•  3
    The relation between logic and knowledge has been at the heart of a lively debate since the 1960s. On the one hand, the epistemic approaches based their formal arguments in the mathematics of Brouwer and intuitionistic logic. Following Michael Dummett, they started to call themselves `antirealists'. Others persisted with the formal background of the Frege-Tarski tradition, where Cantorian set theory is linked via model theory to classical logic. Jaakko Hintikka tried to unify both traditions by …Read more
  •  9
    A Pragmatic Theory of Computational Artefacts
    with Alessandro G. Buda
    Minds and Machines 34 (1): 139-170. 2024.
    Some computational phenomena rely essentially on pragmatic considerations, and seem to undermine the independence of the specification from the implementation. These include software development, deviant uses, esoteric languages and recent data-driven applications. To account for them, the interaction between pragmatics, epistemology and ontology in computational artefacts seems essential, indicating the need to recover the role of the language metaphor. We propose a User Levels (ULs) structure …Read more
  •  16
    Any attempt to conceptualize, categorize and constraint foundational issues in a living science, such as Computing, is bound to show its limitations and leave a number of open issues. Taking stock with some critical reviews of Primiero (On the foundations of computing, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2019) published in this Journal, I overview potential new problems to be investigated by a foundational analysis of the science of computing.
  •  3
    Current research in Explainable AI includes post-hoc explanation methods that focus on building transparent explaining agents able to emulate opaque ones. Such agents are naturally required to be accurate and trustworthy. However, what it means for an explaining agent to be accurate and trustworthy is far from being clear. We characterize accuracy and trustworthiness as measures of the distance between the formal properties of a given opaque system and those of its transparent explanantes. To th…Read more
  •  7
    A theory of change for prioritised resilient and evolvable software systems
    with Franco Raimondi and Taolue Chen
    Synthese 198 (S23): 5719-5744. 2019.
    The process of completing, correcting and prioritising specifications is an essential but very complex task for the maintenance and improvement of software systems. The preservation of functionalities and the ability to accommodate changes are main objectives of the software development cycle to guarantee system reliability. Logical theories able to fully model such processes are still insufficient. In this paper we propose a full formalisation of such operations on software systems inspired by …Read more
  •  8
    Value-Sensitive Co-Design for Resilient Information Systems
    with Balbir Barn and Ravinder Barn
    Studies in Logic, Grammar and Rhetoric 63 (1): 141-164. 2020.
    In Information Systems development, resilience has often been treated as a non-functional requirement and little or no work is aimed at building resilience in end-users through systems development. The question of how values and resilience (for the end-user) can be incorporated into the design of systems is an on-going research activity in user-centered design. In this paper we evaluate the relation of values and resilience within the context of an ongoing software development project and contri…Read more
  •  16
    A logic of negative trust
    Journal of Applied Non-Classical Logics 30 (3): 193-222. 2020.
    We present a logic to model the behaviour of an agent trusting or not trusting messages sent by another agent. The logic formalises trust as a consistency checking function with respect to currentl...
  •  11
    Annotated Natural Deduction for Adaptive Reasoning
    In Can Başkent & Thomas Macaulay Ferguson (eds.), Graham Priest on Dialetheism and Paraconsistency, Springer Verlag. pp. 409-437. 2019.
    We present a multi-conclusion natural deduction calculus characterizing the dynamic reasoning typical of Adaptive Logics. The resulting system AdaptiveND is sound and complete with respect to the propositional fragment of adaptive logics based on CLuN. This appears to be the first tree-format presentation of the standard linear dynamic proof system typical of Adaptive Logics. It offers the advantage of full transparency in the formulation of locally derivable rules, a connection between restrict…Read more
  •  95
    On the Foundations of Computing
    Oxford University Press. 2019.
    Computing, today more than ever before, is a multi-faceted discipline which collates several methodologies, areas of interest, and approaches: mathematics, engineering, programming, and applications. Given its enormous impact on everyday life, it is essential that its debated origins are understood, and that its different foundations are explained. On the Foundations of Computing offers a comprehensive and critical overview of the birth and evolution of computing, and it presents some of the mos…Read more
  •  15
    A logic of efficient and optimal designs
    Journal of Logic and Computation 14 0-22. 2019.
