Artificial intelligence and scholastic epistemology

The advance of computer technology that has greatly exceeded human computational capabilities makes the question of the artificial intelligence (AI) quite natural. If the rate of the progress is maintained, one might anticipate the existence of algorithms mimicking human thinking. Thinking, however, involves not only purely logical operations (enjoying high level of perfection today) but combines other elements of human activity such as joy, fear pain and, most importantly, human consciousness as well. Nowadays, the issue of the attainment of new knowledge by man is widely discussed by experts of a broad spectrum of scientific disciplines such as philosophy, logic, computer science as well as neuroscience. It seems that comprehensive understanding of the process of human knowledge is not possible without contributions of all these areas of scientific study. Presently, their combination is often referred to as cognitive science. Contemporary epistemology points out to several different theories of knowledge, e.g., correspondence theory, coherentism and contextualism. Ultimately, one needs to engage consistent epistemology in order to elucidate the viability of artificial intelligence. Although the Chinese Room argument proposed in 1980 by John Searle is considered to contradict the strong hypothesis of artificial intelligence, its validity still necessitates precise justification. The problem of human intellection has been of vital importance for philosophers since the times of antiquity. In particular, it attracted attention of medieval thinkers such as St. Thomas Aquinas insofar as it stood at the crossroads of the world material and immaterial. Since it is human intellect that