Phenomenon of Information (eBook)

A Conceptual Approach to Information Flow

Mario Perez-Montoro (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2007
298 Seiten
Scarecrow Press (Verlag)
978-1-4616-7338-5 (ISBN)

Infos

This study examines critically major theories of information and offers an original treatment of information flows that attempts to remedy weaknesses in earlier treatments and may serve as a basis on which a satisfactory analysis of the concept of information can be developed.

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We are surrounded by information. Even the most routine situations in which we find ourselves conceal a hidden information flow. Every step we take, a host of signals meet us, providing information about what is happening in other parts of reality. The cherry tree in bloom reveals that spring has arrived. The footprint left on wet sand indicates that someone has walked along the beach. A red traffic light signals that we must bring our car to a halt.In The Phenomenon of Information, author Mario Perez-Montoro addresses the problems of providing a theoretical explanation of how a signal carries informational content, how to identify its characteristics, and how to define the mechanisms for describing it. To do this, Perez-Montoro examines several theoretical approaches to the phenomenon of information: the mathematical theory of communication, Dretske's approach, and the relational theory of meaning. A critique of these efforts leads to the author's definition of informational content, named "e;the extensional approach,"e; which is designed to overcome the conceptual limitations of the previous theories. The author proposes that his definition might serve as a basis on which a satisfactory analysis of the concept of information can be developed.

Autor

Mario Pérez-Montoro is a Professor in the Department of Information Science at the Universitat de Barcelona and IN3 researcher (Internet Interdisciplinary Institute). His work focuses on conceptual, semantic, epistemological and pragmatic aspects of Information Science and Knowledge Management.

Inhalt

Part 1 AcknowledgmentsPart 2 INTRODUCTION. The Scope and Characteristics of the Phenomenon of InformationChapter 3 1 IntroductionChapter 4 2 Description of Information FlowChapter 5 3 Aim and Scope of this WorkPart 6 CHAPTER 1. The Mathematical Theory of Communication: Constraints for a Semantics of InformationChapter 7 1 IntroductionChapter 8 2 The Amount of InformationChapter 9 3 Amount of Information and Information FlowChapter 10 4 Mathematical Constraints and Information ContentPart 11 CHAPTER 2. Dretske's Analysis of Information: A Semantic Approach in Probabilistic TermsChapter 12 1 IntroductionChapter 13 2 The Dretskean ApproachChapter 14 3 Difficulties with Dretske's ApproachChapter 15 4 Summary and ConclusionsPart 16 CHAPTER 3. The Relational Theory of Meaning: A Proposal for a Global Semantics of InformationChapter 17 1 IntroductionChapter 18 2 A New Conceptual Framework: The Relational Theory of MeaningChapter 19 3 Linguistic Meaning and Informational ContentChapter 20 4 Agents and Information ContentChapter 21 5 The Relational Theory of Meaning versus Dretske's Definition of Informational ContentChapter 22 6 Reliability, Fallibility, and ConstraintsChapter 23 7 Summary and ConclusionsPart 24 CHAPTER 4. Toward a New Definition of Informational Content: The Extensional ApproachChapter 25 1 IntroductionChapter 26 2 The Extensional ApproachChapter 27 3 Channels, Reliability, and FallibilityChapter 28 4 The Extensional Approach versus the Relational Theory of Meaning and the Dretskean ApproachChapter 29 5 Pure Informational Content and Incremental Informational ContentChapter 30 6 Summary and ConclusionsPart 31 BibliographyPart 32 IndexPart 33 About the Author

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 11.6.2007
• Übersetzer: Dick Edelstein
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Schulbuch / Wörterbuch ► Lernhilfen ► Allgemeines / Lexika
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften
• Themenwelt: Mathematik / Informatik ► Informatik ► Theorie / Studium
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften
• Themenwelt: Recht / Steuern ► Privatrecht / Bürgerliches Recht ► Zivilverfahrensrecht
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Kommunikation / Medien ► Buchhandel / Bibliothekswesen
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Pädagogik
• Themenwelt: Technik
• ISBN-10: 1-4616-7338-0 / 1461673380
• ISBN-13: 978-1-4616-7338-5 / 9781461673385