  •  14
    Design, Malfunction, Validity: Three More Tasks for the Philosophy of Computing
    Philosophy and Technology 33 (2): 331-337. 2020.
    We present a review of Raymond Turner’s Book Computational Artifacts – Towards a Philosophy of Computer Science, focusing on three main topics: Design, Malfunction, and Validity.
  •  24
    This paper contributes to the computer ethics debate on software ownership protection by examining the ontological, methodological, and ethical problems related to property right infringement that should come prior to any legal discussion. The ontological problem consists in determining precisely what it is for a computer program to be a copy of another one, a largely neglected problem in computer ethics. The methodological problem is defined as the difficulty of deciding whether a given softwar…Read more
  •  6
    Programming Systems: in Search of Historical and Philosophical Foundations
    with Liesbeth Mol
    In Giuseppe Primiero & Liesbeth De Mol (eds.), Reflections on Programming Systems: Historical and Philosophical Aspects, Springer Verlag. pp. 1-12. 2018.
    This chapter introduces the topics investigated in this book and it frames them in a broader historical and philosophical analysis of programming and computing technology.
  •  5
    Validity and Correctness Before the OS: the Case of LEO I and LEO II
    with Elisabetta Mori and Rabia Arif
    In Giuseppe Primiero & Liesbeth De Mol (eds.), Reflections on Programming Systems: Historical and Philosophical Aspects, Springer Verlag. pp. 15-47. 2018.
    Efficient and reliable computing is based on validity and correctness. Techniques to ensure these essential features have been in place since the early days of computing. The present study focuses on the hardware testing, data validation and program correctness techniques designed and implemented for LEO I and II machines in the UK during the 1950s.
  •  30
    Reflections on Programming Systems: Historical and Philosophical Aspects (edited book)
    with Liesbeth De Mol
    Springer Verlag. 2018.
    This book presents a systematic philosophical and historical analysis of operating systems (0S). The discussion starts with the evolution of OSs since before their birth. It continues with a comprehensive philosophical analysis grounded in technical aspects. Coverage looks at software and (where appropriate) hardware as well as their historical developments. The authors not only offer historical and philosophical reflections on operating systems. They also explore the programs they coordinate an…Read more
  •  36
    The epistemology of computer simulations has become a mainstream topic in the philosophy of technology. Within this large area, significant differences hold between the various types of models and simulation technologies. Agent-based and multi-agent systems simulations introduce a specific constraint on the types of agents and systems modelled. We argue that such difference is crucial and that simulation for the artificial sciences requires the formulation of its own specific epistemological pri…Read more
  •  19
    On Malfunction, Mechanisms and Malware Classification
    with Frida J. Solheim and Jonathan M. Spring
    Philosophy and Technology 32 (2): 339-362. 2019.
    Malware has been around since the 1980s and is a large and expensive security concern today, constantly growing over the past years. As our social, professional and financial lives become more digitalised, they present larger and more profitable targets for malware. The problem of classifying and preventing malware is therefore urgent, and it is complicated by the existence of several specific approaches. In this paper, we use an existing malware taxonomy to formulate a general, language indepen…Read more
  •  420
    On malfunctioning software
    Synthese 192 (4): 1199-1220. 2015.
    Artefacts do not always do what they are supposed to, due to a variety of reasons, including manufacturing problems, poor maintenance, and normal wear-and-tear. Since software is an artefact, it should be subject to malfunctioning in the same sense in which other artefacts can malfunction. Yet, whether software is on a par with other artefacts when it comes to malfunctioning crucially depends on the abstraction used in the analysis. We distinguish between “negative” and “positive” notions of mal…Read more
  •  164
    Miscomputation
    with Nir Fresco
    Philosophy and Technology 26 (3): 253-272. 2013.
