On the origin of objects
By: Brian Cantwell Smith.
Publisher: MIT Press
Published: 1996
Place of publication: Cambridge, Mass
Language: eng
Number of pages: 420
Subjects: Metaphysics.; Object (Philosophy)
First sentence: A few years ago, at a workshop on the perception of objects, I raised a question about one of the philosophers' ontological assumptions, which seems to me altogether too neat.
Description: On the Origin of Objects represents the final stage in Brian Cantwell Smith's decades-long investigation into the philosophical and metaphysical foundations of computation, artificial intelligence, and cognitive science. Based on a sustained critique of the formal tradition underlying reigning views, he argues for an embedded, participatory, "irreductionist," metaphysical alternative.

Smith seeks nothing less than to revise our understanding not only of the machines we build but also of our world with which they interact.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 411-420) and indexes.
"A Bradford book."
Table of contents: title: Preface
pagenum: vii; title: Introduction
pagenum: 3; label: Part 1
title: Analysis; label: 1
title: Computation
pagenum: 27; label: 2
title: Irreduction
pagenum: 77; label: 3
title: Realism
pagenum: 85; label: 4
title: Particularity
pagenum: 117; label: 5
title: physics
pagenum: 137; label: Part 2
title: Construction; label: 6
title: Flex & slop
pagenum: 191; label: 7
title: Registration - I
pagenum: 213; label: 8
title: Registration - II
pagenum: 243; label: 9
title: Middle distance
pagenum: 277; label: 10
title: Transition
pagenum: 315; label: 11
title: Metaphysics
pagenum: 317; label: 12
title: Conclusion
pagenum: 345; label: Indexes; title: Sections
pagenum: 379; title: Figures
pagenum: 383; title: Sidebars
pagenum: 385; title: Topics
pagenum: 387; title: Names
pagenum: 407; title: References
pagenum: 411