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Re: quotation
Posted:
Aug 15, 1996 2:07 PM
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In article <4uv8tf$ga6@netnews.upenn.edu>,
Matthew P Wiener <weemba@sagi.wistar.upenn.edu> wrote:
[ . . . ]
>But Leibniz certainly had a dream of a universal calculating machine
>that would replace all of _philosophy_ even with automatic computation.
>I recall--again without a source--one quotation in which Leibniz specu-
>lates that future philosophers, when they wish to resolve a dispute,
>will say, "come, let us calculate."
His dream was first, a precise symbolic language ("characteristica
universalis") to express everything in science 'and philosophy' (it is
not clear how _wide_ this was to be) and second, a computational method
("calculus ratiocinator") to resolve statements in that language. I
don't remember whether he actually envisaged a machine doing the work.
I recall the quote that instead of quarrels and squabbles people would
say "Calculemus".
Limited to mathematics, the dream did come true; but the computa-
tional effort involved is probably more than what Leibniz hoped for.
Ilias
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