Paolo Totaro

The Concept of Algorithm as an Interpretative Key of Modern Rationality

According to Ernst Cassirer, the transition from the concept of substance to that of mathematical function as a guide of knowledge coincided with the end of ancient and the beginning of modern theoretical thought. In the first part of this article we argue that a similar transition has also taken place in the practical sphere, where mathematical function occurs in one of its specific forms, which is that of the algorithm concept. In the second part we argue that with the rise of modernity the idea of substance and the related concepts of category and classification, which are deeply embedded in western culture, have not been totally supplanted by that of function. The intertwining of the concepts of substance and function has generated contradictory hybrids. These hybrids are used as a key for the understanding of the different repercussions of algorithmic logic on society in terms of social integration.

Algorithms and the Practical World

This article is both a comment on Neyland’s ‘On organizing algorithms’ and a supplementary note to our ‘The concept of algorithm as an interpretative key of modern rationality’. In the first part we discuss the concepts of algorithm and recursive function from a different perspective from that of our previous article. Our cultural reference for these concepts is once again computability theory. We give additional arguments in support of the idea that a culture informed by an algorithmic logic has promoted modern rationality both in science and in society. We stress again the importance of distinguishing between algorithms applied to quantifiable entities such as space, time and value and those applied to ontological entities such as human actions. In the second case, the algorithm is applied outside its domain of definition and leads to social disaggregation.

A tensão entre cálculo e classificação como dinâmica da exclusão social

Como informa a logica formal, calculo e algoritmo sao duas faces de uma mesma moeda. No entanto, o algoritmo sofre um descompasso das propriedades do calculo quando lida com entidades irredutivelmente ontologicas, tentando sua formalizacao mediante a classificacao. Se, por um lado, as exigencias do calculo engendram a classificacao, por outro, se chocam com esta. Nas dinâmicas economicas contemporâneas, o calculo tende a excluir dos processos produtivos a rigidez da classificacao (e os sujeitos nela envolvidos), mas promove a logica classificatoria no mercado e nos servicos publicos. Marginalizada na vida produtiva, a classificacao e solicitada na vida privada e insere o individuo que se encontra socialmente desqualificado em um mecanismo que lhe confirma e amplifica a cada momento o valor negativo de sua condicao. Palavras-chave: desigualdade social, pobreza auto-reprodutiva, recursividade dos processos sociais.

A ambivalência da ciência em Zygmunt Bauman

This paper intends to emphasize the presence of the phenomenon of ambivalence in the concept of science as presented by Bauman. Therefore, it discusses the role of science in modernization and its failure as a tool designed to overcome ambivalence. The discussion is followed by a final comment that highlights the value of Bauman’s theses from a predominantly epistemological perspective rather than the sociological perspective notoriously adopted by Bauman himself. Key words: Bauman, ambivalence, modern science, post-modern critique.