From owner-cse584-sp07-list@LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU Fri Feb 16 11:54:17 2007 Received: from ares.cse.buffalo.edu (ares.cse.Buffalo.EDU [128.205.32.79]) by castor.cse.Buffalo.EDU (8.13.6/8.12.10) with ESMTP id l1GGsGLb005339 for ; Fri, 16 Feb 2007 11:54:16 -0500 (EST) Received: from front3.acsu.buffalo.edu (upfront.acsu.buffalo.edu [128.205.4.140]) by ares.cse.buffalo.edu (8.13.6/8.13.6) with SMTP id l1GGsAXm022170 for ; Fri, 16 Feb 2007 11:54:10 -0500 (EST) Received: (qmail 14386 invoked from network); 16 Feb 2007 16:54:10 -0000 Received: from mailscan1.acsu.buffalo.edu (128.205.6.133) by front3.acsu.buffalo.edu with SMTP; 16 Feb 2007 16:54:10 -0000 Received: (qmail 22409 invoked from network); 16 Feb 2007 16:54:10 -0000 Received: from deliverance.acsu.buffalo.edu (128.205.7.57) by front1.acsu.buffalo.edu with SMTP; 16 Feb 2007 16:54:10 -0000 Received: (qmail 1475 invoked from network); 16 Feb 2007 16:54:04 -0000 Received: from listserv.buffalo.edu (128.205.7.35) by deliverance.acsu.buffalo.edu with SMTP; 16 Feb 2007 16:54:04 -0000 Received: by LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (LISTSERV-TCP/IP release 14.5) with spool id 3367610 for CSE584-SP07-LIST@LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU; Fri, 16 Feb 2007 11:54:04 -0500 Delivered-To: cse584-sp07-list@listserv.buffalo.edu Received: (qmail 27400 invoked from network); 16 Feb 2007 16:54:03 -0000 Received: from mailscan4.acsu.buffalo.edu (128.205.6.136) by listserv.buffalo.edu with SMTP; 16 Feb 2007 16:54:03 -0000 Received: (qmail 6717 invoked from network); 16 Feb 2007 16:54:03 -0000 Received: from castor.cse.buffalo.edu (128.205.32.14) by smtp4.acsu.buffalo.edu with SMTP; 16 Feb 2007 16:54:03 -0000 Received: from castor.cse.Buffalo.EDU (rapaport@localhost [127.0.0.1]) by castor.cse.Buffalo.EDU (8.13.6/8.12.10) with ESMTP id l1GGs3No005333 for ; Fri, 16 Feb 2007 11:54:03 -0500 (EST) Received: (from rapaport@localhost) by castor.cse.Buffalo.EDU (8.13.6/8.12.9/Submit) id l1GGs3h4005332 for cse584-sp07-list@listserv.buffalo.edu; Fri, 16 Feb 2007 11:54:03 -0500 (EST) X-UB-Relay: (castor.cse.buffalo.edu) X-PM-EL-Spam-Prob: : 7% Message-ID: <200702161654.l1GGs3h4005332@castor.cse.Buffalo.EDU> Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2007 11:54:03 -0500 Reply-To: "William J. Rapaport" Sender: "Philosophy of Computer Science, Spring 2007" From: "William J. Rapaport" Subject: WHAT IS A COMPUTER? To: CSE584-SP07-LIST@LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU Precedence: list List-Help: , List-Unsubscribe: List-Subscribe: List-Owner: List-Archive: X-UB-Relay: (castor.cse.buffalo.edu) X-DCC-Buffalo.EDU-Metrics: castor.cse.Buffalo.EDU 1336; Body=0 Fuz1=0 Fuz2=0 X-Spam-Status: No, score=-2.0 required=5.0 tests=AWL,BAYES_00,SUBJ_ALL_CAPS autolearn=no version=3.1.7 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.1.7 (2006-10-05) on ares.cse.buffalo.edu X-Virus-Scanned: ClamAV 0.88.6/2581/Fri Feb 16 08:31:51 2007 on ares.cse.buffalo.edu X-Virus-Status: Clean Status: R Content-Length: 1568 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Subject: WHAT IS A COMPUTER? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ | Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2007 14:54:52 -0500 (EST) | From: Albert Goldfain | To: "William J. Rapaport" | Subject: dual nature of technical artifacts | | You might be interested in this site... | | http://www.dualnature.tudelft.nl/ | | >From the site: | | "when describing technical artifacts we simultaneously use these two basic | conceptualizations: technical artifacts are physical objects that are | described by physical concepts (the tungsten wire has a length of 15 | millimeters) and by intentional concepts such as technical functions (the | tungsten wire has the function of emitting light). Moreover, both | conceptualizations are indispensable for technical artifacts: if an | artifact is described by only physical concepts, it is in general unclear | which functions it has, and if an artifact is only described functionally, | it is in general unclear which physical properties it has. A description | of technical artifacts thus uses both conceptualizations and in that sense | technical artifacts have a dual (a physical and an intentional) nature." | | According to this view, it is indispensible that a conceptualization of a | computer include both a physical and an intentional description. | | Albert PS: The website that Albert found is for an international project that includes UB Philosophy Prof. Randall Dipert.