This paper aims to provide a thorough understanding of intelligence, based on the pragmatic thought of C.S. Peirce. Generally speaking, pragmatism offers an intriguing perspective on both intelligence and technology. On one hand, it enables us to understand intelligence not in isolation, as if it were disconnected from practice. By starting with the analysis of intelligent behavior and procedures, pragmatism also aids in comprehending human intelligence in continuity with other forms of intelligent behavior that can be found in both living and non-living beings alike. On the other hand, concerning technology the pragmatist approach provides new “conceptual tools” for analyzing and understanding technology beyond the biases and heavy legacies that have characterized philosophy of technology in modern and recent times, such as the polar opposition between an “instrumentalist” view of technology and a “substantivist” one (see Borgoman 1984, Verbeek 2022). This opposition nowadays mirrors the public debates between techno-enthusiasts and technophobes. The former believe that AI, understood as a neutral instrument, may help overcome our limits and empower mankind’s inquiry in various domains. The latter are dominated by worries about the unpredictable and uncontrollable (bad) consequences that the spread of AI will have on our society and species.
The first part of the paper develops such a pragmatist approach and shows its advantages in comparison to current debates, underlying both its philosophical relevance and its interdisciplinary potentiality, in terms of applications. The second part tackles the specific case of GenAI to understand to what extent we should consider it creative and what the differences are with human creative intelligence, as it can be analyzed with reference to both scientific discoveries and art. In this regard, Peirce's distinction between three kinds of reasoning, namely deduction, induction, and abduction (the latter one being the only creative type, according to the American philosopher), will help determine limits and opportunities in the interactions between GenAI and human intelligence.
