Philosophy of information Research Papers (original) (raw)

Based on a brief overview of the history of ontology and on some philosophical problems of virtual reality, a new approach to virtuality is proposed. To characterize the representational (information, cognitive, cultural, communication)... more

Based on a brief overview of the history of ontology and on some philosophical problems of virtual reality, a new approach to virtuality is proposed. To characterize the representational (information, cognitive, cultural, communication) technologies in the Internet age, I suggest that Aristotle’s dualistic ontological system (which distinguishes between actual and potential being) be complemented with a third form of being: virtuality. In the virtual form of being actuality and potentiality are inseparably intertwined. Virtuality is potentiality considered together with its actualization. In this view, virtuality is reality with a measure, a reality which has no absolute character, but which has a relative nature. This situation can remind us the emergence of probability in the 17th century: then the concept of certainty, now the concept of reality is reconsidered and relativized. Currently, in the descriptions of the world created by representational technologies, there are two coh...

As the smartphone infiltrates into all aspects of society in an atomized way， the age of being mobile arrives and gives rise to some changes of our lifestyle which enhance people’s“individuation”and make the relationship... more

As the smartphone infiltrates into all aspects of society in an atomized way， the age of being mobile arrives and gives rise to some changes of our lifestyle which enhance people’s“individuation”and make the relationship between“human-smartphone-world”more and more hermeneutic， exacerbating the feeling of drift and insecurity of human mind.

Modern Cosmism is the development of ideas of classical Russian cosmism in the context of 21st century technologies and existential philosophy. This is a project of a scientific and philosophical doctrine with its own information ontology... more

Modern Cosmism is the development of ideas of classical Russian cosmism in the context of 21st century technologies and existential philosophy. This is a project of a scientific and philosophical doctrine with its own information ontology and evolutionary understanding of fundamental principles of reality, time, life, and superintelligence. Modern Cosmism is also unique concepts in the theory of knowledge, artificial consciousness, technological singularity, and cosmic ethics.

There is currently an obvious concern about the dilemmas, perplexities and fatigue of ethics, which are predominantly assumed in the field of philosophical research, and from there to other disciplines. This text proposes to raise an... more

There is currently an obvious concern about the dilemmas, perplexities and fatigue of ethics, which are predominantly assumed in the field of philosophical research, and from there to other disciplines. This text proposes to raise an ethical proposal of an ontocentric and hermeneutic (macroethical) cut, and the purpose is to apply it to Library Science. This proposal would not only serve to give a turn to the construction of deontological codes of professional library associations but also to explore the values ​​and principles that support them, which implies inquiring into the librarian's personal socio-framework (mission, evolution, self-understanding). The proposal will be in line with Luciano Floridi's philosophy of information and various theorists from other latitudes, since it is a plural and integrative discourse. Human beings do not discover or invent the world, we just design it. We understand it only to the extent that we understand their models and their representations. This is a symptom that occurs in deontological ethics: we try to enclose moral actions in ethical models and systems. Philosophy of information represents a new way of conceiving the world of information and, therefore, its ethical dimension.

Relevance and irrelevance, it is argued, is constitutive to our access to “information objects” on three interconnected levels: (1) access to the information object itself, (2) the information gained from it, (3) the use of that... more

Relevance and irrelevance, it is argued, is constitutive to our access to “information objects” on three interconnected levels: (1) access to the information object itself, (2) the information gained from it, (3) the use of that information. Relevance selectively shapes our experience and action, but the “irrelevance” of what is left out is not simply the opposite or absence of relevance. The complex relation between relevance and irrelevance expresses itself in different shades of knowledge and ignorance, and in a fuzzy border between information we do not want to access and information we cannot access. This implies both chances and risks for communication as a process of producing and exchanging information objects. In a second step, previous research on relevance and irrelevance is sketched with respect to different traditions and approaches: (1) Alfred Schutz and Aron Gurwitsch; (2) Paul Grice, Dan Sperber and Deirdre Wilson; (3) library and information science; (4) signs and language; and (5) epistemology and logic. Finally, the role of the word “relevance”, which is not found in all languages, is briefly considered after distinguishing the explicit reflection of relevance from the constitutive role of relevance, which often remains implicit.

Information flows and communicative interactions on social media, the Web and the expanding Internet of things are changing the possibilities, the actual methods and models of interaction between human beings, objects and life... more

Information flows and communicative interactions on social media, the Web and the expanding Internet of things are changing the possibilities, the actual methods and models of interaction between human beings, objects and life environments. As a result, an unprecedented landscape of structural and functional connections emerge that can be described, at least in part, in terms of connectivity graphs. In borrowing the term «connectome» from the neurosciences, the author suggests that the network-like structure emerging from the combination of the Internet of things and the human usage of social media can be regarded as a third degree connectome (connettoma-3), that is to say as a dynamic and evolutionary system that modifies the organization of the activities in the human nervous system (connettoma-1) and in the social networks defined as connectomes of connectomes (connettoma-2). To regard the infosphere as an expanding third degree connectome means to ask questions about the material structures and the dynamics of the connections to be mapped, in order to study how shared sensemaking and behaviours change or become established. From such a perspective, it is possible to resume, update and reformulate both the actor-network theory, which claims that social actors emerge in the large network of attachments to which they belong, and the question of the alternative between being free from bonds (impossible) and well-attached.

