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The name of this Web site corresponds to a specific term in the Lambda Calculus. The latter was invented by Alonzo Church, a U.S. mathematician, who has formulated his ideas already in 1940. The Lambda Calculus can be considered a theoretical foundation of computer science.
In this logical system, there are two kinds of variables: those that are 'lambda bound' and others that are 'free'. A variable is considered to be 'lambda bound' if it appears in the list of parameters of the lambda abstraction in which it is used.
More details on the Lambda Calculus can be found at lambda-bound.com
The Greek letter lambda can be taken as a symbol for the following:
The following paragraph introduces the term 'Logos' as used in the gospels and in ancient greek philosophy.
λ
stands for the Logos by whom everything was made according to the New Testament of the Bible:
"In the beginning was the Logos, the Logos was with God and
the Logos was God. ... Through him all things came into
being, not one thing came into being except through
him...". (John 1,1 ff).
"Im Ursprung war der Logos, und der Logos war bei Gott, und Gott war der Logos. ... Alles ist durch Ihn geworden, und ohne Ihn ward nichts, auch nicht ein einzig geworden Ding." (Joh 1,1 ff)
The Greek word Logos is usually translated to
Word in English language bibles. The meaning of the
Greek word Logos is much more thrilling and richer
however, getting its meaning from contemporary Greek
philosophy. In that context Logos means something similiar
to 'Divine Reason'. The evangelist John, the author of the
fourth gospel, used the word Logos on purpose in the
context of the Greek culture in his time. It is a term that
cannot easily be translated into a single word in our
present day languages.
The following information is a summary of the article titled 'Logos' by Glenn R. Murrow published in the Dictionary of Philosophy, by Littlefield, Adams & Co. Patterson New Jersey, 1963.
Heraclitus ( 536 B.C. - 470 B.C.) refers to the Logos as cosmic reason which gives order and intelligibility to the world. The Logos is seen as a reality analogous to the reason in man that regulates all physical processes and is the source of all human law.
The Stoics ( 308 B.C. - ) consider the world as a living unity, perfect in the adaptation of its parts to one another and to the whole, and animated by an immanent and purposive reason. As the creative source of this cosmic unity and perfection the world-reason is called the 'logos spermatikos' (seminal reason).
Philo of Alexandria ( 30 B.C. - 50 A.D.) considers the Logos as the immaterial instrument and even at times the personal agency, through which the creative activity of the transcendent God is exerted upon the world.
In the philosophy of Plotinus ( 205 A.D. - 270 ) the Logos appears as the creative and form-giving aspect of Intelligence (Nous), the second of the three Hypostases.
The Greek philosopher Aristotle numbered his books by using letters of the Greek alphabet. Book λ is the book about the "Unmoved Mover" about the "First Mover" about the "First Cause", about the Eternal Being. Book λ constitutes the crowning achievement of Aristotle's metaphysics. See also OntoSimula, which is a computer simulation of the core of Thomistic Metaphysics, which in turn builds on Aristotle's Metaphysics.
The symbol λ also stands for "lambda abstraction", the basic operation in the Lambda Calculus.
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