
The philosophy of information
Title:
The philosophy of information
Author:
Floridi, Luciano, 1964-
ISBN:
9780199232383
Personal Author:
Publication Information:
Oxford [England] ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2011.
Physical Description:
xviii, 405 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.
Contents:
What is the philosophy of information?. Introduction ; Philosophy of artificial intelligence as a premature paradigm of PI ; The historical emergence of PI ; The dialectic of reflection and the emergence of PI ; The definition of PI ; The analytic approach to PI ; The metaphysical approach to PI ; PI as philosophia prima -- Open problems in the philosophy of information. Introduction ; David Hilbert's view ; Analysis ; Semantics ; Intelligence ; Nature ; Values -- The method of levels of abstraction. Introduction Some definitions and preliminary examples ; A classic interpretation of the method of abstraction ; Some philosophical applications ; The philosophy of the method of abstraction -- Semantic information and the veridicality thesis. Introduction ; The data-based approach to semantic information ; The general definition of information ; Understanding data ; Taxonomic neutrality ; Typological neutrality ; Ontological neutrality ; Genetic neutrality ; Alethic neutrality ; Why false information is not a kind of semantic information ; Why false information is pseudo-information : attributive vs predictive use ; Why false information is pseudo-information : a semantic argument ; The definition of semantic information -- Outline of a theory of strongly semantic information. Introduction ; The Bar-Hillel-Carnap paradox ; Three criteria of information equivalence ; Three desiderata for TSSI ; Degrees of vacuity and inaccuracy ; Degrees of informativeness ; Quantities of vacuity and of semantic information ; The solution of the Bar-Hillel-Carnap paradox ; TSSI and the scandal of deduction -- The symbol grounding problem. Introduction ; The symbol of grounding problem ; The representationalist approach ; The semi-representationalist approach ; The non-representationalist approach -- Action-based semantics. Introduction ; Action-based semantics ; Two-machine artificial agents and their AbS ; From grounded symbols to grounded communication and abstractions -- Semantic information and the correctness theory of truth. Introduction ; First step : translation ; Second step : polarization ; Third step : normalization ; Fourth step : verification and validation ; Fifth step : correctness ; Some implications and advantages of the correctness theory of truth -- The logical unsolvability of the Gettier problem. Introduction ; Why the Gettier problem is unsolvable in principle ; Three objections and replies -- The logic of being informed. Introduction ; Three logics of information ; Modelling "being informed" ; Four epistemological implications of KTB-IL -- Understanding epistemic relevance. Introduction ; Epistemic vs casual relevance ; The basic case ; A probabilistic revision of the basic case ; A counterfactual revision of the probabilistic analysis ; A metatheoretical revision of the counterfactual analysis ; Advantages of the metatheoretical revision ; Some illustrative cases ; Misinformation cannot be relevant ; Two objections and replies -- Semantic information and the network theory of account. Introduction ; The nature of the upgrading problem : mutual independence ; Solving the upgrading problem : the network theory of account ; Advantages of a network theory of account ; Testing the network theory of account -- Consciousness, agents, and the knowledge game. Introduction ; The knowledge game ; The first and classic version of the knowledge game : externally inferable states ; The second version of the knowledge game ; The third version of the knowledge game ; The fourth version of the knowledge game ; Dretske's question and the knowledge game -- Against digital ontology. Introduction ; What is digital ontology : It from bit ; The thought experiment ; Three objections and replies -- A defense of informational structural realism. Introduction ; First step : ESR and OSR are not compatible ; Second step : Relata are not logically prior to all relations ; Third step : the concept of a structural object is not empty ; Informational structural realism ; Ten objections and replies.
Abstract:
Examines the conceptual nature and basic principles of information.