Turing as transcendental philosopher: computation, intelligent machinery and rationality

Abstract

This article argues that Alan Turing’s works, especially those on intelligent machines and computation should be understood as philosophically relevant and should be interpreted as transcendental. The analysis examines some of Turing’s major works, highlighting the consistent focus on activity and on the possibility of understanding intelligence from the perspective of performance. From this analysis, the paper addresses two concepts of transcendental involved in Turing’s work: one grounded in Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason and the other based on the presupposition of the transcendental role of activity in the formation of intelligence or rationality. Building on this analysis, I delve further into the hypothesis that computation itself constitutes a form of rationality. Through a thought experiment, I establish four characteristics of rational activity: justifiability, productivity, contextualization, and teleological orientation.