[论文解读] Making AI Philosophical Again: On Philip E. Agre's Legacy

Jethro Masís|ArXiv.org|Dec 27, 2025

Digital Humanities and Scholarship参考文献 20被引用 4

一句话总结

论文分析 Philip E. Agre 在 AI–哲学界面的遗产，倡导批判性技术实践与反身性，同时承认在 AI 中实现现象学概念的局限性。

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the intellectual legacy of Philip E. Agre by situating his work at the intersection of artificial intelligence, philosophy, and critical theory. It reconstructs Agre's proposal of a critical technical practice, according to which AI should be understood not merely as an engineering discipline but as a form of mathematized philosophy shaped by historically contingent metaphors, assumptions, and discourses. Drawing on Heideggerian phenomenology, especially the distinction between ready-to-hand and present-at-hand, Agre sought to reform AI by emphasizing interaction, embedding, indexicality, and deictic representation over traditional mentalist and representational models. The paper analyzes Agre's attempt to operationalize these ideas through computational implementations such as the Pengi system, highlighting both the philosophical ambition and the technical limitations of programming phenomenological concepts. While acknowledging Agre's success in exposing the hidden philosophical commitments of AI and enriching its conceptual vocabulary, the paper ultimately argues that his project encounters a fundamental impasse: the open and self-disclosing character of human existence articulated by Heidegger cannot be fully captured or programmed without reducing ontological phenomena to ontic mechanisms. Agre's enduring contribution therefore lies less in offering a viable Heideggerian AI than in compelling technical practice to become reflexive, historically conscious, and openly philosophical.

研究动机与目标

• 推动对 AI 的再思考，使其不再仅是工程领域，而是一种由历史隐喻与话语塑造的数学化哲学形式。
• 解释 Agre 的批判性技术实践及其将现象学嵌入 AI 系统的启发式。
• 说明 Agre 如何通过计算实现（如 Pengi）来落实思想。
• 评估将现象学概念编程进 AI 的哲学志向与技术局限性。

提出的方法

• 将 Agre 的批判性技术实践提案与海德格尔的现象学（就绪在手 vs 眼前在手）相融合。
• 分析 AI 设计对互动、嵌入、指示性与指示性表示的强调，相对于表征模型。
• 将计算实现（如 Pengi）作为 Agre 计划的案例研究。
• 评估将本体论概念机械化的哲学与技术权衡。

实验结果

研究问题

• RQ1 AI 如何被重新框定为一种数学化哲学形式，而不仅仅是工程学科？
• RQ2 在 AI 系统中将现象学概念实现的后果与局限性是什么？
• RQ3 Agre 如何揭示 AI 实践中隐藏的哲学承诺，这应如何影响技术工作？

主要发现

• Agre 的遗产将 AI 重新框定为一种批判性技术实践，而非纯粹的工程领域。
• 对互动、嵌入、指示性和指示性表示的强调挑战了传统的心智主义与表征性 AI 模型。
• 像 Pengi 这样的计算实现展示了将现象学编程的哲学野心与技术局限性的双重性。
• 存在根本的僵局：海德格尔的开放性、自我揭示的人类存在无法被充分捕捉或作为本体机制进行编程。
• Agre 的持久贡献在于推动技术实践走向反身性、历史意识以及对哲学探询的开放。