Position Paper #1:

What Is Computer Science?

The purpose of this position paper is to give you an opportunity to clarify your beliefs about what computer science is, so that as we continue to discuss the topic in class and as you continue to read about it, you'll know where you stand—what your beliefs are.

Later, when your beliefs have been "contaminated" by further readings and by our discussions, you may wish to revise your beliefs. But you can't revise a belief that you don't have (you can only acquire new beliefs). So, here I am forcing you to discover, clarify, and defend the beliefs that you now have, by turning them into words and putting them on paper.

Imagine that you are the newly-appointed Dean of the School of Science at the University of Aix (pronounced like the letter "X"). In an attempt to build up the rival School of Engineering, the newly-appointed Dean of Engineering has proposed to the Provost (the Deans' boss) that the Department of Computer Science be moved—lock, stock, and computer, so to speak—to Engineering, on the following grounds:

(The Dean of Engineering has not yet argued that computer science is an engineering discipline; that may come later.)

How do you respond to the Dean of Engineering's argument? You may agree with it, or not (but there are several ways that might happen; see below). You should ignore political considerations: You may suppose that the move from Science to Engineering involves no loss of money, prestige, or anything else, and it is to be done, if at all, only on strictly intellectual grounds. The Provost is eagerly awaiting your reply, and will abide by your decision...if, that is, you give a well-argued defense of your position.

To formulate and defend your position, you should:

1. Say whether you agree with premise (1), and why you do or don't.
2. Say whether you agree with premise (2), and why you do or don't.
3. Say whether you agree that conclusion (3) logically follows from premises (1) and (2) (whether or not you agree with (1) and (2)), and why you think it follows or doesn't.
   • If you think that it doesn't follow, is there some (interesting, non-trivial) missing premise (i.e., a "missing link" between the premises and conclusion) that would make it follow? (If so, do you agree with that missing premise? Why (not)?)

4. If you think that the argument is logically invalid, you might still agree or disagree with statement (3) independently of the reasons given for it by premises (1) and (2) (and any missing premises). If so, state whether you agree with (3), and why.

Other responses:

Ground Rules:

1. Your answer should honestly reflect your beliefs (not what you think the fictional Provost or Dean of Engineering want to hear!).

2. If you resort to a dictionary, textbook, article, website, etc., be sure to say which one. Give as much detailed information as you can that would assist someone else to locate the item by themselves. (See the "How to Handle Citations" section of my "How to Write" for the proper way to do this.)

3. Your position paper should be approximately

   1 typed page and double-spaced (i.e., about 250 words)

   (not including any bibliographic citations).

4. Please bring

   1 copy

   to lecture on the due date and

   4 copies

   to recitation that week.

5. At the top of the page, please put all and only the following information:
   1. the title "Position Paper #1"
   2. your name
   3. the course you are enrolled in (CSE 484, CSE 584, or PHI 584)
   4. the recitation section that you normally attend (Mon or Wed).
   5. the due date.

6. For general assistance with writing (including my preferred method of paper preparation and format, as well as advice on grammar), see my website "How to Write".