Grant to research NZ philosopher who laid path to AI
AN (Arthur Norman) Prior (1914–1969) was born and educated in New Zealand and taught here before leaving for the United Kingdom. His work proved invaluable in the development of computer science and artificial intelligence.
One of the researchers, Professor Max Cresswell, was a PhD student of Prior’s at the University of Manchester in 1961–1963 and witnessed first-hand the tumultuous upheavals in philosophical thinking in which Prior played a key role.
Marsden Fund grants are administered by Royal Society Te Apārangi on behalf of the government and support New Zealand’s best investigator-led research in the areas of science, engineering, maths, social sciences and the humanities.
Professor Cresswell is a Principal Investigator on the project, with Victoria’s Professor Edwin Mares an Associate Investigator (AI).
The project, called The Logic of Ordinary Language, is being led by Associate Professor of Philosophy Adriane Rini from Massey University.
Prior was instrumental in marrying the mathematically derived logic of philosophers such as Bertrand Russell and Ludwig Wittgenstein with ordinary language.
His influence on computer science and artificial intelligence came through his development of ‘tense logic’, also known as ‘temporal logic’.
“Suddenly we could model reasoning about past, present and future in the successive states of a computer program,” say the researchers.
Their aim is to examine Prior’s work in the context of the ‘ordinary language movement’ “in order to understand the implications for philosophy as a discipline, and its broader connections with the sciences.
“Because he had a unique role in bringing logic to Oxford [University], and because of the implications of his work for areas outside philosophy, Prior provides a crucial insight into the way that ideas which have their genesis in philosophy not only change philosophy itself but enable it to provide other disciplines with the kind of tools which allow them to develop in ways which their practitioners might not otherwise have thought of”.
The researchers say their project will lead to “a deeper understanding of the way in which philosophy can be understood as a discipline whose purposes include the provision of an environment in which no question is regarded as too silly to ask—an environment in which ideas which might seem ludicrous to those who think ‘within the box’ turn out to be ideas which can change our lives.
“We believe that AN Prior, a philosopher born and nurtured in New Zealand, provides an example which plays a not insignificant role in reminding the world of the importance of our discipline”.
Other Victoria researchers involved as AIs on 2017 Marsden Fund-supported projects being led elsewhere are:
- Dr Mark Bennett (School of Law) and Dr Ben Schrader (Stout Research Centre for New Zealand Studies), Eviction and its consequences: representation, discourse and reality, led at University of Otago
- Dr Huw Horgan (Antarctic Research Centre/School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences), Stretching ice to the limit: New flow laws for ice sheets, led at University of Otago
- Associate Professor Joanna Kidman (Te Kura Māori), Putting Hope into Action: What inspires and sustains young people’s engagement in social movements?, led at University of Otago.