An analysis of the criteria for evaluating adequate theories of computation
Minds and Machines 18 (3):379-401 (2008)
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Abstract |
This paper deals with the question: What are the criteria that an adequate theory of
computation has to meet?
1. Smith's answer: it has to meet the empirical criterion (i.e. doing justice to computational practice), the conceptual criterion (i.e. explaining all the underlying concepts) and the cognitive criterion (i.e. providing solid grounds for computationalism).
2. Piccinini's answer: it has to meet the objectivity criterion (i.e. identifying computation as a matter of fact), the explanation criterion (i.e. explaining the computer's behaviour), the right things compute criterion, the miscomputation criterion (i.e. accounting for malfunctions), the taxonomy criterion (i.e. distinguishing between different classes of computers) and the empirical criterion.
3. Von Neumann's answer: it has to meet the precision and reliability of computers criterion, the single error criterion (i.e. addressing the impacts of errors) and the distinction between analogue and digital computers criterion.
4. “Everything” computes answer: it has to meet the implementation theory criterion by properly explaining the notion of implementation.
According to computationalists, minds are computational. Before we can judge the plausibility of any particular computationalist theory, we need to understand what notion of computation this theory employs. Although there are extant accounts of computation, any of which may, in principle, serve as a basis for computationalism, it isn’t clear that they’re all equivalent or even adequate as accounts of computation proper. By examining plausible alternatives to Smith’s adequacy criteria, our goal here is to resist his claim that no adequate account of computation proper is possible.
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Keywords | Cognition Computation Computationalism Computers Implementation Practice Subject Matter Theory Turing machines |
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DOI | 10.1007/s11023-008-9111-9 |
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Citations of this work BETA
Explaining Computation Without Semantics: Keeping It Simple.Nir Fresco - 2010 - Minds and Machines 20 (2):165-181.
Information Processing as an Account of Concrete Digital Computation.Nir Fresco - 2013 - Philosophy and Technology 26 (1):31-60.
Concrete Digital Computation: What Does It Take for a Physical System to Compute? [REVIEW]Nir Fresco - 2011 - Journal of Logic, Language and Information 20 (4):513-537.
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