This is a summary of what I hope will turn into a larger project
I. The Metaphysics of AI
In the first section, I will deal with the metaphysics of artificial intelligence by dealing with its structure on how it moves from a simple binary to the complex mathematical formulas used at its highest level. Likewise, we will look at the fundamental aspect of machine learning which is that language and images are converted into numbers. Underlying this translation of sense objects and concepts into numbers, the fundamental limitation is that being is not convertible into numbers. This leap represents both the innovation of machine learning and its axiomatic limitation. Simply put, something is lost in translation.
II. The Limits of Logic and Language
In the second section, I will deal with the limits of logic, which is the fundamental means by which machine learning operates. First, we will look at the limits of logic as understood in the classical period. The fundamental limit according to Aristotle is when a term is not clearly defined or when a premise is false. This suggests that the limits of definitions constitute a limit to deductive and inductive reasoning.
Modernist philosophies further questioned the ability of logic and language to adequately represent reality. However, we will not assume their positions, but rather use them to highlight the fundamental limitation of inductive and deductive reasoning as well as language itself. The human mind is able to bridge this gap, but artificial intelligence is not.
Finally, we will look at the postmodern critique of language. Postmodernists operated within a framework that fundamentally denied metaphysics and immaterial realities, which led their investigations to the conclusion that language does not have a solid foundation. Although we do not share their foundational principles, their deconstruction of language is useful in arriving at the fundamental limitations of machine learning.
This leads us to understand that the unique capacity of humans is to arrive at the knowledge of ideas and truth intuitively in a way that makes a leap from logic and reasoning to the concepts of language and truth.
III. How AI changes our understanding of the Human Person
In the third section, we will deal with how AI clarifies what is unique about humanity. In Aquinas and classical thought, humans are understood in relation to higher things, God and the angels, and to lower things, the animals. It was traditionally assumed that humans share our understanding with the Angels and our imaginations and sense perceptions with the animals. What AI is now helping us to better understanding is that our intellect and unique human reason cannot be reduced to inductive and deductive reasoning. We ought to add in the chain of being a middle ground between humans and animals in which machine learning helps us to understand our unique human nature.