Why Philosophers Should Care About Computational Complexity
E1002081
"Why Philosophers Should Care About Computational Complexity" is an influential essay by computer scientist Scott Aaronson that explores how concepts from computational complexity theory illuminate and challenge traditional problems in philosophy, such as knowledge, rationality, and the nature of mathematical truth.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Computational Complexity and the Philosophy of Mind | 1 |
| Why Philosophers Should Care About Computational Complexity canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T12797754 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Why Philosophers Should Care About Computational Complexity Context triple: [Scott Aaronson, notableWork, Why Philosophers Should Care About Computational Complexity]
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A.
Computational Complexity: A Conceptual Perspective
Computational Complexity: A Conceptual Perspective is a graduate-level textbook that presents the foundations and key themes of computational complexity theory with an emphasis on conceptual understanding over technical detail.
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B.
“Probabilistic computations: Toward a unified measure of complexity”
“Probabilistic computations: Toward a unified measure of complexity” is a seminal research paper by Andrew Yao that laid foundational concepts in computational complexity theory, particularly regarding the role and analysis of randomness in algorithms.
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C.
P, NP, and NP-Completeness: The Basics of Complexity Theory
"P, NP, and NP-Completeness: The Basics of Complexity Theory" is a foundational textbook by Oded Goldreich that introduces the core concepts, problems, and techniques of computational complexity theory, with a focus on the classes P, NP, and NP-complete problems.
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D.
Outline of a Mathematical Theory of Computation
Outline of a Mathematical Theory of Computation is a foundational work by Dana Scott that helped establish the theoretical underpinnings of computer science through the development of denotational semantics and domain theory.
-
E.
Papadimitriou: Computational Complexity
"Papadimitriou: Computational Complexity" is a widely used graduate-level textbook that systematically develops the theory of computational complexity, including classes like P and NP and the foundations of NP-completeness.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Why Philosophers Should Care About Computational Complexity Target entity description: "Why Philosophers Should Care About Computational Complexity" is an influential essay by computer scientist Scott Aaronson that explores how concepts from computational complexity theory illuminate and challenge traditional problems in philosophy, such as knowledge, rationality, and the nature of mathematical truth.
-
A.
Computational Complexity: A Conceptual Perspective
Computational Complexity: A Conceptual Perspective is a graduate-level textbook that presents the foundations and key themes of computational complexity theory with an emphasis on conceptual understanding over technical detail.
-
B.
“Probabilistic computations: Toward a unified measure of complexity”
“Probabilistic computations: Toward a unified measure of complexity” is a seminal research paper by Andrew Yao that laid foundational concepts in computational complexity theory, particularly regarding the role and analysis of randomness in algorithms.
-
C.
P, NP, and NP-Completeness: The Basics of Complexity Theory
"P, NP, and NP-Completeness: The Basics of Complexity Theory" is a foundational textbook by Oded Goldreich that introduces the core concepts, problems, and techniques of computational complexity theory, with a focus on the classes P, NP, and NP-complete problems.
-
D.
Outline of a Mathematical Theory of Computation
Outline of a Mathematical Theory of Computation is a foundational work by Dana Scott that helped establish the theoretical underpinnings of computer science through the development of denotational semantics and domain theory.
-
E.
Papadimitriou: Computational Complexity
"Papadimitriou: Computational Complexity" is a widely used graduate-level textbook that systematically develops the theory of computational complexity, including classes like P and NP and the foundations of NP-completeness.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
essay
ⓘ
philosophy of computation essay ⓘ |
| addresses |
decision theory
ⓘ
epistemology ⓘ nature of mathematical truth ⓘ philosophy of mathematics ⓘ philosophy of mind ⓘ rationality ⓘ |
| argues |
complexity theory informs debates about the nature of mathematical proof
ⓘ
complexity theory is relevant to decision theory ⓘ complexity theory is relevant to philosophy of mind ⓘ complexity theory is relevant to the analysis of knowledge ⓘ computational constraints are central to understanding rational behavior ⓘ epistemic notions should account for computational feasibility ⓘ idealized agents with unbounded computation are unrealistic ⓘ some philosophical paradoxes dissolve when computational costs are considered ⓘ |
| author | Scott Aaronson ⓘ |
| creatorOccupation |
computer scientist
ⓘ
theoretical computer scientist ⓘ |
| critiques |
idealized omniscient reasoners in philosophy
ⓘ
philosophical accounts that ignore computational cost ⓘ |
| field |
computational complexity theory
ⓘ
philosophy ⓘ |
| genre | academic essay ⓘ |
| hasInfluenceOn |
computational models of rationality
ⓘ
formal epistemology ⓘ philosophy of computer science ⓘ |
| influencedBy |
Bayesian decision theory
ⓘ
classical epistemology ⓘ philosophy of mathematics ⓘ theory of computation ⓘ |
| intendedAudience |
philosophers
ⓘ
theoretical computer scientists ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| mainTopic | relationship between computational complexity and philosophy ⓘ |
| proposes | philosophers should incorporate complexity-theoretic constraints into their theories ⓘ |
| relatedTo |
Computational Complexity and the Philosophy of Mind
ⓘ
bounded rationality in economics ⓘ philosophy of artificial intelligence ⓘ |
| usesConcept |
P versus NP problem
ⓘ
bounded rationality ⓘ computational indistinguishability ⓘ computational intractability ⓘ efficient computation ⓘ interactive proofs ⓘ oracle machines ⓘ polynomial time ⓘ zero-knowledge proofs ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Why Philosophers Should Care About Computational Complexity Description of subject: "Why Philosophers Should Care About Computational Complexity" is an influential essay by computer scientist Scott Aaronson that explores how concepts from computational complexity theory illuminate and challenge traditional problems in philosophy, such as knowledge, rationality, and the nature of mathematical truth.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
Why Philosophers Should Care About Computational Complexity
→
relatedTo
→
Computational Complexity and the Philosophy of Mind
ⓘ
linked to: Why Philosophers Should Care About Computational Complexity