FROM THE CHAIR

The Web and the World Congress

James Moor
Dartmouth College
Jim.Moor@Dartmouth.edu

The Twentieth World Congress of Philosophy will meet in Boston, August 10-16, 1998. At the time of the first World Congress in Paris in 1900 the emerging communications technology was the telephone. The impact that phone technology has had on communications among philosophers during this century would have been hard to predict at that conference. Now the emerging communications technology is the internet or web. We have no more chance of predicting or even conceiving what computerized communication will be like a century from now than participants of the Paris Congress had in predicting or even conceiving that philosophers at the Boston Congress this summer will use cellular telephones carried in their pockets.

We do know currently that the web offers enormous opportunities for philosophers around the world to communicate and share information in way that was previously impossible. Any philosopher who has planned a large conference, written a book, or taught a course using e-mail and web communications can testify to savings in time and increases in power. In the not too distant future, which we can partially predict, world congresses may meet in many cities at once, not just one. Some of the bothersome limitations of space and time will be overcome through computer technology. Presentations will be viewed around the world and discussions with participants in many places will occur. Documents for the conference from all parts of the world will be exchanged more easily. Perhaps, automatic language translation will finally become a reality. Through computerized communications world congresses literally will become world congresses. The result of this computational turn in philosophy will be more participation, cooperation, and productivity by philosophers internationally.

At the upcoming World Congress in Boston many of the sessions will highlight the subject of philosophy and computing. For example, the Thirteen Annual Computing and Philosophy (CAP) Conference will be a significant part of the World Congress and will host many presentations on topics at the intersection of philosophy and computing. CAP will also sponsor some Computer Skills Workshops for Philosophers. At the Congress there will be roundtables on topics such as "How Computers Are Changing Philosophy" and "Global Information Ethics." There will be sessions on topics such as "Thinking and Computing" and "Minds and Computers." And there will be a CyberCafe with computers for e-mail and web-browsing. For more information about the upcoming World Congress look up its website.

A recently formed APA web advisory committee has some (current, newly appointed, and associate) members of the Committee on Philosophy and Computers. Its purpose is to help advise the APA and its webmaster, Chris Clement. The members of the web advisory group are web experts: Ron Barnett, Robert Cavalier, Jon Dorbolo, Larry Hinman, and Herman Tavani. I encourage you to check out the evolving resources found on the APA website.

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