Computer Linguistics and Philosophical Interpretation :: Technology Philosophy Essays

Computer Linguistics and Philosophical variantABSTRACT This paper reports a procedure which I employed with two computational query instruments, the Index Thomisticus and its companion St. Thomas CD-ROM, in order to search the Thomistic axiom, whatever is received is received according to the mode of the receiver. My procedure extends to the lexicological methods developed by the pioneering author of the Index, Roberto Busa, from single terms to a proposition. More eventantly, the paper shows how the emerging results of the lexicological searches channelise my formation of a philosophical thesis more or less the axioms present moment for Aquinass existential metaphysics. One day in 1949, when the computer was still in its infancy, a young Jesuit knocked at the door of an decision maker of I.B.M., and explained that he wanted to put the corpus of Thomas Aquinass writings on computer. He wanted, moreover, to number each word, as well as to identify and tag each as the form of its proper lemma. He wanted, in short, a complete graphico-syntatical systemization of all the words Aquinas ever wrote. As data was still being entered into computers by means of the long since forgotten punch-card, this I.B.M. administrator was respectfully but decidedly sceptical almost the tenability, if not the use, of much(prenominal) a project. Roberto Busa respectfully but decidedly reassured him that if I.B.M. would but supply the technology, Busa himself would see to the rest. And so he did. Over two decades and millions of punch-cards later, there began to emerge into the send off of day the Index Thomisticus, the second largest publication of this century. The next step was to figure out what to do with it.Busas pioneering Index has kept pace with the computers hypertrophic evolution even to the present day, its latest reincarnation being in the form of the St. Thomas CD-ROM. (1) In this talk, I want to describe how I went about utilizing the Index Thomisticus and it s companion St. Thomas CD-ROM to conduct a systematic and comprehensive search of Thomass writings for a certain pedant axiom. I hope in this way to offer a model for a philosophical use of computational linguistics, and to show how the emerging results of my lexicological research point my formation of a philosophical thesis about the axioms import. Following Busa, I call the procedures I used lexicological in that they delineate and clarify one subtract of the active lexicon of Aquinas through use of the Index Thomisticus as the complete graphico-syntactic systematization of all the words in his writings.Computer Linguistics and Philosophical Interpretation Technology Philosophy EssaysComputer Linguistics and Philosophical InterpretationABSTRACT This paper reports a procedure which I employed with two computational research instruments, the Index Thomisticus and its companion St. Thomas CD-ROM, in order to research the Thomistic axiom, whatever is received is received accord ing to the mode of the receiver. My procedure extends to the lexicological methods developed by the pioneering source of the Index, Roberto Busa, from single terms to a proposition. More importantly, the paper shows how the emerging results of the lexicological searches guided my formation of a philosophical thesis about the axioms import for Aquinass existential metaphysics. One day in 1949, when the computer was still in its infancy, a young Jesuit knocked at the door of an executive of I.B.M., and explained that he wanted to put the corpus of Thomas Aquinass writings on computer. He wanted, moreover, to number each word, as well as to identify and tag each as the form of its proper lemma. He wanted, in short, a complete graphico-syntatical systemization of all the words Aquinas ever wrote. As data was still being entered into computers by means of the long since forgotten punch-card, this I.B.M. executive was respectfully but decidedly sceptical about the tenability, if not the use, of much(prenominal) a project. Roberto Busa respectfully but decidedly reassured him that if I.B.M. would but supply the technology, Busa himself would see to the rest. And so he did. Over two decades and millions of punch-cards later, there began to emerge into the depress of day the Index Thomisticus, the second largest publication of this century. The next step was to figure out what to do with it.Busas pioneering Index has kept pace with the computers hypertrophic evolution even to the present day, its latest reincarnation being in the form of the St. Thomas CD-ROM. (1) In this talk, I want to describe how I went about utilizing the Index Thomisticus and its companion St. Thomas CD-ROM to conduct a systematic and comprehensive search of Thomass writings for a certain pedant axiom. I hope in this way to offer a model for a philosophical use of computational linguistics, and to show how the emerging results of my lexicological research guided my formation of a philosophica l thesis about the axioms import. Following Busa, I call the procedures I used lexicological in that they delineate and clarify one dower of the active lexicon of Aquinas through use of the Index Thomisticus as the complete graphico-syntactic systematization of all the words in his writings.