René Descartes, the Robots and the Soul in the debate between Tommaso Ceva and Guido Grandi

Abstract

Descartes outlined human intelligence as a divine gift, albeit in a system governed by universal laws of physics and mathematics. In the eighteenth century the camaldolite Guido Grandi and Tommaso Ceva, both mathematicians, had a dispute about the interpretation of the Cartesian model of human intelligence. This case provides an opportunity to retrace the path of a speculative techno-philosophical question concerning the human possibility to equipping robots with the ability to experience a self-consciousness.