Edit filter log

'{{Short description|Branch of philosophy}} {{Information science}} The '''philosophy of information''' ('''PI''') is a branch of [[philosophy]] that studies topics relevant to [[information processing]], representational system and consciousness, [[computer science]], [[information science]] and [[information technology]]. It includes: # the critical investigation of the conceptual nature and basic principles of [[information]], including its dynamics, utilisation and sciences # the elaboration and application of [[information theory|information-theoretic]] and computational methodologies to philosophical problems.<ref>Luciano Floridi, [http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/pci/downloads/introduction.pdf "What is the Philosophy of Information?"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120316090017/http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/pci/downloads/introduction.pdf |date=2012-03-16 }}, ''Metaphilosophy'', 2002, (33), 1/2.</ref> ==History== The philosophy of information (PI) has evolved from the [[philosophy of artificial intelligence]], [[logic of information]], [[cybernetics]], [[social theory]], [[ethics]] and the study of language and information. ===Logic of information=== The [[logic of information]], also known as the ''logical theory of information'', considers the information content of logical [[sign (semiotics)|sign]]s and expressions along the lines initially developed by [[Charles Sanders Peirce]]. ===Cybernetics=== One source for the philosophy of information can be found in the technical work of [[Norbert Wiener]], [[Alan Turing]] (though his work has a wholly different origin and theoretical framework), [[William Ross Ashby]], [[Claude Shannon]], [[Warren Weaver]], and many other scientists working on computing and information theory back in the early 1950s. See the main article on [[Cybernetics]]. Some important work on information and communication was done by [[Gregory Bateson]] and his colleagues. ===Study of language and information=== Later contributions to the field were made by [[Fred Dretske]], [[Jon Barwise]], [[Brian Cantwell Smith]], and others. The [[Center for the Study of Language and Information|Center for the Study of Language and Information (CSLI)]] was founded at Stanford University in 1983 by philosophers, computer scientists, linguists, and psychologists, under the direction of [[John Perry (philosopher)|John Perry]] and [[Jon Barwise]]. ===P.I.=== More recently this field has become known as the philosophy of information. The expression was coined in the 1990s by [[Luciano Floridi]], who has published prolifically in this area with the intention of elaborating a unified and coherent, conceptual frame for the whole subject.{{citation needed|date=April 2015}} An ontological approach to understanding of information is provided by [[Rostyslav Dymerets|Rostyslav Dymerets]]. ==Definitions of "information"== The concept ''information'' has been defined by several theorists. ===Peirce=== [[Charles S. Peirce]]'s theory of information was embedded in his wider theory of symbolic communication he called the ''semeiotic'', now a major part of [[semiotics]]. For Peirce, information integrates the aspects of [[sign]]s and [[Expression (mathematics)|expressions]] separately covered by the concepts of [[denotation]] and [[extension (semantics)|extension]], on the one hand, and by [[connotation]] and [[comprehension (logic)|comprehension]] on the other. === Shannon and Weaver === Claude E. Shannon, for his part, was very cautious: "The word 'information' has been given different meanings by various writers in the general field of information theory. It is likely that at least a number of these will prove sufficiently useful in certain applications to deserve further study and permanent recognition. It is hardly to be expected that a single concept of information would satisfactorily account for the numerous possible applications of this general field." (Shannon 1993, p.&nbsp;180){{full citation needed|date=April 2015}}. Thus, following Shannon, Weaver supported a tripartite analysis of information in terms of (1) technical problems concerning the quantification of information and dealt with by Shannon's theory; (2) semantic problems relating to meaning and truth; and (3) what he called "influential" problems concerning the impact and effectiveness of information on human behaviour, which he thought had to play an equally important role. And these are only two early examples of the problems raised by any analysis of information. A map of the main senses in which one may speak of information is provided by [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/information-semantic/ the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy article]. The previous paragraphs are based on it. ===Bateson=== [[Gregory Bateson]] defined information as "a difference that makes a difference",<ref>[http://plato.acadiau.ca/courses/educ/reid/papers/PME25-WS4/SEM.html Extract from "Steps to an Ecology of Mind"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204101244/http://plato.acadiau.ca/courses/educ/reid/papers/PME25-WS4/SEM.html |date=2012-02-04 }}</ref> which is based on [[Donald M. MacKay]]: information is a distinction that makes a difference.<ref>The Philosophy of Information. Luciano Floridi. Chapter 4. Oxford University Press, USA (March 8, 2011) ASIN: 0199232385 [https://www.amazon.com/Philosophy-Information-Luciano-Floridi/dp/0199232385]</ref> ===Floridi=== According to Luciano Floridi{{citation needed|date=April 2015}}, four kinds of mutually compatible phenomena are commonly referred to as "information": * Information about something (e.g. a train timetable) * Information as something (e.g. DNA, or fingerprints) * Information for something (e.g. algorithms or instructions) * Information in something (e.g. a pattern or a constraint). The word "information" is commonly used so metaphorically or so abstractly that the meaning is unclear. ==Philosophical directions== ===Computing and philosophy=== Recent creative advances and efforts in [[computing]], such as [[semantic web]], [[ontology engineering]], [[knowledge engineering]], and modern [[artificial intelligence]] provide [[philosophy]] with fertile ideas, new and evolving subject matters, methodologies, and models for philosophical inquiry. While [[computer science]] brings new opportunities and challenges to traditional philosophical studies, and changes the ways philosophers understand foundational concepts in philosophy, further major progress in [[computer science]] would only be feasible when philosophy provides sound foundations for areas such as bioinformatics, software engineering, knowledge engineering, and ontologies. Classical topics in philosophy, namely, [[mind]], [[consciousness]], [[experience]], [[reasoning]], [[knowledge]], [[truth]], [[morality]] and [[creativity]] are rapidly becoming common concerns and foci of investigation in [[computer science]], e.g., in areas such as agent computing, [[software agents]], and intelligent mobile agent technologies.