Computer Science and Metaphysics: A Cross-Fertilization
Daniel Rocco Kirchnera✉, Christoph Benzmüllerb, Edward N. Zaltac
- aFreie Universität Berlin Berlin , Germany
- bFreie Universität Berlin Berlin , Germany / University of Luxembourg , Luxembourg
- cStanford University , Stanford, United States of America
- ✉Corresponding author
Papers open inside SciRah from the original publisher or repository; SciRah never hosts them.
Abstract
Abstract Computational philosophy is the use of mechanized computational techniques to unearth philosophical insights that are either difficult or impossible to find using traditional philosophical methods. Computational metaphysics is computational philosophy with a focus on metaphysics. In this paper, we (a) develop results in modal metaphysics whose discovery was computer assisted, and (b) conclude that these results work not only to the obvious benefit of philosophy but also, less obviously, to the benefit of computer science, since the new computational techniques that led to these results may be more broadly applicable within computer science. The paper includes a description of our background methodology and how it evolved, and a discussion of our new results.
TL;DRResults in modal metaphysics whose discovery was computer assisted are developed and it is concluded that these results work not only to the obvious benefit of philosophy but also to the benefit of computer science, since the new computational techniques that led to these results may be more broadly applicable within computer science. (Semantic Scholar)