Class Year
2017
Document Type
Student Research Paper
Date of Creation
Spring 2017
Department 1
Philosophy
Abstract
With advances in Artificial Intelligences being achieved through the use of Artificial Neural Networks, we are now at the point where computers are able to do tasks that were previously only able to be accomplished by humans. These advancements must cause us to reconsider our previous understanding of how people come to know how to do a particular task. In order to unpack this question, I will first look to an account of knowing how presented by Jason Stanley in his book Know How. I will then look towards criticisms of this view before using evidence presented by the existence of Artificial Neural Networks to present a new view that addresses the problems present in Stanley’s work. Finally, I will argue that knowing how to do something is a matter of heuristics, or knowing certain shortcuts which approximate a solution to the task one is trying to accomplish.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Roman, Joseph A., "Knowing How: A Computational Approach" (2017). Student Publications. 511.
https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/student_scholarship/511
Included in
Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Commons, Philosophy of Mind Commons, Philosophy of Science Commons
Comments
Capstone Research produced as part of the Philosophy Senior Seminar.