Artificial Intelligence and Scientific Method

Examining the advances made in the field of Artificial Intelligence, this work discusses their profound implications for philosophy. It shows how views on scientific method are challenged. Drawing on work by seminal thinkers, it addresses the question of whether computers might become intellectually superior to human beings. Artificial Intelligence and Scientific Method examines the remarkable advances made in the field of AI over the past twenty years, discussing their profound implications for philosophy. Taking a clear, non-technical approach, Donald Gillies focuses on two key topics within AI: machine learning in the Turing tradition and the development of logic programming and its connection with non-monotonic logic. Demonstrating how current views on scientific method are challenged by this recent research, he goes on to suggest a new framework for the study of logic. Finally, Professor Gillies draws on work by such seminal thinkers as Bacon, Gödel, Popper, Penrose, and Lucas to address the hotly contested question of whether computers might become intellectually superior to human beings.