    The phenomenon of digital computation is explained (often differently) in computer science, computer engineering and more broadly in cognitive science. Although the semantics and implications of malfunctions have received attention in the philosophy of biology and philosophy of technology, errors in computational systems remain of interest only to computer science. Miscomputation has not gotten the philosophical attention it deserves. Our paper fills this gap by offering a taxonomy of miscomputa…Read more
  •  135
    The Semantics of Untrustworthiness
    with Laszlo Kosolosky
    Topoi 35 (1): 253-266. 2016.
    We offer a formal treatment of the semantics of both complete and incomplete mistrustful or distrustful information transmissions. The semantics of such relations is analysed in view of rules that define the behaviour of a receiving agent. We justify this approach in view of human agent communications and secure system design. We further specify some properties of such relations
  •  191
    Acts of Knowledge: History, Philosophy and Logic (edited book)
    College Publications. 2009.
    The Editors’ vision for this volume is that it should be a selection of essays, contributed by the academics who have worked, studied, collaborated and disagreed with Göran Sundholm; engaging in debated issues and exploring untouched areas maybe only suggested or hinted at in Sundholm’s own work. "Acts of Knowledge" characterizes the papers contained in this volume as bringing something scientifically valuable in their respective fields: all the papers present cutting-edge research in their own …Read more
  •  22
    Algorithmic Iteration for Computational Intelligence
    Minds and Machines 27 (3): 521-543. 2017.
    Machine awareness is a disputed research topic, in some circles considered a crucial step in realising Artificial General Intelligence. Understanding what that is, under which conditions such feature could arise and how it can be controlled is still a matter of speculation. A more concrete object of theoretical analysis is algorithmic iteration for computational intelligence, intended as the theoretical and practical ability of algorithms to design other algorithms for actions aimed at solving w…Read more
  •  79
    A Computationally Grounded, Weighted Doxastic Logic
    with Taolue Chen, Franco Raimondi, and Neha Rungta
    Studia Logica 104 (4): 679-703. 2016.
    Modelling, reasoning and verifying complex situations involving a system of agents is crucial in all phases of the development of a number of safety-critical systems. In particular, it is of fundamental importance to have tools and techniques to reason about the doxastic and epistemic states of agents, to make sure that the agents behave as intended. In this paper we introduce a computationally grounded logic called COGWED and we present two types of semantics that support a range of practical s…Read more
  •  108
    On the Ontology of the Computing Process and the Epistemology of the Computed
    Philosophy and Technology 27 (3): 485-489. 2014.
    Software-intensive science challenges in many ways our current scientific methods. This affects significantly our notion of science and scientific interpretation of the world, driving at the same time the philosophical debate. We consider some issues prompted by SIS in the light of the philosophical categories of ontology and epistemology
  •  184
    Giovanni Sommaruga (ed): Formal Theories of Information: From Shannon to Semantic Information Theory and General Concepts of Information Content Type Journal Article Pages 119-122 DOI 10.1007/s11023-011-9228-0 Authors Giuseppe Primiero, Centre for Logic and Philosophy of Science, University of Ghent, Blandijnberg 2, Ghent, 9000 Belgium Journal Minds and Machines Online ISSN 1572-8641 Print ISSN 0924-6495 Journal Volume Volume 21 Journal Issue Volume 21, Number 1
  •  109
    Majority merging by adaptive counting
    Synthese 165 (2). 2008.
    The present paper introduces a belief merging procedure by majority using the standard format of Adaptive Logics. The core structure of the logic ADM c (Adaptive Doxastic Merging by Counting) consists in the formulation of the conflicts arising from the belief bases of the agents involved in the procedure. A strategy is then defined both semantically and proof-theoretically which selects the consistent contents answering to a majority principle. The results obtained are proven to be equivalent t…Read more
  •  127
    A modal type theory for formalizing trusted communications
    Journal of Applied Logic 10 (1): 92-114. 2012.
    This paper introduces a multi-modal polymorphic type theory to model epistemic processes characterized by trust, defined as a second-order relation affecting the communication process between sources and a receiver. In this language, a set of senders is expressed by a modal prioritized context, whereas the receiver is formulated in terms of a contextually derived modal judgement. Introduction and elimination rules for modalities are based on the polymorphism of terms in the language. This leads …Read more