Year: 2014
Type: article
Abstract: Floridi and Taddeo propose a condition of ‘zero semantic commitment’ for solutions to the grounding problem, and a solution to it. I argue briefly that their condition cannot be fulfilled, not even by their own solution. After a look at Luc Steel's very different competing suggestion, I suggest that we need to re-think what the problem is and what role the ‘goals’ in a system play in formulating the problem. On the basis of a proper (syntactic) understanding of computing, I come to the conclusion that the only sensible grounding problem is how we can explain and re-produce the behavioural ability and function of meaning in artificial computational agents.
Author: Vincent C. Müller
Institutions: Anatolia College, University of Oxford
Language: English
Subfield: History and Philosophy of Science
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1997404864