Snip!t from collection of Alan Dix

<div class="primitiveControl"><table class="MPReader_Profiles_SpringerLink_Content_PrimitiveHeadingControl" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr valign="top"><td><h2 class="MPReader_Profiles_SpringerLink_Content_PrimitiveHeadingControlName">What is computation? </h2><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tbody><tr> <td class="labelName">Journal</td><td class="labelValue"><a href="/content/103001/?p=4b77c50837b24c0a97ebd9c31b11be5d&amp;pi=0">Synthese</a></td> </tr><tr> <td class="labelName">Publisher</td><td class="labelValue">Springer Netherlands</td> </tr><tr> <td class="labelName">ISSN</td><td class="labelValue">0039-7857 (Print) 1573-0964 (Online)</td> </tr><tr> <td class="labelName">Issue</td><td class="labelValue"><a href="/content/r6w43w130657/?p=4b77c50837b24c0a97ebd9c31b11be5d&amp;pi=0">Volume 108, Number 3 / September, 1996</a></td> </tr><tr> <td class="labelName">DOI</td><td class="labelValue">10.1007/BF00413693</td> </tr><tr> <td class="labelName">Pages</td><td class="labelValue">335-359</td> </tr><tr> <td class="labelName">Subject Collection</td><td class="labelValue"><a href="/humanities-social-sciences-and-law/">Humanities, Social Sciences and Law</a></td> </tr><tr> <td class="labelName">SpringerLink Date</td><td class="labelValue">Thursday, November 11, 2004</td> </tr> </tbody></table></td><td rowspan="2" class="MPReader_Profiles_SpringerLink_Content_PrimitiveHeadingControlSecondaryLinks" valign="top"><div class="MPReader_Profiles_SpringerLink_Content_PrimitiveHeadingControlMarkedItemLink"> <a id="ctl00_PageHeadingContent_ctl00_ToggleMarkedItemLinkButton" href="/content/u005510gxl27q850/?mark=u005510gxl27q850" value="u005510gxl27q850" key="mark" onclickmethod="primitiveHeadingControl_markItem" onclick="return hyperLinkButton_onClick(event);" selectedtext="Remove from marked items" unselectedtext="Add to marked items"><span>Add to marked items</span></a> </div><div> <a href="/content/u005510gxl27q850/offerings/?p=4b77c50837b24c0a97ebd9c31b11be5d&amp;pi=0">Add to shopping cart</a> </div><div> <a href="/personalization/save-item.mpx?code=u005510gxl27q850">Add to saved items</a> </div><div> <a target="_blank" href="https://s100.copyright.com/AppDispatchServlet?publisherName=Springer&amp;imprint=Springer+Netherlands&amp;publication=0039-7857&amp;title=What+is+computation%3f&amp;publicationDate=09%2f01%2f1996&amp;author=B.+Jack+Copeland&amp;AuthorEmail=bjcopeland%40canterbury.ac.nz&amp;contentID=10.1007%2fBF00413693&amp;volumeNum=108&amp;issueNum=3&amp;startPage=335&amp;endPage=359&amp;orderBeanReset=true&amp;openAccess=false">Permissions &amp; Reprints</a> </div><div> <a href="/personalization/email-item.mpx?code=u005510gxl27q850&amp;p=4b77c50837b24c0a97ebd9c31b11be5d&amp;pi=0">Recommend this article</a> </div></td> </tr><tr> <td></td> </tr> </tbody></table> </div> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="4" height="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td class="defaultHeight" valign="top" width="100%"> <div class="mainPageContentHeading"> <div> <a class="MetaPress_Products_Reader_Web_UI_Controls_IconHyperlink" href="/content/u005510gxl27q850/fulltext.pdf"><img src="/images/common/spacer.gif" class="sprites pdfSprite" alt="" align="absmiddle">PDF (1.5 MB)</a><a class="MetaPress_Products_Reader_Web_UI_Controls_IconHyperlink" href="/content/u005510gxl27q850/fulltext.pdf?page=1"><img src="/images/common/spacer.gif" class="sprites pdfSprite" alt="Free Preview" align="absmiddle">Free Preview</a> </div> </div><div class="blob"> <p></p><div class="Heading1"><a name="title"></a>What is computation?</div><p class="AuthorGroup">B.&nbsp;Jack&nbsp;Copeland^{1&nbsp;<a href="#ContactOfAuthor1"><img alt="Contact Information" src="/images/contact.gif" border="0"></a>}</p><table><tbody><tr valign="top"><td><span class="Affiliation"><a name="Aff1"></a>(1)&nbsp;</span></td><td><span class="Affiliation">Philosophy Department, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p class="Affiliation"></p><div class="Abstract"><a name="Abs1"></a><span class="AbstractHeading">Abstract&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>To compute is to execute an algorithm. More precisely, to say that a device or organ computes is to say that there exists a modelling relationship of a certain kind between it and a formal specification of an algorithm and supporting architecture. The key issue is to delimit the phrase <img src="/content/u005510gxl27q850/xxlarge8216.gif" alt="lsquo" align="baseline" border="0">of a certain kind<img src="/content/u005510gxl27q850/xxlarge8217.gif" alt="rsquo" align="baseline" border="0">. I call this the problem of distinguishing between standard and nonstandard models of computation. The successful drawing of this distinction guards Turing's 1936 analysis of computation against a difficulty that has persistently been raised against it, and undercuts various objections that have been made to the computational theory of mind.</div></div></td></tr></tbody></table>