Abstract
This paper contains a discussion of striking similarities between influential philosophical concepts of the past and the approaches currently employed in selected areas of computer science. In particular, works of the Pythagoreans, Plato, Abelard, Ash’arites, Malebranche and Berkeley are presented and contrasted with such computer science ideas as digital computers, object-oriented programming, the modelling of an object’s actions and causality in virtual environments, and 3D graphics rendering. The intention of this paper is to provoke the computer science community to go off the beaten path in order to find inspiration for the development of new approaches in software engineering.
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Notes
Many of the references appearing in this and subsequent sections are to a widely used collection of source materials relating to pre-Socratic philosophers: Diels and Kranz Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, Weidmann, Berlin 1952. These references start with DK, followed by a number indicating the relevant philosopher, type of material (A for a quotation in another work, B for an original fragment) and the ordinal number of the fragment.
It is not clear whether this is a correct report of the Pythagorean views, or an (mis)interpretation by Aristotle. This is irrelevant for the current discussion, as it still places the concept within Ancient Greek philosophy.
The reference format of Aristotle’s works is based on the edition published in 1831 by Immanuel Bekker; it consists of the abbreviation of the author’s name, the abbreviation of the work’s title (Met. for Metaphysics), a reference to the book and chapter, and ‘Bekker numbers’, indicating the page, column and line.
The reference format of Plato’s works is based on the edition published in 1578 by Henri Estienne (known by the Latinised version of the name: Henricus Stephanus); it consists of the author’s name, the work’s title, the book number (for Republic and Laws only) and ‘Stephanus reference’, indicating the page number and section.
From 2003 onward.
Languages such as Smalltalk or Python are notable exceptions to this rule.
References to Descartes’ works are based on the edition published 1897–1913 by Adam and Tannery (hence the initials AT), the Roman numeral indicating the volume and the Arabic numeral indicating the page.
Another well-known formulation of the same problem—in fact a formulation that (mockingly) points out an important dilemma regarding immaterialism—is illustrated by the following limerick by Ronald Knox (Russell 1946): ‘There was a young man who said, God / Must think it exceedingly odd / If he finds that this tree / Continues to be / When there’s no one about in the Quad’.
Again there exists a limerick by Ronald Knox (Russell 1946) summarizing this concept—as an answer to the preceding one: ‘Dear: Your astonishment’s odd / I am always about in the Quad / And that’s why the tree / Will continue to be, / Since observed by / Yours faithfully, God’.
Stanisław Lem, a Polish philosophical and science-fiction writer, in one of his (lighter) stories (Lem 1971), claims that all famous European philosophers were in fact scientists and engineers that were exiled to various points in time from the twenty-seventh century—obviously this explains their knowledge of computer science concepts.
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Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank all the persons attending the lecture on March 10th, 2015, who expressed interest in the topics presented and encouraged the author to develop them into this article.
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Tylman, W. Computer Science and Philosophy: Did Plato Foresee Object-Oriented Programming?. Found Sci 23, 159–172 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10699-016-9506-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10699-016-9506-7