Search Results for: Dretske

A Critical Analysis of Floridi’s Theory of Semantic Information

I have recently been reading ‘A Critical Analysis of Floridi’s Theory of Semantic Information’, Pieter Adriaans’ contribution to the special issue of Knowledge, Technology & Policy titled ‘Luciano Floridi’s Philosophy of Technology: Critical Reflections’. This article is indeed quite critical of Floridi’s Theory of Semantic Information. Floridi responded in turn, and his replies to the … Continue reading “A Critical Analysis of Floridi’s Theory of Semantic Information”

Confirmation Measures and Transmitted Information

The following Bayesian confirmation measure is associated with John Maynard Keynes, having appeared in his A Treatise on Probability (1921). The degree to which evidence e confirms hypothesis h is given as: Interestingly, this is strongly reminiscent of a subsequent measure found in Shannon information theory. In philosophy literature, this formula can be found in … Continue reading “Confirmation Measures and Transmitted Information”

A Gettierised (Russellised) Historical Fact?

I finally dug up my copy of Russell’s Human Knowledge: Its Scope and Limits and located the passage in which he gives the Gettier-like broken clock example (15 years before Gettier’s paper): It is very easy to give examples of true beliefs that are not knowledge. There is the man who looks at a clock … Continue reading “A Gettierised (Russellised) Historical Fact?”

Natural Information Without Truth

In Information Without Truth, the Veridicality Thesis for both natural (environmental) and non-natural (semantic) information is rejected. The Veridicality Thesis for Natural Information (VTN) can be stated: (VTN) If a signal s being F carries natural information about an object o being G, then o is G. This is like Dretske’s definition of information flow, … Continue reading “Natural Information Without Truth”

False Information

Luciano Floridi holds a truth-based definition of semantic information (veridicality thesis); for X to qualify as an instance of semantic information it must be true, meaningful well-formed data. False information (i.e. misinformation) is not actually information. For more on this see Is Semantic Information Meaningful Data? In Defence of the Veridical Nature of Semantic Information … Continue reading “False Information”

Properties of Information Flow

What are the properties of information flow? To establish the terminology with which I will pose properties to consider, I start off with the most basic of properties. If A carries the information that B, then A carries the information that B. Here are two other straightforward properties of information: What further properties are there … Continue reading “Properties of Information Flow”

Another Requirement on Semantic Information?

According to the General Definition of Information (GDI), X is an instance of information, understood as semantic content, if and only if: X consists of one or more data the data in X are well-formed the well-formed data in X are meaningful. A host of influential thinkers about information, most notably Luciano Floridi, add to … Continue reading “Another Requirement on Semantic Information?”