{{citation needed|date=December 2012}} According to Luciano Floridi "<ref>Luciano Floridi, [http://www.philosophyofinformation.net/publications/pdf/oppi.pdf ''Open Problems in the Philosophy of Information''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924072516/http://www.philosophyofinformation.net/publications/pdf/oppi.pdf |date=2015-09-24 }} ''Metaphilosophy'' 35.4, 554-582. Revised version of ''The Herbert A. Simon Lecture on Computing and Philosophy'' given at Carnegie Mellon University in 2001, with [https://web.archive.org/web/20020111085711/http://ethics.sandiego.edu/video/CAP/CMU2001/Floridi/index.html RealVideo]</ref> one can think of several ways for applying computational methods towards philosophical matters: # Conceptual experiments in silico: As an innovative extension of an ancient tradition of [[thought experiment]], a trend has begun in philosophy to apply computational [[Computer model|modeling]] schemes to questions in [[logic]], [[epistemology]], [[philosophy of science]], [[philosophy of biology]], [[philosophy of mind]], and so on. # [[Pancomputationalism]]: On this view, computational and informational concepts are considered to be so powerful that given the right level of [[abstraction]], anything in the world could be modeled and represented as a computational system, and any process could be simulated computationally. Then, however, pancomputationalists have the hard task of providing credible answers to the following two questions: ## how can one avoid blurring all differences among systems? ## what would it mean for the system under investigation not to be an [[Information system|informational system]] (or a computational system, if computation is the same as information processing)? ===Information and society=== Numerous philosophers and other thinkers have carried out philosophical studies of the social and cultural aspects of electronically mediated information. * [[Albert Borgmann]], ''Holding onto Reality: The Nature of Information at the Turn of the Millennium'' (Chicago University Press, 1999) * [[Mark Poster]], ''The Mode of Information'' (Chicago Press, 1990) * [[Luciano Floridi]], "The Informational Nature of Reality", ''Fourth International European Conference on Computing and Philosophy'' 2006 (Dragvoll Campus, NTNU Norwegian University for Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway, 22–24 June 2006). ==See also== {{div col|colwidth=28em}} * [[Barwise prize]] * [[Complex system]] * [[Digital divide]] * [[Digital philosophy]] * [[Digital physics]] * [[Game theory]] * [[Freedom of information]] * [[Informatics (academic field)|Informatics]] * [[Information]] * [[Information art]] * [[Information ethics]] * [[Information theory]] * [[International Association for Computing and Philosophy]] * [[Logic of information]] * [[Philosophy of artificial intelligence]] * [[Philosophy of computer science]] * [[Philosophy of technology]] * [[Philosophy of thermal and statistical physics]] * [[Relational quantum mechanics]] * [[Social informatics]] * [[Statistical mechanics]] {{div col end}} ==Notes== {{reflist}} ==Further reading== *[[Luciano Floridi]], "[https://web.archive.org/web/20120316090017/http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/pci/downloads/introduction.pdf What is the Philosophy of Information?]" ''Metaphilosophy'', 33.1/2: 123-145. Reprinted in T.W. Bynum and J.H. Moor (eds.), 2003. ''CyberPhilosophy: The Intersection of Philosophy and Computing''. Oxford – New York: Blackwell. *-------- (ed.), 2004. ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20060507185629/http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/pci/default.htm The Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Computing and Information.]'' Oxford - New York: Blackwell. *Greco, G.M., Paronitti G., Turilli M., and Floridi L., 2005. ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20060513042753/http://www.wolfson.ox.ac.uk/~floridi/pdf/htdpi.pdf How to Do Philosophy Informationally.]'' ''Lecture Notes on Artificial Intelligence'' 3782, pp.&nbsp;623–634. == External links == {{Library resources box}} *{{cite SEP |url-id=information |title=Information |last=Adriaans |first=Pieter |editor-last=Zalta |editor-first=Edward N. ||date=Autumn 2013}} *{{cite SEP |url-id=information-semantic |title=Semantic Conceptions of Information |last=Floridi |first=Luciano |editor-last=Zalta |editor-first=Edward N. |date=Spring 2015}} *[http://web.comlab.ox.ac.uk/oucl/research/areas/ieg/ IEG site], the Oxford University research group on the philosophy of information. *It from bit and fit from bit. On the origin and impact of information in the average evolution - from bit to atom and ecosystem. Information philosophy which covers not only the physics of information, but also how life forms originate and from there evolve to become more and more complex, including evolution of genes and memes, into the complex memetics from organisations and multinational corporations and a "[[global brain]]", (Yves Decadt, 2000). Book published in Dutch with English paper summary in The Information Philosopher, http://www.informationphilosopher.com/solutions/scientists/decadt/ *[[Luciano Floridi]], "[https://web.archive.org/web/20060820223325/http://academicfeeds.friwebteknologi.org/index.php?id=28 Where are we in the philosophy of information?]" [[University of Bergen]], [[Norway]]. Podcast dated 21.06.06. {{Navboxes |list= {{Philosophy topics}} {{philosophy of language}} {{philosophy of mind}} {{philosophy of science}} }} [[Category:Philosophy by topic|Inf]] [[Category:Philosophy of artificial intelligence]] [[Category:Knowledge representation]]'