collection of philosophical presuppositions and scientific premises of logical AI.

Why bother stating philosophical presuppositions? Why not just get on with the AI?

AI shares many concerns with philosophy - with metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of mind and other branches of philosophy. This is because AI concerns the creation of an artificial mind. However, AI has to treat these questions in more detail.

AI research not based on stated philosophical presuppositions usually turns out to be based on unstated philosophical presuppositions. These are often so wrong as to interfere with developing intelligent systems. That it should be possible to make machines as intelligent as humans involves some philosophical premises, although the possibility is probably accepted by a majority of philosophers.

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