https://github.com/apiad/csphil
An introduction to philosophy for computer scientists
https://github.com/apiad/csphil
Last synced: 12 months ago
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An introduction to philosophy for computer scientists
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/apiad/csphil
- Owner: apiad
- Created: 2022-07-16T14:51:56.000Z (over 3 years ago)
- Default Branch: main
- Last Pushed: 2023-01-12T14:42:52.000Z (about 3 years ago)
- Last Synced: 2025-01-01T21:38:11.936Z (about 1 year ago)
- Size: 17.6 KB
- Stars: 8
- Watchers: 2
- Forks: 1
- Open Issues: 0
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Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
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README
# Philosophical Questions for Computer Scientists
> An introduction to philosophy for computer scientists.
## What is this?
An introductory ebook to select philosophical topics that are very relevant for computer scientists to explore. It is intended as a short introduction to several key philosophical ideas, including but not limited to, the nature of reality, the meaning of consciousness, the limitations of knowledge, as well as several ethical and moral questions.
The key difference with any other material I've read is that this content is designed from the ground up to be as interesting as possible for students and practitioners in the field of computer science. Thus, every topic is treated from a computational point of view, paying special attention to the implications it might have for the practice of computer science.
## But why?
Because philosophy is critically important for computer scientists, but there is hardly any relevant material that is accurate both in the computational and the philosophical domains and is sufficiently engaging for STEM people.
As a professional computer scientist myself, I've struggled with introducing some philosophy in my technical classes, and I've found that, when properly engaged and challenged, CS students can enjoy deep discussions on some of the most exciting and important philosophical issues. The problem they are hardly ever engaged and challenged. Often, the philosophy course for computer science is a dry, boring, and superficial discussion of historical events and figures.
What is lacking, of course, is a meaningful connection between those key philosophical ideas and the very real problems our students will face when practicing computer science, either in academia or the industry. This tiny book intends to fill that gap, to present some of the most relevant philosophical ideas and questions framed in a way that is both engaging and challenging for the computer scientist's mindset.
## How is this organized?
You can read all about the design choices in the [Design document](md/design.md).
## Contributions
All contributions are greatly appreciated, whether it is fixing a typo, suggesting a topic, proof-reading, editing, brainstorming ideas, whatever. Here are some of the ways you can participate:
- If you see something that can be fixed easily (e.g., typos, wrong dates, etc.) just go ahead and open a PR.
- If you want to point out some factual or conceptual mistake that is not as simple as a typo, or doesn't have a clear cut answer, open an [issue](https://github.com/apiad/csphil/issues).
- And if you want to suggest a new topic or otherwise have a more open-ended discussion, then head over to [discussions](https://github.com/apiad/csphil/discussions) and start a conversation.
### License
Philosophical Questions for Computer Scientists © 2022 is licensed under [CC BY-NC-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0).