[SIGCIS-Members] Fwd: IHPST NEWSLETTER: November 28, 2014

Tue Dec 2 03:09:39 PST 2014

Dear all (from the sidelines),

I agree that the history and philosophy of computing belong in close 
proximity to each other, that both are rich and important fields -- and 
I'd like to see the usually far too utilitarian digital humanities (at 
the intersection of computing and the humanities) brought into the 
discussion. It's the intersecting that makes it valuable here. I 
particularly like Mike Mahoney's comment that the question "is computer 
science a science" is actually two questions: "what happens to computing 
if you call it a science?" and "what do you mean by 'science' if 
computing is one?"

Yours,
WM

On 02/12/2014 10:23, Liesbeth De Mol wrote:
> Dear all,
>
> I think that the field of philosophy of computing is certainly much
> wider than cognitive science and AI and in fact, several fundamentally
> philosophical questions, such as:
>
> * what is a computation
> * what is the difference between a program and an algorithm
> * Is computer science a science?
> * ...
>
> are, I think, at the core of (the history of) modern computing. This is
> also reflected within the philosophy of computing. For instance, there
> used to be a regular track on the philosophy of computer science
> (organized by Ray Turner) in the IACAP conference series for a couple of
> years (this changed when the format of the conference changed)
>
> William Rapaport is one important name that comes to my mind with
> respect to teaching the philosophy of computer science: he wrote a
> syllabus of over 700 pages on the topic
> (http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~rapaport/Papers/phics.pdf).
>
> I am very much convinced that both historians and philosophers of
> computing can benefit from an increased interaction and it is for this
> reason that I was involved in the past few years in the organization of
> several so-called HaPoC-events, including the bi-annual conference on
> the history and philosophy of computing (the next one will be held in
> Pisa and we hope to send out the CfP soon). The idea here is to bring
> together several communities -- historians and philosophers but also
> computer scientists, mathematicians, etc -- and stimulate an open
> discussion accross these communities. See www.hapoc.org for more details.
>
> Finally, I would like to mention that since 2013 a commission for the
> history and philosophy of computing was approved by the general assembly
> of the DHST (Division for the History of Science and Technology) during
> the Manchester ICHSTM conference. The next step will be the approval by
> the DLMPS in 2015, which is the philosophy sister division of DHST.
>
> best wishes,
> Liesbeth.
>
> Andrew J Iliadis schreef op 1/12/14 17:19:
>> Also related to "philosophy of computing" is the Society for the
>> Philosophy of Information (SPI): http://socphilinfo.org/ Luciano
>> Floridi (Oxford) has produced a lot of interesting work in this field.
>> The SPI just released a CFP for the Seventh Workshop on the Philosophy
>> of Information on "Conceptual challenges of data in science and
>> technology":
>> http://socphilinfo.org/news/cfp/485-seventh-workshop-philosophy-information-conceptual-challenges-data-science-and#.VHyNBS-ilPC.twitter
>>
>>
>> Andrew
>>
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Bjorn Westergard" <bjornw at gmail.com>
>> To: "ANN JOHNSON" <AJOHNSON at mailbox.sc.edu>
>> Cc: "members" <members at sigcis.org>
>> Sent: Sunday, November 30, 2014 9:59:17 PM
>> Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Fwd: IHPST NEWSLETTER: November 28, 2014
>>
>>
>>
>> As of August the SEP has a great entry by Raymond Turner on the
>> nascent "philosophy of computer science" in anglophone/analytic circles.
>>
>> There were a few informal discussions about historicizing terms like
>> "information" and "computation" at SIGCIS, topics on which there is a
>> large philosophical literature, often emerging from philosophy of mind
>> or cognitive science. Lav Varshney's paper on block diagrams in
>> information theory and Ekaterina Babintseva's paper on some aspects of
>> the cybernetics milieu's thinking were both exemplary contributions to
>> the history of ideas current among philosophers. My two cents as an
>> outsider: philosophers are ahistorical to a greater degree than
>> historians are unphilosophical re: computing/information.
