 In the 17th century , Leibniz , Thomas Hobbes and René Descartes explored the possibility that all rational thought could be made as systematic as algebra or geometry . Hobbes famously wrote in Leviathan : " reason is nothing but reckoning " . Leibniz envisioned a universal language of reasoning ( his characteristica universalis ) which would reduce argumentation to calculation , so that " there would be no more need of disputation between two philosophers than between two accountants . For it would suffice to take their pencils in hand , down to their slates , and to say each other ( with a friend as witness , if they liked ) : Let us calculate . " These philosophers had begun to articulate the physical symbol system hypothesis that would become the guiding faith of AI research . 
 In the 17th century , Leibniz , Thomas Hobbes and René Descartes explored the possibility that all rational thought could be made as systematic as algebra or geometry . Hobbes famously wrote in Leviathan : " reason <a href='negative_concord' title='1'><mark>is</mark></a> <a href='negative_concord' title='2'><mark>nothing</mark></a> but reckoning " . Leibniz envisioned a universal language of reasoning ( his characteristica universalis ) which would reduce argumentation to calculation , so that " <a href='dey_it' title='3'><mark>there</mark></a> would be no more need of disputation between two philosophers than between two accountants . For it would suffice to take their pencils in hand , down to their slates , and to say each other ( with a friend as witness , if they liked ) : Let us calculate . " These philosophers <a href='been_done' title='4'><mark>had</mark></a> begun to articulate the physical symbol system hypothesis <a href='null_relcl' title='5'><mark>that</mark></a>would become the guiding faith of AI research . 
In the 17th century , Leibniz , Thomas Hobbes and René Descartes explored da possibility that all rational thought could b made as systematic as algebra or geometry . Hobbes famously wrote in Leviathan : " reason ain't nothing but reckoning " . Leibniz envisioned a universal language of reasoning ( his characteristica universalis ) which would reduce argumentation to calculation , so that " it would be no more need of disputation between 2 philosophers than between two accountants . For it would suffice to take their pencils in hand , down to their slates , and to say each other ( with a homie as witness , if they liked ) : Let us calculate . " These philosophers done begun to articulate tdaphysical symbol system hypothesis would become the guiding faith of AI research .