The Philosophy of Information (PoI)

       
      The Philosophy of Information: A Definition

      What is the Philosophy of Information?

      a new philosophical discipline, concerned with

       a)the critical investigation of the conceptual nature and basic principles of information, including its dynamics (especially computation and flow), utilisation and sciences; and
      b)the elaboration and application of information-theoretic and computational methodologies to philosophical problems.

       L. Floridi
      "What is the Philosophy of Information?", Metaphilosophy, 2002
      "Open Problems in the Philosophy of Information", The Herbert Simon Lecture in Philosophy and Computing, CAP@CMU (Computing and Philosophy Conference, Carnegie Mellon University), 10 August 2001
       http://www.wolfson.ox.ac.uk/~floridi/papers.htm
       


     

    What is the nature and meaning of information?  That is the focus for this field of inquiry -
    the application of philosophical method to information phenomena.

    Philosophers, intellectuals, and scholars have been thinking about information for decades,
    even centuries.  Sometimes, that thinking has been categorized by another name,
    such as social epistemology, semantics, rhetoric, information science, library science,
    information ethics, cybernetics, and memetics.  Sometimes, that thinking takes a narrow, specialized view
    of information, as with traditional information theory in the communications field.

    This web site helps to create a new category of synthesis to collect all deep thinking about information into a coherent whole, from which new meta-views and perspectives can be achieved.
    It offers definitions of the philosophy of information, universal definitions of information,
    clarification of general information problems, and attempts to solve those problems.
    The site will evolve along with this new field.

    This site is currently hosted at the University of North Texas, in my personal web directory.
    I am a graduate student at UNT.  I was inspired to create this site after reading the work
    of Joseph Nitecki (provided by joanne twining), Mark Alfino, Luciano Floridi, and Ken Herold.
    I am also the moderator of the Yahoo Group Philosophy-of-Information (philofinfo).  I welcome
    all comments on this site.

    J.R. Castledine
    PoI web editor


    Organizations

    National Coalition of Independent Scholars
    American Academy of Arts and Sciences
    North Texas Philosophical Society
    American Philosophical Association
    European Association for Logic, Language and Information
    American Philosphical Society
    International Center for Information Ethics
    International Association for Computing and Philosophy
    International Society for Ethics and Information Technology
    American Society for Information Science and Technology
     Society for Philosophy and Technology
     



    Discussion Groups

     [philofinfo] Philosophy of Information
    Philosophy@<large> Philos-L
    PHILOSOP
    Humanist Discussion Group
    Humanities & Social Sciences Online (H-Net)
     jiscmail (philosophy)
     



    Other Resources

     Contemporary Philosophy of Mind: An Annotated Bibliography
     Guide to Philosophy on the Internet (includes Hippias and Noesis search)
     Rhetoric web ring
     Principia Cybernetica
     epistemelinks
     Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
     The Philosophical Lexicon
     Blackwell Philosophy Resource Center
     Social Science Information Gateway (SOSIG)
     Philosophy around the Web
     Philosophy in Cyberspace
     The Radical Academy
     
     



     



    Contact: J. R. Castledine

    Updated: March 9, 2003