Philosophy of ICT and
Islam
Lecture 1:
Philosophy of Science and Computing
Learning Outcomes
•
Understand
what the philosophy of science is
concerned with.
•
Appreciate important philosophical questions
in computer science
List of Topic
•
Philosophy of Science
•
Philosophical Questions in Computer Science
•
Protocol Architectures
Terminology
The Computer “A device that changes variable
assignment” Thomason (2003)
Philosophy of Science
•
We
are
not
concerned
in
this
context
to
deal
with
the
open
-
ended
questions
of
philosophy
.
•
Rather,
the
philosophical
issues
of
computer
science
and
in
particular
Islamic
-
related
issues
are
of
concern
.
•
Generally,
the
philosophy
of
science
tackles
issues
such
science
foundation,
science
limitations
and
requirements
for
scientific
progress
.
Philosophy of Science (con.)
•
Methodological
issues
to
develop
scientific
knowledge
are
also
of
concern
.
•
Philosophical
questions
such
as
what
is
a
law,
what
is
a
theory,
whether
scientific
results
are
objective
or
subjective
are
also
relevant
.
•
The
Philosophy
of
science
has
developed
since
the
1900
s
starting
from
the
proposition
that
scientific
knowledge
is
formed
from
experience
and
that
verifying
scientific
claims
is
required
Philosophy of Science (con.)
•
As
the
verification
of
many
phenomenons
proved
to
be
difficult
if
not
impossible,
in
1934
,
K
.
Popper
stated
that
there
could
not
be
a
way
to
prove
universal
truths
and
that
observations
can
be
used
to
falsify
scientific
claims
.
•
In
1962
,
T
.
Kuhn
argued
that
throughout
history,
scientists
explain
their
scientific
findings
based
on
a
set
of
unchallenged
prevailing
scientific
theories
and
thus
there
is
usually
no
need
to
prove
any
scientific
fact
from
scratch
Philosophical Questions in Computer
Science
•
A major philosophical computer science
question is “Is computer science a new
discipline?”
Philosophical Questions in Computer
Science (con.)
In particular, is computer science an engineering
discipline, an applied mathematics discipline or a
physics discipline.
Certainly, computer science uses theories,
concepts and techniques from such disciplines
but can’t say it is any of them.
Philosophical Questions in Computer
Science (con.)
Some
think
of
computer
science
as
concerned
with
programming
or
building
computer
hardware
.
This also does not represent accurately what
computer science represents
.
Philosophical Questions in Computer
Science (con.)
•
Computer
science
is
concerned
with
investigating,
understanding
and
devising
theories,
methodologies
and
algorithms
that
support
the
specification,
design,
implementation
and
evaluation
of
computational
systems
Philosophical Questions in Computer
Science (con.)
“What is a computer?” is another philosophical
question that needs
tackling
Thomason
(
2003
)
answers
this
question
as
follows
:
“A
computer
is
a
device
that
changes
variable
assignment”
.
Philosophical Questions in Computer
Science (con.)
•
In explaining this in a more technical way, one
could say that a computer is a machine that:
Takes
an input which includes a set of
instructions
Execute
the instructions
and
Provide
an output.
Philosophical Questions in Computer
Science (con.)
•
Central
to
computer
science
are
algorithms
and
that
raises
another
question
of
“What
an
algorithm
is?”
•
Probably,
the
best
way
to
understand
algorithm
is
to
think
of
mathematical
functions
which
map
accurately
and
unambiguously
a
set
of
inputs
to
a
set
of
outputs
.
•
Similarly,
an
algorithm
is
a
function
composed
of
a
set
of
instructions
that
takes
an
input
and
produces
an
output
.
Philosophical Questions in Computer
Science (con.)
Using
a sorting algorithm to sort a set of integer
is an example of a deterministic algorithm.
•
A nondeterministic algorithm could follow
different paths for a given input.
•
A random number generation algorithm is an
example of a nondeterministic algorithm
Philosophical Questions in Computer
Science (con.)
•
“Can we build computers that can think?” is
another question that philosophers and
artificial intelligence scientists are trying to
answer.
Philosophical Questions in Computer
Science (con.)
Certainly, intelligent computer systems have
been developed and used that can think and adapt
to new environments, inputs and situations.
However, such systems are still not as good as
humans in thinking.
An open question is whether such intelligent
systems can one day beat humans in the thinking
game.
Philosophical Questions in Computer
Science (con.)
•
A central issue of concern here is the computer
capabilities to understand the semantics of data.
Philosophical Questions in Computer
Science (con.)
•
What
are
the
ethical
issues
of
computer
science?”
is
an
important
question
that
is
vital
to
ensure
the
proper
use
of
computers
and
their
applications
•
This
question
will
be
answered
from
an
Islamic
perspective
throughout
the
coming
lectures
.
Enter the password to open this PDF file:
File name:
-
File size:
-
Title:
-
Author:
-
Subject:
-
Keywords:
-
Creation Date:
-
Modification Date:
-
Creator:
-
PDF Producer:
-
PDF Version:
-
Page Count:
-
Preparing document for printing…
0%
Comments 0
Log in to post a comment