>>
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Nov 28, 2014 at 5:59 PM, JOHNSON, ANN <
>> AJOHNSON at mailbox.sc.edu > wrote:
>>
>>
>> Dag,
>>
>> Yes this is a field in philosophy. There is a Blackwell guide to the
>> subject and two international societies devoted to it--one focusing
>> more on ethics (INSEIT) and the other on more epistemic/cognitive
>> science/philosophy of mind sorts of issues (IACAP). There is a
>> biannual (I think) information ethics conference called CEPE. You'll
>> also find philosophers of computing and information in the Society for
>> Philosophy and Technology (SPT). People in these areas regularly teach
>> both broad spectrum and narrowly focus classes on philosophy of
>> computing. Exchange between philosophers and historians of computing
>> has been scarce but I think would benefit both groups.
>>
>> Ann
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Nov 28, 2014, at 4:57 PM, "Dag Spicer" <
>> dspicer at computerhistory.org > wrote:
>>
>>> Thought this might of interest… is anyone teaching the “philosophy of
>>> computing?” Should they? Does computing (outside of AI) involve
>>> philosophy?
>>>
>>> Dag
>>>
>>> --
>>> Dag Spicer
>>> Senior Curator
>>> Computer History Museum
>>> Editorial Board, IEEE Annals of the History of Computing
>>> 1401 North Shoreline Boulevard
>>> Mountain View, CA 94043-1311
>>>
>>> Tel: +1 650 810 1035
>>> Fax: +1 650 810 1055
>>>
>>> Twitter: @ComputerHistory
>>>
>>> Begin forwarded message:
>>>
>>> From: IHPST < ihpst.info at utoronto.ca <mailto: ihpst.info at utoronto.ca >>
>>> Subject: IHPST NEWSLETTER: November 28, 2014
>>> Date: November 28, 2014 at 1:02:59 PM PST
>>> To: IHPST < ihpst.info at utoronto.ca <mailto: ihpst.info at utoronto.ca >>
>>>
>>> IHPST NEWSLETTER
>>> November 28, 2014
>>>
>>> IHPST NEWS
>>>
>>> COLLOQUIUM
>>>
>>> Wednesday December 10, 4:00 p.m., Location – Victoria College, 2nd
>>> floor, Room 213
>>>
>>> “Why did HPS Die?” Hakob Barseghyan, Assistant Professor, IHPST,
>>> University of Toronto
>>>
>>> When HPS was born in the 1960s, its main rationale was that we could
>>> study the actual workings of science in order to use that knowledge
>>> to answer some key philosophical questions concerning science, such
>>> as “what makes science rational?”, “what is the demarcation between
>>> science and non-science?”, “what makes one theory better than
>>> another?” and ultimately “what is the logic of scientific change?”.
>>> Kuhn and other founding fathers of HPS held that in order to get a
>>> better understanding of PS we must refer to HS. Lakatos’s famous
>>> dictum that “philosophy of science without history of science is
>>> empty; history of science without philosophy of science is blind” was
>>> not just his own view; it was the guiding principle that was in the
>>> foundation of the original HPS.
>>> Yet, what we observe nowadays is historians and philosophers pursuing
>>> their separate projects with essentially very little overlap. If we
>>> call things by their names, “HPS” has become a mere umbrella term
>>> these days.
>>> So why did the original HPS die and how can it be revived?
>>>
>>> If you have an accessibility or accommodation need for these events,
>>> please e-mail
>>> Denise Horsley directly at denise.horsley at utoronto.ca <mailto:
>>> denise.horsley at utoronto.ca > to make appropriate arrangements.
>>>
>>> * * * * * * * * **
>>>
>>> OTHER NEWS
>>>
>>> Stay current with the U of T community:
>>>
>>> The Albert Memo:
>>> http://www.vic.utoronto.ca/News___Events/Albert.htm
>>>
>>> U of T News:
>>> http://www.news.utoronto.ca/
>>>
>>> * * * * * * * * * * *
>>>
>>> ---
>>>
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>> _______________________________________________
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>> _______________________________________________
>> This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org, the email discussion
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>
> _______________________________________________
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> of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member posting
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-- 
Willard McCarty (www.mccarty.org.uk/), Professor, Department of Digital
Humanities, King's College London, and Digital Humanities Research
Group, University of Western Sydney