The Philosophy of Information

426 Pages·2011·2.09 MB·English

by  Luciano Floridi

The Philosophy of Information
This page intentionally left blank
The Philosophy
of Information
Luciano Floridi
1
3
GreatClarendonStreet,Oxfordox26dp
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Contents
Preface xii
Acknowledgements xv
Listoffigures xvii
Listoftables xix
Listofmostcommonacronyms xx
Chapter1—Whatisthephilosophyofinformation? 1
Summary 1
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 PhilosophyofartificialintelligenceasaprematureparadigmofPI 2
1.3 ThehistoricalemergenceofPI 5
1.4 ThedialecticofreflectionandtheemergenceofPI 7
1.5 ThedefinitionofPI 13
1.6 TheanalyticapproachtoPI 17
1.7 ThemetaphysicalapproachtoPI 19
1.8 PIasphilosophiaprima 24
Conclusion 25
Chapter2—Open problemsinthephilosophyofinformation 26
Summary 26
2.1 Introduction 26
2.2 DavidHilbert’sview 28
2.3 Analysis 30
2.4 Semantics 33
2.5 Intelligence 35
2.6 Nature 42
2.7 Values 44
Conclusion 45
Chapter3—Themethodoflevelsofabstraction 46
Summary 46
3.1 Introduction 47
3.2 Somedefinitionsandpreliminaryexamples 48
3.2.1 Typedvariable 48
3.2.2 Observable 48
3.2.3 Sixexamples 49
vi CONTENTS
3.2.4 Levelsofabstraction 52
3.2.5 Behaviour 53
3.2.6 Gradientofabstraction 54
3.3 Aclassicinterpretationofthemethodofabstraction 58
3.4 Somephilosophicalapplications 60
3.4.1 Agents 60
3.4.2 TheTuringtest 61
3.4.2.1 Turing’simitationgame 61
3.4.2.2 Turing’stestrevisited 62
3.4.2.3 Turingdiscussed 63
3.4.3 Emergence 63
3.4.4 Artificiallife 65
3.4.5 Quantumobservation 66
3.4.6 Decidableobservation 66
3.4.7 Simulationandfunctionalism 67
3.5 Thephilosophyofthemethodofabstraction 68
3.5.1 Levelsoforganizationandofexplanation 69
3.5.2 Conceptualschemes 71
3.5.3 Pluralismwithoutrelativism 74
3.5.4 Realismwithoutdescriptivism 75
3.5.6 Constructionism 76
Conclusion 78
Chapter4—Semanticinformationandtheveridicalitythesis 80
Summary 80
4.1 Introduction 80
4.2 Thedata-basedapproachtosemanticinformation 82
4.3 Thegeneraldefinitionofinformation 83
4.4 Understandingdata 85
4.5 Taxonomicneutrality 86
4.6 Typologicalneutrality 87
4.7 Ontologicalneutrality 90
4.8 Geneticneutrality 91
4.9 Alethicneutrality 92
4.10 Whyfalseinformationisnotakindofsemanticinformation 93
4.11 Whyfalseinformationispseudo-information:Attributivevs
predicativeuse 97
4.12 Whyfalseinformationispseudo-information:Asemanticargument 98
4.12.1 Firststep:Toomuchinformation 99
4.12.2 Secondstep:Excludingtautologies 100
CONTENTS vii
4.12.3 Thirdstep:Excludingcontradictions 100
4.12.4 Fourthstep:Excludinginconsistencies 101
4.12.5 Laststep:Onlycontingentlytruepropositionscountas
semanticinformation 103
4.13 Thedefinitionofsemanticinformation 104
Conclusion 106
Chapter5—Outlineofatheoryofstronglysemanticinformation 108
Summary 108
5.1 Introduction 109
5.2 TheBar-Hillel–CarnapParadox 111
5.3 Threecriteriaofinformationequivalence 114
5.4 ThreedesiderataforTSSI 117
5.5 Degreesofvacuityandinaccuracy 117
5.6 Degreesofinformativeness 123
5.7 Quantitiesofvacuityandofsemanticinformation 125
5.8 ThesolutionoftheBar-Hillel–CarnapParadox 127
5.9 TSSIandthescandalofdeduction 129
Conclusion 132
Chapter6—Thesymbolgroundingproblem 134
Summary 134
6.1 Introduction 134
6.2 Thesymbolgroundingproblem 136
6.3 Therepresentationalistapproach 137
6.3.1 AhybridmodelforthesolutionoftheSGP 138
6.3.1.1 SGPandthesymbolicthefthypothesis 142
6.3.2 AfunctionalmodelforthesolutionoftheSGP 143
6.3.3 AnintentionalmodelforthesolutionoftheSGP 144
