Philosophy and Computing

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-vi

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2. Introduction: Intersecting Traditions in the Philosophy of Computing

   • Thomas M. Powers

   Pages 1-4

3. Levels of Computational Explanation

   • Michael Rescorla

   Pages 5-28

4. On the Relation of Computing to the World

   • William J. Rapaport

   Pages 29-64

5. Cognitive Computation sans Representation

   • Paul Schweizer

   Pages 65-84

6. Software Error as a Limit to Inquiry for Finite Agents: Challenges for the Post-human Scientist

   • John F. Symons, Jack K. Horner

   Pages 85-97

7. The Singularity Business

   • Selmer Bringsjord, Alexander Bringsjord

   Pages 99-119

8. Artificial Moral Cognition: Moral Functionalism and Autonomous Moral Agency

   • Don Howard, Ioan Muntean

   Pages 121-159

9. AI and the Automation of Wisdom

   • Shannon Vallor

   Pages 161-178

10. An Analysis of Machine Ethics from the Perspective of Autonomy

    • Mario Verdicchio

    Pages 179-191

11. Beyond Informed Consent—Investigating Ethical Justifications for Disclosing, Donating or Sharing Personal Data in Research

    • Markus Christen, Josep Domingo-Ferrer, Dominik Herrmann, Jeroen van den Hoven

    Pages 193-207

12. Big Data, Digital Traces and the Metaphysics of the Self

    • Soraj Hongladarom

    Pages 209-220

13. Why Big Data Needs the Virtues

    • Frances S. Grodzinsky

    Pages 221-234

14. Back Matter

    Pages 235-242

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This book features papers from CEPE-IACAP 2015, a joint international conference focused on the philosophy of computing. Inside, readers will discover essays that explore current issues in epistemology, philosophy of mind, logic, and philosophy of science from the lens of computation. Coverage also examines applied issues related to ethical, social, and political interest.

The contributors first explore how computation has changed philosophical inquiry. Computers are now capable of joining humans in exploring foundational issues. Thus, we can ponder machine-generated explanation, thought, agency, and other quite fascinating concepts.

The papers are also concerned with normative aspects of the computer and information technology revolution. They examine technology-specific analyses of key challenges, from Big Data to autonomous robots to expert systems for infrastructure control and financial services.

The virtue of a collection that ranges over philosophical questions, such as this one does, lies in the prospects for a more integrated understanding of issues. These are early days in the partnership between philosophy and information technology. Philosophers and researchers are still sorting out many foundational issues. They will need to deploy all of the tools of philosophy to establish this foundation. This volume admirably showcases those tools in the hands of some excellent scholars.

• Philosophy of Computing
• Computer Ethics
• Artificial Agents
• Machine Ethics
• Autonomous Moral Agents
• Computers Epistemology
• Computers philosophy of mind
• Computers philosophy of science
• Computers political unrest
• Machine agency
• Machine thought
• Machine generated explanation
• Robots Big Data
• engineering ethics

“The volume is wide-ranging and rich, and contains much that cannot be covered in a single review. It should have something of interest to anyone working on contemporary philosophy of computers and computation.” (Colin Klein,Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, ndpr.nd.edu, May, 2018)

• Department of Philosophy, University of Delaware, Newark, USA

  Thomas M. Powers

Thomas M. Powers is the founding director of the Center for Science, Ethics, and Public Policy at the University of Delaware.  He holds appointments as Associate Professor in the Philosophy Department and the Delaware Biotechnology Institute.  His research concerns ethics in science and engineering, the philosophy of technology, and environmental ethics, and his publications range from topics in artificial intelligence and robotic ethics to the ethical aspects of design. Powers received a B.A. in philosophy (College of William and Mary) and a Ph.D. in philosophy (University of Texas at Austin).  He has been a DAAD-Fulbright dissertation-year fellow at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, a National Science Foundation fellow in the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Virginia, and a visiting researcher (2015) at the Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Laboratoire d'Informatique – Équipe: Agents Cognitifs et A

pprentissage Symbolique Automatique.

Policies and ethics