Can Machines Think? A Brief Reading of Ethics in Wittgenstein’s Work

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22370/rhv2023iss22pp7-22

Keywords:

Wittgenstein, language, thought, machines, attitude

Abstract

The dynamic development of technology, as well as of AI’s, raises the fundamental question: can machines think? At the beginning of the 20th Century the Austrian philosopher wonders about this problem and analyses it from a logical-philosophical conception which conveys the need to recognize all the elements comprised in the thought-language relationship. An ethical-religious dimension is revealed in certain uses of language. This dimension, which shows the human’s attitude to the world, stems from the human tendency to search for explanations. This attitude does not extend to machines.

References

Anscombe, G. E. M. (2001). An Introduction to Wittgenstein’ Tractatus. St. Augustine’s Press.

Diamond, C. (2000). Ethics imagination and the method of Wittgenstein’ Tractatus. In A. Crary & R. Read (Eds.), The New Wittgenstein (pp. 149-171). Routledge.

Fairhurst, J. (2021). The Ethical Significance of The Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. Teorema, 40(2), 151-168.

Floyd, J. (2021). Wittgenstein sobre la Etica: Trabajando con Lebensformen (Trad. de Kurt Wischin). Disputatio. Philosophical Research Bolletin, 10(18), 109-131.

Kenny, A. (2006). Wittgenstein. Blackwell Publishing.

Lensk, H., & Skarica, M. (2001). Wittgenstein y el giro pragmático de la filosofía. Ed. El Copista.

Martínez Zepeda, J. P. (2018). Ockham y Wittgenstein. Acerca de los alcances y límites de la relación pensamiento-lenguaje. Revista de Humanidades de Valparaíso, (12), 69-93. https://doi.org/10.22370/rhv.2018.12.1264

Pears, D. (1970). Wittgenstein. The Viking Press.

Stadler, F. (2010). El Círculo de Viena. Empirimo lógico, ciencia, cultura y política. Fondo de Cultura Económica.

Wittgenstein, L. (1958). The Blue and Brown Books. Harper Torchbook.

Wittgenstein, L. (1961). Notebooks 1914-1916. Harper Torchbooks.

Wittgenstein, L. (1963). Tractatus logico-philosophicus. Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd.

Wittgenstein, L. (1965). Lectures on Ethics. The Philosophical Investigations Review, 74(1), 3-12.

Wittgenstein, L. (1979). Remarks on Frazer´s Golden Bough. In Wittgenstein. Sources and Perspectives (pp. 61-91). Cornell University.

Wittgenstein, L. (2009). Philosophical Investigations. Wiley-Blackwell.

Downloads

Published

2023-10-31

How to Cite

Martínez Zepeda, J. P. (2023). Can Machines Think? A Brief Reading of Ethics in Wittgenstein’s Work. Revista De Humanidades De Valparaíso, (22), 7–22. https://doi.org/10.22370/rhv2023iss22pp7-22

Issue

Section

Articles