6.3.3.1 Clarion 146
6.4 Thesemi-representationalistapproach 149
6.4.1 AnepistemologicalmodelforthesolutionoftheSGP 149
6.4.2 Thephysicalsymbolgroundingproblem 150
6.4.3 Amodelbasedontemporaldelaysandpredictivesemantics
forthesolutionoftheSGP 153
6.5 Thenon-representationalistapproach 155
6.5.1 Acommunication-basedmodelforthesolutionoftheSGP 156
6.5.2 Abehaviour-basedmodelforthesolutionoftheSGP 157
6.5.2.1 Emulativelearningandtherejectionofrepresentations 159
Conclusion 160
viii CONTENTS
Chapter7—Action-basedsemantics 162
Summary 162
7.1 Introduction 162
7.2 Action-basedSemantics 164
7.3 Two-machineartificialagentsandtheirAbS 166
7.3.1 ThreecontroversialaspectsofAM2 172
7.3.2 LearningandperformingrulethroughHebb’srule
andlocalselection 173
7.4 Fromgroundedsymbolstogroundedcommunicationandabstractions 176
Conclusion 179
Chapter8—Semanticinformationandthecorrectnesstheoryoftruth 182
Summary 182
8.1 Introduction 183
8.2 Firststep:Translation 186
8.3 Secondstep:Polarization 188
8.4 Thirdstep:Normalization 190
8.5 Fourthstep:Verificationandvalidation 193
8.6 Fifthstep:Correctness 195
8.7 Someimplicationsandadvantagesofthecorrectnesstheoryoftruth 199
8.7.1 Truthmakersandcoherentism 199
8.7.2 Accessibility,bidimensionalism,andcorrespondentism 201
8.7.3 Typesofsemanticinformationandthevarietyoftruths 203
8.7.4 Adeflationistinterpretationoffalsehoodasfailure 205
8.7.5 Theinformation-inaptnessofsemanticparadoxes 205
Conclusion 208
Chapter9—ThelogicalunsolvabilityoftheGettierproblem 209
Summary 209
9.1 Introduction 210
9.2 WhytheGettierproblemisunsolvableinprinciple 212
9.3 Threeobjectionsandreplies 217
Conclusion 222
Chapter10—Thelogicofbeinginformed 224
Summary 224
10.1 Introduction 224
10.2 Threelogicsofinformation 226
10.3 Modelling‘beinginformed’ 228
10.3.1 ILsatisfiesA ,A ,A ,A 229
1 2 3 5
10.3.2 Consistencyandtruth:ILsatisfiesA andA 230
9 4
10.3.3 Noreflectivity:ILdoesnotsatisfyA ,A 232
6 8
CONTENTS ix
10.3.4 Transmissibility:ILsatisfiesA andA 236
10 11
10.3.5 ConstructingtheInformationBase:ILsatisfiesA 236
7
10.3.6 KTB-IL 237
10.4 FourepistemologicalimplicationsofKTB-IL 238
10.4.1 InformationoverloadinKTB-IL 238
10.4.2 Infavouroftheveridicalitythesis 239
10.4.3 TherelationsbetweenDL,ILandEL 240
10.4.4 Againsttheuntouchable 241
Conclusion 243
Chapter11—Understandingepistemicrelevance 244
Summary 244
11.1 Introduction 245
11.2 Epistemicvscausalrelevance 246
11.3 Thebasiccase 249
11.3.1 Advantagesofthebasiccase 249
11.3.2 Limitsofthebasiccase 251
11.4 Aprobabilisticrevisionofthebasiccase 251
11.4.1 Advantagesoftheprobabilisticrevision 252
11.4.2 Limitsoftheprobabilisticrevision 252
11.5 Acounterfactualrevisionoftheprobabilisticanalysis 253
11.5.1 Advantagesofthecounterfactualrevision 253
11.5.2 Limitsofthecounterfactualrevision 253
11.6 Ametatheoreticalrevisionofthecounterfactualanalysis 254
11.7 Advantagesofthemetatheoreticalrevision 256
11.8 Someillustrativecases 257
11.9 Misinformationcannotberelevant 260
11.10 Twoobjectionsandreplies 261
11.10.1 Completeness:Norelevantsemanticinformationfor
semanticallyunableagents 261
11.10.2 Soundness:Rationalitydoesnotpresupposerelevance 262
Conclusion 265
Chapter12—Semanticinformationandthenetworktheoryofaccount 267
Summary 267
12.1 Introduction 268
12.2 Thenatureoftheupgradingproblem:Mutualindependence 268
12.3 Solvingtheupgradingproblem:Thenetworktheoryofaccount 274
12.4 Advantagesofanetworktheoryofaccount 279
12.5 Testingthenetworktheoryofaccount 284
Conclusion 288