ARISTOTLE AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE


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The Academy of Athens together with the Academy of Cyprus are organizing a symposium on Aristotle and Artificial Intelligence to be held at the premises of the Athens Academy during the period of 7-10 of April 2025

Aristotle, as the first thinker on the systemization of human thought, can be considered today as one of the forefathers of the thinking machines of Artificial Intelligence. His conception of strict logical reasoning together with his wider notion and methods of dialectic argument give a foundational understanding of the nature of human thinking and how this relates to our individual and social lives. Looking at his work afresh one can observe a pervasive computational perspective in his approach, as emphasized by the recent book commentary on the Prior Analytics, Academy of Athens Press, 2024. His systematic study of thought can also be seen to permeate within his investigation of many other matters, whether this is scientific enquiry, ethical behaviour or political governance. Nevertheless, the possible relation between Aristotle’s conception of human thought and the emergence of thinking machines remains in statu nascendi.

This symposium aspires to examine Aristotle over a wide spectrum of his possible relevance to AI, ranging from the underlying building blocks of AI on methods of learning and reasoning, to the metaphysics of knowledge and the philosophy of science, to the morality of thinking machines.

The nature of the symposium is intended to be explorative. By bringing together Aristotelian scholars and other researchers with links to Artificial Intelligence the symposium aims to provide an environment where the potential role of Aristotle to AI can be explored and oriented.  Are Aristotle’s ideas indeed relevant in today’s era of AI? Could they once again play a pivotal role in shaping our future? How could his reflections on human thinking contribute to an effective and socially acceptable development of AI? Can Aristotle’s logical and dialectical methods help us in the design of Artificial Cognitive Minds that can argue and debate transparently in socially accountable ways?