Viola Schiaffonati

The main idea of this project is to set out the philosophical and conceptual foundations of the disciplines of the artificial with a particular focus on computers and computational artifacts. Rather than an incremental improvement of the sciences of the artificial, in line with Herbert Simon’s view, or an extension of the existing philosophy of computer science, this project aims at creating a new, interdisciplinary field of study that has computers and computational artifacts as its objects of investigation. Computer science and engineering have, of course, computers at the core of their enterprise––but they view them from a technological-practical perspective. This project is instead a philosophical one, putting the foundations––and investigating the presuppositions––of this new realm of knowledge in a comprehensive way (ontological, epistemological, methodological, ethical, political, etc.).