Computers and the World Congress of Philosophy

As Professor Jim Moor, Chair of the APA Committee on Computers and Philosophy, notes in his Message from the Chair, Aug 10-16 this summer the Twentieth World Congress of Philosophy will be held in Boston MA at the Weston and Marriott hotels. The World Congress is an event held every five years in different countries. This will be the second and last time in the twentieth century in which the World Congress will come to the United States. The American organizing committee has been preparing for this event for a number of years now. The main theme of the World Congress is Paidea: Philosophy Educating Humanity. The members of the organizing committee decided that one of the features of American philosophy they would highlight would be the use of computers in philosophy. For philosophers using computers this theme and the focus on computers raises some interesting issues. What role do computers play in American philosophy, and philosophical education? What role might such activities play in educating humanity? The organizers had to answer some more practical questions. How would the impact of computers on philosophy and education be represented at the World Congress? What role would computers play?

To take the last question first, computers are already playing a role in the way in which the organizers are reaching out to the world. The WCP has its own web site. Bud Heckman set up the web site, online registration and paper submission system and computer network.

Webmaster Tom Stone

As time went on vast new quantities of information about the Congress became available. Tom Stone of Episteme Links was contracted to become the WCP web master and maintain the site. Tom explained the role he played to me as follows: "What I have done is basically the following-redesign, with instructions from Bud, the entire WCP website. No page was left unchanged." He remarked on the difficulties of the job: "The existing site as of August 1997 was changed to reflect the much more detailed information available in their 90+ page paper circular. This was a large task, as it meant working with primarily four languages. Each of the four main language sections (English, French, German, and Spanish) needed to be identical, or as similar as possible. This meant that layout of each page had to be identical, all links the same, etc. As most people do not have the necessary apps to view Japanese, Chinese or Russian fonts, we have only provided GIFs of the information in these three languages. Indeed, only one page each for Chinese and Japanese, while 8-10 pages for the Russian section (again, closely following the paper version)."

He went on to describe new sections which were added: "Many new sections were created and added to. These include an exhibits section, an extensive FAQ, a listing of participating societies, and a much more detailed schedule listing. A listing of people presenting papers is on the way. The largest new section is "Download Central", which includes each of the various forms (Travel, Hotel, Space Request, Round Table) in EACH of the four main languages, in EACH of the four chosen file formats (rtf, gif, MS-word, pdf). That makes for a total of 64 such forms." The web site will provide information and updates while the Congress is meeting, and abstracts will be published on the site.

When the participants arrive at the World Congress they will find a CyberCafe. This concept was developed by Bud Heckman. The CyberCafe is an umbrella for all computer related things at the World Congress. Members of the APA Computers and Philosophy Committee played a role in designing the CyberCafe. Terry Bynum, Robert Cavalier, Jim Moor, and Ron Barnette all participated in discussions about the design and decor of the cafe.

cafe2.jpg (13137 bytes)

Whether the cafe will actually take this form remains to be seen. Much work and contributions of money and time are required to transform such an idea into an actual CyberCafe.

CAP Organizer Robert Cavalier

Now we come to the next question. How is the American philosophical computing community going to be represented at the Twentieth World Congress? Robert Cavalier gives us the answer to this question. Robert has been ably organizing the Computers and Philosophy Conference (CAP) for a number of years now. The CAP conference beautifully represents the many strands of computer use in American philosophy and philosophical education. The CAP conference, which is co-sponsored by the APA Committee on Philosophy and Computers and the Department of Philosophy at Carnegie Mellon University, has become a central meeting place for all aspects of computing and philosophy.

The CAP program includes speakers and panels addressing: how computers are affecting Philosophical Research and Teaching; how philosophers are utilizing the World Wide Web and Multimedia in teaching and research; how new developments in Logic Software, Epistemology and Artificial Intelligence and Computer Ethics are impacting the field. The CAP conferences have been held in recent years at Cavalier's own institution, Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. This year, however, it will be held in conjunction with the Twentieth World Congress of Philosophy in Boston.