Does Philosophy Have a Role in Computer Science?

Johannes Climacus asks: "It would seem to me that philosophical works of philosophers such as Aristotle, Leibniz, Frege, Russell, and Tarski could play a central role in a Computer Science curriculum, as they form a mathematical basis of modern CS and Math. Ethicists such as Plato, Kant, Hegel, Mill, and Heidegger might also play a normative role in Computer Ethics and technology in general. However, I haven't seen any philosophical discussion in any of my theoretical computer science courses besides some simple logic. Is it the same elsewhere? How often do philosophical concerns play into Computer Science education as a whole? What role does (or could) philosophy have in Computer Science or Information Technology?"

Comments

Re:Yes,

[Nutria]

chose philosophy on purpose because I found that's where the logic courses were.

I thought modern philosophy was ephermeral, mindless crap.

The BS in CS

[Spazmania]

I needed an extra humanities course my last semester in college, so I took a philosophy course. Until then I figured philosophy was pretty useless. I thought that about English courses until the 11th grade too. I was wrong about the English courses. So I figured maybe I was wrong about philosophy too. I had an opportunity to find out and I took it.

The professor described philosphy as the birthplace of science. That was one of only two valuable things I learned in the course.

The course introduced me to a few of the so-called great philosophers. They were, one and all, completely full of shit. Any creative thinker can an interesting discussion about the meaning of life or another such topic. If the discussion moves in a usable direction it can be put to the test with the scientific method. If it doesn't, its pure proselytizing regardless of whether you apply rigorous logic.

Philosphy's utility in Computer Science is even less. We have an added advantage over the pure sciences: the computer tells us pretty quickly when we get things wrong. If we're smart enough to identify the corner cases, it tells us 100% of the time. We don't have to guess or make logical connections. Its all right there in the computer and our ideas either work or they do not.

So the second thing I learned in the philosophy course was this: how to recognize the difference between when scientists or developer knows what they're doing and when they're spouting philosphical bullshit that almost sounds good.

So now I know how to keep the BS out of CS. A useful skill to be sure, but not one that gives me a great deal of respect for philosphy.