The International Association for Computing and Philosophy (IACAP) is a professional, philosophical

association Association may refer to: *Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal *Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry *Voluntary associatio ...

emerging from a history of conferences on computing and philosophy that began in 1986 (the CAP conferences). After the American A-CAP and the European E-CAP, the IACAP was founded in 2004. It adopts its mission from these conferences in order to promote scholarly dialogue on all aspects of the computational turn and the use of computers in the service of

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

. The role of the IACAP is to help facilitate a global communications network for those interested in computing and philosophy as defined by these themes. To this end, it sponsors a series of international conferences and this developing website. The founding members of IACAP include Ron Barnette, Selmer Bringsjord, Terry Bynum, Robert Cavalier, Preston Covey, Marvin Croy, Charles Ess, James Moor, Nelson Pole, and Saul Traiger.

Awards

IACAP has two annual awards: The Covey Award and The Herbert A. Simon Award. Both are decided by an independent committee and awarded at a ceremony at the annual conference.

The Covey Award

The Covey Award recognizes senior scholars with a substantial record of innovative research in the field of computing and philosophy, broadly conceived. * 2024: Johannes Lenhard (University of Kaiserslautern-Landau) * 2023: Oron Shagrir (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) * 2022:

Shannon Vallor Shannon Vallor is an American philosopher of technology. She is the Baillie Gifford Chair in the Ethics of Data and Artificial Intelligence at the Edinburgh Futures Institute. She previously taught at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, Cali ...

(University of Edinburgh) * 2021:

Helen Nissenbaum Helen Nissenbaum is professor of information science at Cornell Tech. She is best known for the concept of "contextual integrity" and her work on privacy, privacy law, trust, and security in the online world. Specifically, contextual integrity h ...

(Cornell Tech) * 2020: No award * 2019: John Weckert (Charles Sturt University) * 2018: Deborah G. Johnson (University of Virginia) * 2017: Raymond Turner (University of Essex) * 2016:

Jack Copeland Brian Jack Copeland (born 1950) is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand, and author of books on the computing pioneer Alan Turing. Education Copeland was educated at the University of Oxford, obt ...

(University of Canterbury, New Zealand) * 2015:

William J. Rapaport William Joseph Rapaport is an American philosopher who is an associate professor emeritus of the University at Buffalo. Philosophical work Rapaport has done research and written extensively on intentionality and artificial intelligence. He has ...

(University at Buffalo, The State University of New York) * 2014: Selmer Bringsjord (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) * 2013:

Margaret Boden Margaret Ann Boden (born 26 November 1936) is a British academic who is a Research Professor of Cognitive Science in the Department of Informatics at the University of Sussex, where her work embraces the fields of artificial intelligence, psyc ...

(University of Sussex) * 2012:

Luciano Floridi Luciano Floridi (; born 16 November 1964) is an Italian and British philosopher. He is the director of the Digital Ethics Center at Yale University. He is also a Professor of Sociology of Culture and Communication at the University of Bologna ...

(University of Hertfordshire) * 2011:

Terrell Bynum Terrell Bynum may refer to: * Terrell Bynum (American football) (born 1998), American football player * Terrell Ward Bynum (born 1941), American philosopher {{hndis, Bynum, Terrell ...

(Southern Connecticut State University) * 2010:

John R. Searle John Rogers Searle (; born July 31, 1932) is an American philosopher widely noted for contributions to the philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, and social philosophy. He began teaching at UC Berkeley in 1959 and was Willis S. and Marion ...

(University of California, Berkeley) * 2009:

Edward N. Zalta Edward Nouri Zalta (; born March 16, 1952) is an American philosopher who is a senior research scholar at the Center for the Study of Language and Information at Stanford University. He received his BA from Rice University in 1975 and his PhD f ...

(Stanford University)

The Herbert A. Simon Award

The Herbert A. Simon Award is given to promising young researchers in the field (max. 10 years from PhD). * 2024: Corey Maley (Purdue University) * 2023: Kathleen Creel (Northeastern University) * 2022: Björn Lundgren (Utrecht University) * 2021:

Carissa Véliz Carissa Véliz is a Mexican, Spanish, and British philosopher. She is an associate professor of philosophy and ethics at the University of Oxford (Institute for Ethics in AI, Faculty of Philosophy). Life and career Carissa Véliz studied ...

