Nature and artifice: thoughts on the notions of computer, intelligence and humanity

Main Article Content

Luana Goulart de Castro Alves
Tiago Rezende de Castro Alves

Abstract

In this article, we deal with the problem of artificial intelligence from the following
specific formulation: can a computer display intelligence? Our approach to
this question will, deliberately and to a large extent, resort to what we can call
‘caricatures’ - an expressive resource that, although known to portray towards
the grotesque, is often effective in emphasising some aspect of what is portrayed according to the purposes of the portraitist. Employing this type of device, we will offer, by way of starting points, characterisations of a paradigmatic intelligence model and also of what a computer is. Based on these, we will discuss three possible reactions to the aforementioned formulation: the first, negative and representative of an attitude that could be called orthodox; the second, positive, inspired by philosophical contributions of Turing and Wittgenstein; and the third, dissolutive, driven by thoughts aligned with Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics.

Article Details

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Articles
Author Biographies

Luana Goulart de Castro Alves, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UERJ)

She has a bachelor's degree and a full degree in Philosophy from the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ) and a master's degree in Philosophy from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio). She specializes in Public Care Policies with a gender perspective and in Epistemologies of the South at CLACSO. She coordinates the project “The hermeneutics of the pandemic: understanding and transforming in times of exception” (UFMT), is a member of the “Elected Women” project (LAPPCOM-UFRJ/UFRRJ) and the ANPOF Hermeneutic Philosophy WG. She is a member of the Brazilian Association of Aesthetics (ABRE), the Brazilian Network of Women Philosophers, the Red de Mujeres Filosofas de América Latina (REDDEM) and the New Voices on Women in the History of Philosophy project (Paderborn University). She has experience in the field of Philosophy, with an emphasis on Gender Studies, Anticolonial Studies, Ethics, Political Philosophy, Hermeneutics, Phenomenology, Ontology and the Sociology of the Image.

Tiago Rezende de Castro Alves, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UERJ)

He holds a bachelor's degree in Philosophy from the State University of Rio de Janeiro (2010), a master's degree in Philosophy from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (2013) and a doctorate in Philosophy from the University of Tübingen (2018). He is currently an adjunct professor of logic at the Philosophy Department of Rio de Janeiro State University. He has experience in Philosophy, with an emphasis on Logic, working mainly on the following topics: identity of proofs, synonymy, normalization, hypotheses, illocutions in proofs.

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