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Books by Christoph Schulz

This book serves as the main reference for an undergraduate course on Philosophy of Information. ... more This book serves as the main reference for an undergraduate course on Philosophy of Information. The book is written to be accessible to the typical undergraduate student of Philosophy and does not require propaedeutic courses in Logic, Epistemology or Ethics. Each chapter includes a rich collection of references for the student interested in furthering her understanding of the topics reviewed in the book.

The book covers all the main topics of the Philosophy of Information and it should be considered an overview and not a comprehensive, in-depth analysis of a philosophical area. As a consequence, 'The Philosophy of Information: a Simple Introduction' does not contain research material as it is not aimed at graduate students or researchers.

The book is available for free in multiple formats and it is updated every twelve months by the team of the π Research Network: Patrick Allo, Bert Baumgaertner, Simon D'Alfonso, Penny Driscoll, Luciano Floridi, Nir Fresco, Carson Grubaugh, Phyllis Illari, Eric Kerr, Giuseppe Primiero, Federica Russo, Christoph Schulz, Mariarosaria Taddeo, Matteo Turilli, Orlin Vakarelov.

This book introduces key topics in the philosophy of information, written by the PI research netw... more This book introduces key topics in the philosophy of information, written by the PI research network of the Society for the Philosophy of Information.

Beta version published 2012, first version published 2013.

Die allgemeine Systemtheorie und die Kybernetik haben als Strukturwissenschaften beide dazu beige... more Die allgemeine Systemtheorie und die Kybernetik haben als Strukturwissenschaften beide dazu beigetragen, den wissenschaftlichen Blick auf die Relationen zwischen Systemen und Systembestandteilen zu richten und dabei von der Art des betrachteten Gegenstands zu abstrahieren. Dadurch konnte fachübergreifendes Wissen über das Verhalten von Systemen bzgl. ihrer Modellierbarkeit, ihrer Vorhersagbarkeit und ihrer Steuerbarkeit gesammelt werden, und der Weg zur modernen Komplexitätstheorie wurde geebnet. Diese umfasst insbesondere verschiedene Arten der Modellierung komplexer Systeme, wie z. B. spieltheoretische Simulationen, nicht-lineare Modelle, Bayes’sche Netzwerke. Die Beherrschbarkeit komplizierter und komplexer Systeme hängt wesentlich von der Qualität solcher Modelle ab, denn das Verhalten der Systeme im Modell bestimmt auch die Wahl der richtigen Intervention in das real zu steuernde System.

Papers by Christoph Schulz

The original purpose of the thought experiment of Maxwell's demon's was to show the limits of the... more The original purpose of the thought experiment of Maxwell's demon's was to show the limits of the second law thermodynamics, in a more advanced stage of the debate it was used to expose the link connecting information processing and thermodynamics. In an extended interpretation of the setup that adds a teleological aspect, the link with informationally constrained actions can be established, too. Explanations of why the trap door is opened when a particle approaches can employ a Markovian scheme that explains the occurrence of every event in the causal chain in a mechanistic way, while averaging over the behaviour of an ensemble of demons will yield a picture of causation by information and information-constrained actions. Under general assumptions concerning agents

"According to Fred Dretske's semantic information theory, the process of becoming informed consis... more "According to Fred Dretske's semantic information theory, the process of becoming informed consists of two parts: the transfer of information via a channel, and the subsequent formation of a semantic structure, called 'digitalisation'. Leaving out any one of the two parts renders the concept of becoming informed incomplete. Similarly, Peter Menzies and Huw Price's agency-account of causation has a bipartite structure. The account posits that an event A is a cause of a distinct event B in cases where
bringing about the occurrence of A would be an effective means by which a free agent could bring about the occurrence of B. A major problem for this approach seems to be that the analysis contains two occurrences of 'bringing about', which might be taken for causal notions that would render the formula circular. However, applying two different interpretations to each of the occurrences yields a non-circular analysis of causation. These interpretations entail a conceptual structure of causation that is analogous to Dretske's analysis of becoming informed. Building on this conceptual foundation, it can be shown that informational and causal views on events can be integrated into a combined account, according to which information channels and causal mechanisms are identical. Digitalisation and direct action are parts of causation by information, a concept that further binds becoming informed and causation to each other. Causation by information is relevant because it helps us make sense of the seeming contradiction of construing some events as actions, while at the same time allowing them to be effects of causes."

Thesis Chapters by Christoph Schulz

Causation and the Objectification of Agency, 2015

This dissertation defends the so-called 'agency-approach' to causation, which attempts to ground ... more This dissertation defends the so-called 'agency-approach' to causation, which attempts to ground the causal relation in the cause's role of being a means to bring about its effect. The defence is confined to a conceptual interpretation of this theory, pertaining to the concept of causation as it appears in a causal judgement. However, causal judgements are not seen as limited to specific domains, and they are not exclusively attributed to human agents alone. As a methodological framework to describe the different perspectives of causal judgments, a method taken from the philosophy of information is made use of – the so-called 'method of abstraction'. According to this method, levels of abstraction are devised for the subjective perspective of the acting agent, for the agent as observer during the observation of other agents’ actions, and for the agent that judges efficient causation. As a further piece of propaedeutic work, a class of similar (yet not agency-centred) approaches to causation is considered, and their modelling paradigms – Bayesian networks and interventions objectively construed – will be criticised. The dissertation then proceeds to the defence of the agency-approach, the first part of which is a defence against the objection of conceptual circularity, which holds that agency analyses causation in causal terms. While the circularity-objection is rebutted, I rely at that stage on a set of subjective concepts, i.e. concepts that are eligible to the description of the agent’s own experience while performing actions. In order to give a further, positive corroboration of the agency-approach, an investigation into the natural origins and constraints of the concept of agency is made in the central chapter six of the dissertation. The thermodynamic account developed in that part affords a third-person perspective on actions, which has as its core element a cybernetic feedback cycle. At that point, the stage is set to analyse the relation between the first- and the third-person perspectives on actions previously assumed. A dual-aspect interpretation of the cybernetic-thermodynamic picture developed in chapter six will be directly applied to the levels of abstraction proposed earlier. The level of abstraction that underpins judgments of efficient causation, the kind of causation seemingly devoid of agency, will appear as a derived scheme produced by and dependent on the concept of agency. This account of efficient causation, the ‘objectification of agency’, affords the rebuttal of a second objection against the agency-approach, which claims that the approach is inappropriately anthropomorphic. The dissertation concludes with an account of single-case, or token level, causation, and with an examination of the impact of the causal concept on the validity of causal models.

Beta version published 2012, first version published 2013.

Causation and the Objectification of Agency, 2015