Scholars in both digital humanities and media studies have noted an apparent disconnect between computation and the interpretive methods of the humanities. Alan Liu has argued that literary scholars employing digital methods encounter a “meaning problem” due to the difficulty of reconciling algorithmic methods with interpretive ones. Conversely, the media scholar Friedrich Kittler has questioned the adequacy of hermeneutics as a means of studying computers. This paper argues that that this disconnect results from a set of contingent decisions made in both humanistic and mathematical disciplines in the first half of the nineteenth century that delineated, with implications that continue to resonate in the present day, which aspects of human activity would come to be formalized in algorithms and which would not. I begin with a discussion of Nicolas de Condorcet, who attempted, at the height of the 1789 revolution, to turn algebra into a universal language; his work, I argue, exemplifies the form of algorithmic thinking that existed before the Romantic turn. Next, I discuss William Wordsworth’s arguments about the relationship of poetry and science. While Wordsworth is sometimes viewed as a critic of science, I argue that his polemic is specifically targeted at highly politicized projects like Condorcet’s that sought to supplant existing modes of thought with scientific rationality. Finally, I demonstrate the importance of Romantic thought for George Boole, creator of the logic system that would eventually form the basis of digital electronics. The reason Boole was able to succeed where Condorcet had failed, I argue, was that Romantic notions of culture enabled him to reconcile a mechanical view of mathematical reasoning with an organic view of the development of meaning—a dichotomy that remains a key assumption of computer interfaces in the twenty-first century.

中文翻译：

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浪漫的纪律与算法的兴起

数字人文学科和媒体研究领域的学者都注意到计算与人文学科的解释方法之间存在明显的脱节。Alan Liu 认为，由于难以将算法方法与解释方法相协调，使用数字方法的文学学者遇到了“意义问题”。相反，媒体学者弗里德里希·基特勒（Friedrich Kittler）质疑解释学作为研究计算机的一种手段的充分性。本文认为，这种脱节是由 19 世纪上半叶人文学科和数学学科做出的一系列偶然决定造成的，这些决定描绘了人类活动的哪些方面将在今天继续引起共鸣。将在算法中形式化，而哪些不会。我首先讨论 Nicolas de Condorcet，他在 1789 年革命的高峰期试图将代数变成一种通用语言；我认为，他的作品体现了浪漫主义转向之前存在的算法思维形式。接下来，我将讨论威廉华兹华斯关于诗歌与科学关系的论点。虽然华兹华斯有时被视为科学批评家，但我认为他的论战专门针对高度政治化的项目，如孔多塞的那些试图用科学理性取代现有思维模式的项目。最后，我向 George Boole 展示了浪漫主义思想的重要性，他是最终形成数字电子学基础的逻辑系统的创造者。我认为布尔能够在孔多塞失败的地方取得成功的原因是，