Abstract
“Where there is the perception of a purposiveness, an intelligence is assumed as its author; required for purpose is thus the concept’s own free concrete existence,” writes Hegel. This paper examines the question of Artificial Intelligence in light of Hegel’s phenomenology of the mind, specifically in his last few chapters of The Science of Logic where Hegel presciently discusses the functions of mechanism versus teleology. In this paper we aim to frame our discussion through the relationship between sentience, consciousness, and thinking. Part of our framework is that “thinking,” using Hegel’s model, is distinct from, and the succession of, these other two categories. The question of whether AI can “think,” then, is best discussed not in light of technology, but as a continuation of the perennial philosophical question which has taken on many different faces: Do animals think? Does the planet think? Does God think? And now, does AI think? Using Hegel as a backdrop we discuss thinking when not using simple human consciousness as the qualifying example. A non-anthropocentric essence to thinking is the subject of our research.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Philosophy, Religion, Technology, Artificial Intelligence
