Computational individuation: Isomorphism, not indeterminacy.
A pair of arguments for the indeterminacy of physical logic gates play an important role in debates about computational individuation. These arguments purport to show that one needs extrinsic, contextual factors to individuate even simple computations. One of the arguments has a straightforward flaw...
| Publicado en: | Analysis Vol. 86; no. 1; pp. 60 - 71 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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Oxford University Press / USA
Jan2026
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=193095172&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 193095172 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00032638 7OX jtl: Analysis issn: 00032638 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Jan2026 vid: 86 iid: 1 pid: 622 pub: Oxford University Press / USA artinfo: ui: 193095172 10.1093/analys/anaf003 ppf: 60 ppct: 11 formats: tig: atl: Computational individuation: Isomorphism, not indeterminacy. aug: au: Klein, Colin affil: The Australian National University Australia su: Isomorphism (Mathematics) Equivalence classes (Set theory) Logic circuits Model theory Deterministic algorithms Mathematical logic Vagueness (Philosophy) sug: subj: Isomorphism (Mathematics) Equivalence classes (Set theory) Logic circuits Model theory Deterministic algorithms Mathematical logic Vagueness (Philosophy) keyword: computation group theory implementation indeterminacy mathematical structure ab: A pair of arguments for the indeterminacy of physical logic gates play an important role in debates about computational individuation. These arguments purport to show that one needs extrinsic, contextual factors to individuate even simple computations. One of the arguments has a straightforward flaw. Reflection on that flaw shows that there is a (mostly tacit) assumption on both sides of the debate: that computations ought to be understood in a function-theoretic way. I describe an alternative structure-theoretic understanding of the intrinsic mathematical structures instantiated by computations. I show that on a structure--theoretic account, there is no indeterminacy. Instead, any logic gate belongs to a fully determinate equivalence class under isomorphism. Some independent advantages of a structure-theoretic account are also noted. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y dt: @attributes: year: 2026 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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