Information, Constraint, and Meaning

Information, 2016

This paper considers the relationship between information and meaning through an analysis of a set of measures of information. Since meaning is expressed using information the analysis of the measures illuminates the relationship. The conventions that govern the production and exchange of information are the outcome of selection processes, so the quality of information (as expressed in the measures) is subject to limitations caused by selection. These limitations are analysed using a technique called viewpoint analysis that enables the measures and their relationship with meaning to be examined. Viewpoint analysis is applied to several logical paradoxes and resolves them in a manner consistent with common sense. Finally, the approach is used to address Floridi's questions about the philosophy of information associated with meaning.

The most fundamental question in the philosophy of information "What is information?" has not received yet a definite answer free from commonly recognized deficiencies. In my earlier work I have proposed a definition of information as an identification of the variety. The definition is based on the concept of the one-many relation, a philosophical theme as old as philosophy itself. The rich tradition of the theme established through the centuries of philosophical discourse is in a clear contrast to the common sense concepts such as "uncertainty" usually utilized in attempts to set foundations for the concept of information. An identification of the variety can have two basic forms of a selection of one out many in the variety, or of the structure uniting the variety (many) into one. The distinction of the forms of identification leads to the distinction between the selective and structural information. However, since every occurrence of one type of information is always accompanied by the other, selective and structural information can be considered just different manifestations of the uniform concept of information. The selective information can be easily identified with the concept of information in its usual understanding. The structural manifestation of information has been considered usually in the context of integration of information. In the present paper the analysis of the concept of information based on the one-many relation is being carried out in the three perspectives. First, the philosophical aspects of information are considered. Then, the concept of information is being identified in a selection of very different domains. For instance, Hutcheson's concept of beauty dominating classical aesthetics since 18 th century, understood as "unity in variety," provides an example of an idea very close to structural information. Integration of the neuronal activity in the brain considered as a basis for consciousness by Edelman and his collaborators can be also viewed as an example of structural information in a different domain. Finally, an attempt is being made to identify a mathematical formalism which reflects the distinction of the selective and structural information. of the numerous former attempts to define the meaning of this uniform concept of information. In particular, I cannot accept the two most popular formulations of the definition of information as a "resolution, reduction of uncertainty" or as a "difference which makes a difference" [3], as their logical status and explanatory value are not much different from the expressions of desperation in dozens of other attempts to grasp the meaning of information such as "We conclude that we are not able to say confidently of anything that it could not be information" [4], or "Information is anything that we can count or use as information" .

Annual review of information science …, 2003

Entropy, 2003

We propose here to clarify some of the relations existing between information and meaning by showing how meaningful information can be generated by a system submitted to a constraint. We build up definitions and properties for meaningful information, a meaning generator system and the domain of efficiency of a meaning (to cover cases of meaningful information transmission). Basic notions of information processing are used.

2001

Ferdinand de Saussure's structural linguistics and Claude Elwood Shannon's information theory can appear to be remote from each other and incommensurate. The former considers the rich interrelationships of signs and meanings, whereas the latter calculates the quantities of signals in bits. When Roman Jakobson considers the communications event, however, structural linguistics is refracted through the technological prism of Shannon's cybernetic theory of communication. Two of Saussure's most important linguistic categories are recast in a way that allows them to be reconciled with, and even advance, information theory. Jakobson's re-interpretation of key Saussurian linguistic categories opens an avenue for the mathematical delineation of meaningful communications as such, and not just signs. Saussure is made to point toward an extension of information theory that would culminate in a logistics of meanings.

2008

Abstract Whether viewed as a Rawlsian primary good or as the building material of an entire Infosphere, the notion of information plays a fundamental role in the development of CE. We analyze this notion from the monosemic perspective of lexical semantics (Ruhl 1989) and offer a definition that provides a suitable basis for CE work in that it is not restricted to (true) propositional content and derives, rather than asserts, the ethical value of information.

This definition can be applied to information of every kind, level and complexity. Information is considered as the feature manifesting itself in the relations between certain real world entities. The real world has to be seen in terms of objects, actions, relations and properties.. The defintion is used as the basis of the Theory of Meaningful Information [1] that explains the nature and functionality of information and enables the production of relevant definitions regarding language and knowledge, which remain operative also in the case of non-human languages and knowledge systems.

Electronic Conf on the Fo undations of Information …, 2002

The information age is upon us and the main paradox is that there is no satisfactory and commonly accepted answer to the crucial question what information is. This results in a quantity of contradictions, misconceptions, and paradoxes related to the world of information. We consider the existing situation in information studies, which is very paradoxical and inconsistent, in the first part of this paper. To remedy the situation, a new approach in information theory, which is called the general theory of information, is developed. The main achievement of the general theory of information is explication of a relevant and adequate definition of information. This theory is built as a system of two classes of principles and their consequences. The first class consists of the ontological principles, which are revealing general properties and regularities of information and its functioning. These principles are explicated in the second part of the paper.

We propose here to clarify some of the relations existing between information and meaning by showing how a meaning can be generated in a system submitted to a constraint. We build up definitions for a meaningful information, a meaning generator system and the domain of efficiency of a meaning (to cover the cases of meaningful information transmission). Basic notions of signal and information processing are used.