The Philosophical Computer: Exploratory Essays in Philosophical

Philosophical modelling is as old as philosophy itself; examples range from Plato's "Cave and the Divided Line" to Rawls's original position. What is new are the computational resources now available for philosophical modelling. Although the computer cannot offer a substitute for philosophical research, it can offer an new environment within which to do that research. The authors present a series of exploratory examples of computer modelling, using a range of computational techniques to illuminate a variety of questions in philosophy and philosophical logic. Topics include self-reference and paradox in fuzzy logics, varieties of epistemic chaos, fractal images of formal systems, and cellular automata models in game theory. Examples in the last category include models for the evolution of generosity, possible causes and cures for discrimination, and the formal undecidability of patterns of social and biological interaction. The cross-platform CD-ROM provided with the book contains a variety of working examples, in colour and often operating dynamically, embedded in a text that parallels that of the book. Source code of example programs is included to facilitate further research.