BKPHILAI.RVW   960129
 
"Philosophy and AI", Cummins/Pollock ed., 1991, 0-262-03180-9, U$15.00
%E   Robert Cummins
%E   John Pollock
%C   55 Hayward Street, Cambridge, MA   02142-1399
%D   1991
%G   0-262-03180-9
%I   MIT Press
%O   U$15.00 curtin@mit.edu
%P   304
%T   "Philosophy and AI: Essays at the Interface"
 
Of the fields outside of computer science, psychology is the one most often
linked with artificial intelligence work.  Philosophy is perceived to be too
impractical to be of use in the difficult search for a thinking machine.  Yet
one of the four classical divisions of philosophy is logic.  The definition of
intelligence itself may be most productively explored in the realm of
epistemology (the study of knowledge).  Philosophy, in the western world, has
also become much more concerned with such "scientific" factors as testability,
repeatability and proof.
 
These essays may be at the interface between philosophy and artificial
intelligence, but most approach it from the computerized side.  (An advanced
knowledge of number theory and predicate calculus is recommended.)  The dozen
papers cover a range of topics in the more theoretical aspects of AI.  The
quality, though, is high, and the work is well worth while even at this date.
 
copyright Robert M. Slade, 1996   BKPHILAI.RVW   960129
 
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