Abstract

BLANCO, Javier; GARCIA, Pío  and  CHERINI, Renato. Convergences and divergences in the notion of computing. Rev. iberoam. cienc. tecnol. soc. [online]. 2011, vol.7, n.19, pp.111-121. ISSN 1850-0013.

Tracking the genealogy of the idea of computing and elucidating its scope and limits is a much needed task which exceeds the merely exegetical. Despite the fact -or perhaps because of it-that this notion has become central in many disciplines, it is not clearly determined, it has no definite ontological status and it is constantly under suspicion and attacked from different fronts. In this article, we consider the confluence of ideas that in the 30s of last century rose to the notion of the effective calculability and, starting on the following decade, to the construction of actual computers. Furthermore, we consider certain conceptual divergences which appeared with electronic computers and computationalism in the philosophy of mind, having important repercussions on the understanding of these artifacts and on the new discipline of computer science. Finally, we introduce our approach for understanding computing systems which enables a new perspective on current debates, stressing the notion of program which although undoubtedly present in many of the original ideas, it has been unfairly forgotten in some of the critiques.

Keywords : Effective procedure; Pancomputationalism; Interpreters; Universal machine.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )