What is computation?
Synthese 108 (3):335-59 (1996)
| Abstract | To compute is to execute an algorithm. More precisely, to say that a device or organ computes is to say that there exists a modelling relationship of a certain kind between it and a formal specification of an algorithm and supporting architecture. The key issue is to delimit the phrase of a certain kind. I call this the problem of distinguishing between standard and nonstandard models of computation. The successful drawing of this distinction guards Turing's 1936 analysis of computation against a difficulty that has persistently been raised against it, and undercuts various objections that have been made to the computational theory of mind | |||||||||
| Keywords | Algorithm Computation Metaphysics Model Searle, J Turing, A | |||||||||
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