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Lorenzo Magnani
Director, Computational
Philosophy Laboratory
http://www.unipv.it/webphilos_lab/
Professor
Department of Philosophy,
University of Pavia,
Piazza Botta 6, 27100 Pavia, Italy
&
Visiting Professor
Department of Philosophy,
Sun Yat-sen University,
510275 Guangzhou (Canton), P.R.China
Let me begin with the intellectual
achievements, and the effects on others in organizations. First, the
discipline to which I officially belong is philosophy. However, this
classification hardly begins to give the scope of my technical achievements. I
have worked and published voluminously and outstandingly on foundational issues
in artificial intelligence, logic, ethics, the foundations of geometry,
computation, scientific reasoning, cognitive science, and so on. I am the
author of several major books in these areas in English, Italian, and Chinese –
areas which are vital research disciplines, and in which my contributions are
generally recognized as having stimulated new and vital understandings and
developments.
Let me consider, for example, three of my books. The first is a
well-recognized work called "Abduction, Reason, and Science". This presents an
deep analysis of the inter-relations between abduction (generally recognized to
be the most important form of reasoning in artificial intelligence and
science): it stands as a unique and much sought-after text on the subject. My
discussion of model-based abduction, for example, contains an intricate
analysis of the relation between simulative reasoning, analogical reasoning,
thought experiments, perception, imagery, deductive reasoning, that literally
stands out as a powerful approach devoted to the subject.
The second book, is the work – "Philosophy and Geometry". With this I have to
say the following: the book deeply and richly exposes the detailed forces at
work in the scientific and historical formation of geometry. Opening the book
it is easy to immediately encounter new and enriching insights.
The third book is "Knowledge as a Duty", which will be published in 2007. This
book aims and being a profound revolutionary approach to the theme of
morality. The insight is that, in the information age, ethical understanding
must undergo a massive expansion, not only in terms of its principles and its
body of knowledge, but also in terms of its processes of argumentation, and its
own explicit understanding and examination of those argumentation processes. We
are all tied into the internet, experience its enormous liberating effects, and
yet are completely aware that it crucially involves issues of personal
boundaries and privacy. I show that the problem is even deeper: The internet,
and the information age generally and all technological advances, create a
constantly changing structure to what an individual actually is. This, I
demonstrate, has profound ethical consequences. The commitment to ethical
knowledge is important not only for personal survival, but also to enrich the
perspective of many disciplines, from the different branches of philosophy, the
several branches of cognitive science, library sciences, business, and
information technology. I think my perspetive is furthermore essential for the
formation of international law in the information age.
I also made a lot of professional work in mobilizing and organizing new
resources, grants, and events for the benefit of research and others. I have
won grants for many institutions, which I have visited, in USA, EU, and China.
But my most important and impressive achievement has been the creation of the
Model-Based Reasoning Conferences, which have essentially caused a paradigm
shift. First of all, there is the intellectual issue of model-based reasoning,
which draws together my interest in a wide range of disciplines, and shows
their cohesive and deep inter-dependencies. MBR has permitted to see,
scientifically, the way in which these disciplines inter-relate, but has
created a highly influential international organization that has brought
together leading researchers across all these disciplines and stimulated them
to follow the powerful scientific unity I has developed and established.
Leaders of many technical disciplines, from artificial intelligence, logic,
distributed computational systems, psychology, etc. I have organized events
that not only bring leading people together, but to the aim of enhance their
professional lives as well as the disciplines from which they come.
I have tried to organize with energy, planning and logistics, whole groups of
leading researchers to move forward in a new and unifying paradigm which they
welcome with great excitement, curiosity and awe, to create a new vision that
brings together several powerful modern disciplines into a uniquely exciting
and entirely generative form.
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