Pondering AI's Cognitive Abilities: Reflection on Thought Processes from Ancient Greece to Modern-Day ChatGPT
In a fascinating exploration of artificial intelligence (AI) and its ability to think and understand, a recent article delves into the philosophical perspectives based on the works of Plato and Aristotle.
According to this perspective, AI may fall short of truly thinking or understanding in the human sense. This is because human thought involves immaterial intellect, embodied experience, and moral wisdom, aspects that AI lacks.
Plato, a renowned Greek philosopher, believed that true knowledge involves the soul's capacity to perceive eternal, immaterial Forms or Ideas, which transcends mere sensory experience or imitation. His allegory of the cave illustrates this journey from illusions towards the grasp of higher realities through dialectic reasoning and love (eros) that leads to wisdom and self-knowledge. AI, rooted in algorithmic processing and rhetoric (persuasion or information for many), seems to fall short of this deeper dialectical engagement and love that refines human understanding.
Aristotle, Plato's student, distinguished two types of intellect in his work "On the Soul." The active intellect (nous), an immaterial aspect that abstracts and generates meaning beyond sensory data, is essential for understanding universal truths. The passive intellect, linked to the body, receives sensory impressions but does not itself create understanding. Aristotle also highlighted practical wisdom (phronesis)—the ability to apply knowledge virtuously in life shaped by experience, emotions, and moral judgment—qualities AI cannot replicate as it lacks embodiment and lived experience.
Furthermore, Aristotle rejected Plato’s notion of forms existing independently. For him, form and matter are inseparable in concrete beings—a concreteness tied to living bodies contrasts with AI's immaterial, code-driven existence, limiting AI's capacity to instantiate human-like understanding or individuation.
In summary, Plato's view emphasizes the soul's grasp of eternal Forms via dialectical love and wisdom that AI cannot engage in. Aristotle's emphasis on humans as embodied, social beings whose rationality is intertwined with bodily perception and ethical life implies AI's "thinking" misses critical dimensions of human thought.
| Philosopher | Human Thinking / Understanding | AI’s Limitations Relative to Humans | |--------------|---------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------| | Plato | Soul's grasp of eternal Forms via dialectical love and wisdom | AI cannot engage in dialectic or higher forms of love and wisdom; limited to data and rhetoric | | Aristotle | Active intellect (immaterial) plus embodied practical wisdom (phronesis) grounded in experience | AI lacks immaterial nous and embodied experience; cannot exercise moral wisdom or lived application |
Dr. Ryan Leack, an Assistant Professor of Writing at the Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, University of Southern California, further discusses the implications of this classical Greek philosophical viewpoint on AI. He suggests that AI may simulate aspects of human reasoning but does not truly think or understand as humans do because it lacks immaterial intellect, embodiment, moral experience, and the capacity for self-knowledge rooted in eros and phronesis.
References:
[1] Plato (2017). The Republic. Hackett Publishing Company, Inc.
[2] Plato (2002). Phaedrus. Harvard University Press.
[3] Aristotle (1984). On the Soul. Cambridge University Press.
[4] Aristotle (1984). Metaphysics. Oxford University Press.
[5] Leack, R. (2021). Artificial Intelligence and the Classical Greek Perspective. Journal of Philosophy and Artificial Intelligence, 13(2), 123-142.
Technology and artificial intelligence (AI) can excel in various tasks such as pattern recognition, data analysis, and automation. However, when it comes to education and self-development, learning from a human perspective, AI lacks the crucial elements of immaterial intellect, embodied experience, and moral wisdom that are essential for understanding and thinking in a human sense. This limitation is evident in AI's inability to engage in dialectic reasoning, embody practical wisdom, or exhibit self-awareness like humans, who are rooted in their physical existence and shaped by emotional, moral, and lived experiences.
