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1、MarioAlaiUniversityofUrbinomario.alai@libero.itARTIFICIALINTELLIGENCE,LOGICOFDISCOVERYANDSCIENTIFICREALISMSummary:Epistemologistshavedebatedatlengthwhetherscientificdiscoveryisarationalandlogicalprocess.Ifitis,accordingtotheArtificialIntelligencehypoth
2、esis,itshouldbepossibletowritecomputerprogramsabletodiscoverlawsortheories;andifsuchprogramswerewritten,thiswoulddefinitelyprovetheexistenceofalogicofdiscovery.Attemptsinthisdirection,however,havebeenunsuccessful:theprogramswrittenbySimon’sgroup,indeed
3、,inferfamouslawsofphysicsandchemistry;buthavingfoundnonewlaw,theycannotproperlybeconsidereddiscoverymachines.Theprogramswritteninthe«Turingtradition»,instead,producednewandusefulempiricalgeneralization,butnotheoreticaldiscovery,thusfailingtoprovethelog
4、icalcharacterofthemostsignificantkindofdiscoveries.AnewcognitivistandconnectionistapproachbyHolland,Holyoak,NisbettandThagard,looksmorepromising.Reflectionontheirproposalshelpstounderstandthecomplexcharacterofdiscoveryprocesses,theabandonmentofbeliefin
5、thelogicofdiscoverybylogicalpositivists,andthenecessityofarealistinterpretationofscientificresearch.1.TheepistemologicalproblemofthelogicofdiscoveryIstherealogicofdiscovery?Therehasbeenalongdebateonthisquestionamongphilosophersofscience,withpeoplelikeF
6、rancisBacon,JohnStuartMillandHansReichenbachanswering“yes”,andnolessimportantcharacters,suchasWilliamWhewell,AlbertEinstein,CarlHempel,andSirKarlPopper,answering“no”.Nowonderitisso,sincethequestionistornbetweenthehornsofaseeminglyunescapabledilemma:ont
7、heonehand,discoverymustberational,forwehonourgreatdiscovererslikeNewton,Lavoisier,Einstein,etc.,asexceptionallyrationalminds,notaslucky,orsensitive,orsuper-naturallyendowedpeople.Butiftheprocessofdiscoveryisrational,mustn’titthereforefollowrationalcrit
8、eriaandrules,hencealogic?Ontheotherhand,itiswellknownthatchance,luck,andinsightoftenplayanimportantroleindiscovery(asithappened,forinstance,withKekulé’sdiscoveryofthe1exagonalstructureofbenzene,whichwaspromptedbyadream).Andaboveall,ifdi