INTRODUCING COGITOLOGY 
¥0 I, Z~onlnoOV 
Paoulty of Philolo~, Mosoov University, Moscow, USSR 
In the course of discernible history it is not too 
difficult to trace a number of events when some discoveries 
or inventions - technical by their nature - had an overall 
and profound impact upon the human society in .general. Pro- 
bably, the most vivid example of such events is the invention 
of writing. An event equal in scope and significance has to 
be confronted by us today. It is the making of the computer. 
Apprehension not only of the technical, but also of the 
social significance of its appearance was first expressed in 
1950 when the classical work of Alan Turing Computing Machin- 
ery and Intelli~enoe came out. However, it is only at the 
present moment that we have come close to being able to 
appreciate this event adequately and to actually realize the 
perspectives it has opened. Now we have all the grounds to 
state that with the arrival of the computer and with l creat- 
ing the programs which ensure its functioning, we move from 
the epoch of p~vsioally operating machines into the epoch of 
machines operating intelligently. Tracing the ways of deve- 
lolxnent of physically operating machines may provide us with 
the knowledge which will become helpful for the conception 
of what is to be expected in the develol~nent of intelligent- 
ly operating machines and even for the purposeful direction 
of th;La prooees~ 
The aforesaid may be regarded as the genersl introduct- 
ion to the problem= und~ discussion at the present oonferen- 
- 302 - 
ce, and, ix~regardlese of how general it ~ be, it bears a 
direct relation to them. 
The conference is devoted to computational linguistics 
and to a considerable extent its task is to elucidate how the 
latter is related to computational sciences as such, to mathe- 
matics, to linguistics proper, to artificial intelligence and 
so forth~ Behind these scientific disciplines lie such- 
although unmentioned, yet ever-present-entitles, categories 
and phenomena as intelligence, thou~ht, consciousness, memo- 
r~ comprehension, knowledge and many others which are in- 
dispensable for solving the problems to be discussed. 
Let us begin with raising the question of what is com- 
putational linguistics, whether it has a clearly outlined 
field of research, and why it is necessary to establish its 
relation to the disciplines named in the program. It could 
balmily be claimed that computational llD~Lstice is none the 
other than linguistics employing means of computation (hard- 
ware and software) for solving strictly linguistic tasks. The 
same refers to computational semantics, computational spntax 
(parsing), and Compu~ations~ phonetics (automatic recognition 
of acoustic images). Taken as a whole as well as in its sub- 
divisions, computational linguistics is only a component in 
the complex domain of investigations which ultimately serves 
the purpose of building various types of intelligently operat- 
ing machines. Taken as such it does not virtually exist or, 
at a~ rate, does not require to be singled out as an auto- 
nomous discipline. In point of fact, it is conceived only in 
the context of other scientific disciplines brought together 
by the common striving for solving the common task. That is 
why it u~gently requires establishing end defining its relat- 
ionships with the other participants of the mentioned complex 
domain of investigation, 
It follows from what has been said above that, since 
this new object of investigation has been singled out, it 
- 303 - 
should be respectively outlined, and thus it requires defin- 
ing its boundaries and its theoretical foundation with suffic- 
ient precision. This is to a great extent hampered by the fact 
that we deal here, as has already been said, with a complex 
scientific formation or, in other words, with a domain of 
interdisciplinary studies. This interdisciplinary domain has 
been repeatedly referred to as the cognitive science. For the 
sake of convenience, this descriptive term should be prefer- 
ably replaced by a more compact one, vi_~z. °cogitolo~ ° . The 
composition of cogitology varies with various authors but as 
its indispensable components are mentioned lin@lzistics, psy- 
chology, theory of knowledge (epistemology), and computer 
sciences. Within the framework of cogitology all these dis- 
ciplines do not enter into scientific cclloboration in order 
to ~ize mechanically or make into a whole the results of 
examining the same object in different aspects. Complex 
scientific formations are Justified only if they provide the 
investigator with new tools of cognition which cannot be pro- 
vided by any of the oolloborating disciplines taken separately. 
Such formations make severe demands in accordance with which 
definitions of their categories should be equally acceptable 
for all cclleboreting disciplines or - what is the ease - 
should lie outside their autonomous or specific goals. 
Th~s computational linguistics is linguistics in that 
form which it acquires in cogitology, being its fundamental 
component. In its totality, cogitology makes the theoretical 
foundation for building various kinds of intelligently operat- 
ing machines. 
The basic and mutually determined categories of cogito- 
lo~ are intelligence, knowledge, langu~e. None of these 
categories has a precise and indisputable definition. In this 
situation one has to proceed from some working definitions 
whose suitableness is verified by subsequent practical research. 
It see~ acceptable in these circumstances to define intelli- 
- 304 - 
genoe as an inherent in ltviug organisms mechanism of generat- 
ing knowledge and its purposeful realization in the interact- 
ion of an organism with the environment of its functioning. 
Here by environment is meant the sum total of pb,Tsical, 
social, and spiritual factors which an organism meets with in 
the process of its vital activity. 
Owi~ to its diversity, to provide a more or less un- 
equivocal definition of knowledge is more difficult, a. a 
matter of fact, the primary goal of oo~tolo~ as the theoret- 
ical foandatton for fulfilling the task posed above is the 
description of the nature, shape, and scope of human knowled- 
ge. At this stake of cominK into being, co~tolo~ .has to 
deal only with those kinds of knowledge which possess the 
qualities of objectiveness, which are endorsed by memory, and 
which are discrete in form. 
All these characteristics are acquired by knowledge 
through the instrumentality of language. To them it also adds 
interpretation of knowledge since in the endorsing it by memo- 
ry as well as in the process of makinK it discrete one has to 
deal with choice and since the knowledge the machine operates 
with has to be applied to concrete real world situations 
which can be interpreted in a different way° 
When we speak about building intelligently operating 
machines, two 4,nportant factors should be taken into account. 
Hachines of this kind can-or imitate man's intellectual activ- 
ities in their entirety but are employed to perform separate 
aspects, parameters, or "Jobs" of human intellect (intelltgen- 
ce): Due to this separateness the mechanism of their function- 
ink should inswltably differ from the way this work is per- 
formed i~ the inner tnterconnections and in the context of the 
total complex struo~turo of human intelligence° ~n Identificat- 
ion can.be drawn here only with respect to final "products'° 
And, as the history of oreattnK physically operatinK machines 
teaches us, intell~gently operating machines are not built to 
merely imitate some °.lobs" of human intelligence, but in order " 
- 305 - 
z 
to increase their workin~ potentials. Besides, ~udglng from 
the experience with physically operating machines with their 
power almost infinitely intensified where we are confronted 
with not merely technical or social problems but with the 
problem of the existence of man or of the surwlval of the 
life on the earth in general~ already at this stage in the 
development of intelligently operating machines utmost caut- 
ion is absolutely essential. 
- 306 - 