(University of Oxford) * 2020: No award * 2019:

Juan M. Durán ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish language, Spanish and Manx language, Manx versions of ''John (given name), John''. The name is of Hebrew origin and has the meaning "God has been gracious." It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-spea ...

(Delft University of Technology) * 2018: Thomas C. King (Oxford Internet Institute) * 2017: Andrea Scarantino (Georgia State University) * 2016: Marcin Milkowski (The Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences) * 2015: Michael Rescorla (University of California-Santa Barbara) * 2014: Gualterio Piccinini (University of Missouri–St. Louis) * 2013: Judith Simon (University of Vienna) * 2012: Patrick Allo (Vrije Universiteit Brussels) * 2011: John P. Sullins (Sonoma State) * 2010: Mariarosaria Taddeo (University of Hertfordshire; University of Oxford)

Presidents

* Steven T. McKinlay, 2022– * Don Berkich, 2016–2022 * Mariarosaria Taddeo, 2013–2016 *

Anthony Beavers Anthony Beavers (born 8 May 1963) is an American philosopher. he holds the positions of professor of philosophy, director of cognitive science, and director of The Digital Humanities Laboratory at the University of Evansville. Beavers receive ...

, 2011–2013 *

, 2006–2011 * Jon Dorbolo, 2003–2006 * Robert Cavalier, founder

Research and teaching areas

IACAP research and teaching areas include: *

Artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

cognitive science Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary, scientific study of the mind and its processes. It examines the nature, the tasks, and the functions of cognition (in a broad sense). Mental faculties of concern to cognitive scientists include percep ...

Artificial life Artificial life (ALife or A-Life) is a field of study wherein researchers examine systems related to natural life, its processes, and its evolution, through the use of simulations with computer models, robotics, and biochemistry. The discipline ...

/ computer modeling in biology *

Computer ethics Computer ethics is a part of practical philosophy concerned with how computing professionals should make decisions regarding professional and social conduct. Margaret Anne Pierce, a professor in the Department of Mathematics and Computers at Geor ...

information ethics Information ethics has been defined as "the branch of ethics that focuses on the relationship between the creation, organization, dissemination, and use of information, and the ethical standards and moral codes governing human conduct in society" ...

Computer-mediated communication Computer-mediated communication (CMC) is defined as any human communication that occurs through the use of two or more electronic devices. While the term has traditionally referred to those communications that occur via computer-mediated forma ...

*Culture and society *

Digital physics Digital physics is a speculative idea suggesting that the universe can be conceived of as a vast, digital computation device, or as the output of a deterministic or probabilistic computer program. The hypothesis that the universe is a digital com ...

Distance education Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance; today, it usually involves online ...

and electronic pedagogy *

Electronic publishing Electronic publishing (also referred to as e-publishing, digital publishing, or online publishing) includes the digital publication of e-books, digital magazines, and the development of digital libraries and catalogues. It also includes the ed ...

Logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the study of deductively valid inferences or logical truths. It examines how conclusions follow from premises based on the structure o ...

and logic software *

Metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of ...

(

distributed processing Distributed computing is a field of computer science that studies distributed systems, defined as computer systems whose inter-communicating components are located on different networked computers. The components of a distributed system commun ...

emergent properties In philosophy, systems theory, science, and art, emergence occurs when a complex entity has properties or behaviors that its parts do not have on their own, and emerge only when they interact in a wider whole. Emergence plays a central role ...

formal ontology In philosophy, the term formal ontology is used to refer to an ontology defined by axioms in a formal language with the goal to provide an unbiased (Problem domain, domain- and application-independent) view on Reality#Western philosophy, realit ...

, network structures, etc.) *Online resources for philosophy *

Philosophy of information The philosophy of information (PI) is a branch of philosophy that studies topics relevant to information processing, representational system and consciousness, cognitive science, computer science, information science and information technolog ...

Philosophy of technology The philosophy of technology is a sub-field of philosophy that studies the nature of technology and its social effects. Philosophical discussion of questions relating to technology (or its Greek ancestor ''techne'') dates back to the very dawn of ...

Robotics Robotics is the interdisciplinary study and practice of the design, construction, operation, and use of robots. Within mechanical engineering, robotics is the design and construction of the physical structures of robots, while in computer s ...

Virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a Simulation, simulated experience that employs 3D near-eye displays and pose tracking to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video gam ...

References

External links

IACAP Official WebsiteCovey AwardGoldberg Award
International professional associations Information technology organizations Philosophical societies Organizations established in 2004 {{philo-org-stub