@unpublished{Steffens, author = {Steffens, Oliver}, title = {Leibniz, Llull and the Logic of Truth: Precursors of Artificial Intelligence}, address = {Regensburg}, doi = {10.13140/RG.2.2.28425.06243}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:898-opus4-58399}, pages = {10}, abstract = {Mankind has always been confronted with limited knowledge about Nature and many people devoted their lives and intellects to the very question: How to gain knowledge, confirm ideas and theories, and understand the world we live in? Religion was one fundamental base for explanations and existential questions. Philosophy and Science were the other. Nowadays, science and technology dominate our daily lives, religion and metaphysics have lost their former dominance, while our thoughts and factual knowledge are increasingly governed by the digitised versions of conversation and discussion, filtered and guided by the algorithms of social networks. Today, "artificial intelligence" is a phenomenon in information technology which takes over everyday routines. A new ideal, a new promise, and at the same time used as a stratagem by political and economic systems to guide and manipulate our thinking, values, and behaviour. But nothing is so new that one could not find its precursors in earlier times. Science and mathematics has kindled many brilliant ideas. Can we describe the world by numbers, find truth and explanation in mathematical structures? This essay is devoted to early ideas by the medieval philosopher Ram{\´o}n Llull, the great rationalist G.W. Leibniz, and early approaches to combinations, number theory. and information processing. Llull's thinking machine and subsequent endeavours to find methods of mechanical reasoning and inference paved the way to modern-day concepts of artificial intelligence.}, language = {en} }