Call For Papers

[plongo at vax.clarku.edu]

                          CALL FOR PAPERS
             ON THE TOPIC OF PHILOSOPHY AND COMPUTERS

               A Special Issue of Idealistic Studies
      An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy and Science


I. Idealistic Studies

Idealistic Studies is a journal of philosophy that is entering
its twenty-third year of publication. Since its inception,
articles published have focussed on idealist themes in many areas
of philosophy. One of the important tasks of each generation of
philosophers is to recast and interpret the perennial questions
of philosophy in terms of the idioms of their time. Among the
most important idioms of our time is science. Thus, we want to
expand the scope of Idealistic Studies to include idealist and
nonidealist issues in contemporary science in addition to the
topics we have traditionally covered. In addition to the claims
made by researchers in artificial intelligence, interesting
philosophical problems surface in such diverse areas as
theoretical biology, systems theory, quantum mechanics, and
computing theory. The role of mind in nature and science, the
resurgence of the notion of self-organizing systems, the
appearance of chaos in both classical and quantum dynamics, and
the advent of virtual realities sustained by digital computers:
these and other issues have emerged in just the last thirty
years. We hope to attract philosophers with interests in science
and scientists with interests in philosophy to reflect on these
developments. Idealistic Studies publishes thrice yearly, and the
new format includes reserving the first issue of each year for a
special topic.


II. Topics For the Special Issue of 1993

The premier issue of the new journal will focus on the topic:
Computers and Philosophy. We construe this subject very broadly.
Papers may engage, but are not limited to, such topics as:

* the uses of computers in teaching and doing philosophy, 
* the role, if any, of "expert systems" in philosophy: the 
  plausibility of algorithms for deciding moral situations 
* the role of computers in visualizing and even creating new      
  problems and proofs in science and mathematics, 
* the role of the computer in the humanities, 
* the status of the debate on artificial intelligence,      
* the implications of artificial life, 
* the role of the computer in society and our daily lives,
* the ontological and ethical issues concerning virtual reality 
  reality including: virtual identities, software agents, and  
  cyberspace entities
* the evidential value of computer generated photoimages
* the claims made about the computer-born and sustained
  disciplines of chaos theory and fractal geometry: so they
  constitute a revolution in science? 

III. Deadline for Submissions

Papers should be submitted before December 15, 1992.

IV. Format

All papers will be rigorously refereed, and should conform to the
following rules.

* All manuscript submissions should include three versions: two
on disk and one hardcopy:
 a. On disk
   i. a copy of the manuscript in ASCII format
   ii. a copy of the manuscript in the format of your word
       processor 
 b. Hardcopy
   i a copy of the manuscript on paper

* No submissions over the net.

* Please provide a short abstract of the paper in a separate file.

* The formatted version of the paper should 
   i. contain no page formatting
   ii. contain no imbedded footnotes 
   iii contain no page numbers
   iv. be single spaced
   v. use italics for emphasis


Questions and submissions should be delivered to:


Idealistic Studies
Philosophy Department
Clark University
950 Main Street
Worcester, MA 01610-1477
Attention: Editors

Telephone: (508) 793-7414