Philosophy of Computer Science William J. Rapaport Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Department of Philosophy, Department of Linguistics, and Center for Cognitive Science University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, NY 14260-2500 [email protected] http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/∼rapaport/

c 2004–2016 by William J. Rapaport DRAFT September 8, 2017

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Contents 1

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What Is Philosophy of Computer Science? 1.1 Recommended Readings: . . . . . . . . 1.2 What This Book Is About . . . . . . . . 1.3 What This Book Is Not About . . . . . 1.4 . . . Further Sources of Information . . .

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What Is Philosophy? 2.1 Readings: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3 A Definition of ‘Philosophy’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.4 What Is Truth? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.4.1 The Correspondence Theory of Truth . . . . . 2.4.2 The Coherence Theory of Truth . . . . . . . . 2.4.3 Correspondence vs. Coherence . . . . . . . . . 2.5 On Searching for the Truth vs. Finding It . . . . . . . . 2.5.1 Asking “Why?” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.5.2 Can There Be Progress in Philosophy? . . . . . 2.5.3 Skepticism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.6 What Is “Rational”? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.6.1 Kinds of Rationality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.6.1.1 Deductive Logical Rationality . . . . 2.6.1.2 Inductive Logical Rationality . . . . 2.6.1.3 Abductive Logical Rationality . . . . 2.6.1.4 Non-Monotonic Logical Rationality 2.6.1.5 Computational Rationality . . . . . . 2.6.2 Science and Philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.6.2.1 Is Science Philosophy? . . . . . . . 2.6.2.2 Is Philosophy a Science? . . . . . . 2.6.3 Is It Always Rational to Be Rational? . . . . . 2.7 What Is the Import of “Personal Search”? . . . . . . . 2.8 What Is the Import of “In Any Field”? . . . . . . . . . 2.9 Philosophy and Computer Science . . . . . . . . . . . 2.10 Further Sources of Information . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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CONTENTS What Is Computer Science? 3.1 Readings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3 Preliminary Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3.1 Naming the Discipline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3.2 Why Ask What CS Is? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3.2.1 Academic Motivations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3.2.1.1 Academic Politics. . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3.2.1.2 Academic Pedagogy. . . . . . . . . . . 3.3.2.1.3 Academic Publicity. . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3.2.2 Intellectual or Philosophical Motivations . . . . . 3.3.3 What Does It Mean to Ask What Something Is? . . . . . . . 3.3.3.1 Determining Boundaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3.3.2 Three Other Controversial Terms . . . . . . . . . 3.3.3.2.1 What Is a Planet? . . . . . . . . .