This essay introduces the philosophy of legal information (PLI), which is a response to the radical changes brought about in philosophy by the information revolution. It reviews in some detail the work of Luciano Floridi, who is an... more

This essay introduces the philosophy of legal information (PLI), which is a response to the radical changes brought about in philosophy by the information revolution. It reviews in some detail the work of Luciano Floridi, who is an influential advocate for an information turn in philosophy that he calls the philosophy of information (PI). Floridi proposes that philosophers investigate the conceptual nature of information as it currently exists across multiple disciplines. He shows how a focus on the informational nature of traditional philosophical questions can be transformative for philosophy and for human self-understanding. The philosophy of legal information (PLI) proposed here views laws as a body of information that is stored, manipulated, and analyzed through multiple methods, including the computational methodologies. PLI offers resources for evaluating the ethical and political implications of legal infomatics (also known as "legal information systems"). This ess...

Siamo abituati a vedere intorno a noi oggetti, la cui esistenza sembra la cosa da dare più per assodata. Eppure, le nostre vite sono sempre più immerse in reti di interazioni: che cosa accadrebbe allora, se cominciassimo ad accorgerci che... more

Siamo abituati a vedere intorno a noi oggetti, la cui esistenza sembra la cosa da dare più per assodata. Eppure, le nostre vite sono sempre più immerse in reti di interazioni: che cosa accadrebbe allora, se cominciassimo ad accorgerci che siamo invece innanzitutto circondati da relazioni e processi, prima che da cose e oggetti? È possibile cominciare a guardare al mondo come se fosse percorso da rapporti e trasformazioni?
Filosofia delle relazioni offre degli strumenti linguistici e concettuali per comprendere la natura e il funzionamento delle relazioni, elaborando una prospettiva in grado tanto di tenere conto di alcune sollecitazioni provenienti dalla scienza contemporanea, quanto di rendere conto di alcuni aspetti che fanno parte della nostra esperienza, anche se spesso in maniera inavvertita.

What is the ultimate nature of reality? This paper defends an answer in terms of informational realism (IR). It does so in three stages. First, it is shown that, within the debate about structural realism (SR), epistemic (ESR) and ontic... more

What is the ultimate nature of reality? This paper defends an answer in terms of informational realism (IR). It does so in three stages. First, it is shown that, within the debate about structural realism (SR), epistemic (ESR) and ontic (OSR) structural realism are reconcilable by using the methodology of the levels of abstractions. It follows that OSR is defensible from a structuralist-friendly position. Second, it is argued that OSR is also plausible, because not all related objects are logically prior to all relational structures. The relation of difference is at least as fundamental as (because constitutive of) any relata. Third, it is suggested that an ontology of structural objects for OSR can reasonably be developed in terms of informational objects, and that Object Oriented Programming provides a flexible and powerful methodology with which to clarify and make precise the concept of “informational object”. The outcome is informational realism, the view that the world is the totality of informational objects dynamically interacting with each other.

ACTA (the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) was originally meant to enforce and harmonise IPR provisions in existing trade agreements within a wider group of countries. This was commendable in itself, so ACTA’s failure was all the more... more

ACTA (the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) was originally meant to enforce and harmonise IPR provisions in existing trade agreements within a wider group of countries. This was commendable in itself, so ACTA’s failure was all the more disappointing. In this article, I wish to contribute to the post-ACTA debate by proposing a specific analysis of the ethical reasons why ACTA failed, and what we can learn from them. I argue that five kinds of objections — namely, secret negotiations, lack of consultation, vagueness of formulation, negotiations outside any international body, and the creation of a new governing body outside already existing forums — had only indirect ethical implications. This takes nothing away from their seriousness but it does make them less compelling, because agreements should be evaluated, ethically, for what they are, rather than for the alleged reasons why they are being proposed. I then argue that ACTA would have caused three ethical problems: an excessive and misplaced kind of responsibility, a radical decrease in freedom of expression, and a severe reduction in information privacy. I conclude by indicating three lessons that can help us in shaping ACTA 2. First, we should acknowledge the increasingly vital importance of the framework of implicit expectations, attitudes, and practices that can facilitate and promote morally good decisions and actions. ACTA failed to perceive that it would have undermined the very framework that it was supposed to foster, namely one promoting some of the best and most successful aspects of our information society. Second, we should real- ise that in advanced information societies, any regulation affecting how people deal with information is now bound to influence the whole ‘onlife’ habitat within which they live. So enforcing IPR becomes an environmental problem. Third, since legal documents, such as ACTA, emerge from within the infosphere that they affect, we should apply to the process itself, which one day may lead to a post-ACTA treaty, the very framework and ethical values that we would like to see promoted by it.

The idea that the brain is an information processing system raises some challenging questions about whether information exists independently of brains. Answering these questions is relevant for clarifying the theoretical foundations of... more

The idea that the brain is an information processing system raises some challenging questions about whether information exists independently of brains. Answering these questions is relevant for clarifying the theoretical foundations of the sciences of mind and brain, but also for appropriately interpreting and evaluating the evidence about how brains—and other biological systems—work. This article claims that (1) informational descriptions in the sciences of mind and brain can be genuinely explanatory, despite assuming a mind-dependent notion of information; and (2) that Popperian objectivity is sufficient for the explanatory role that information often plays in these sciences. Hierarchical predictive processing, which has become a central theoretical paradigm for neurobehavioural research, is used as a case study for supporting these two claims.

Az utóbbi évtizedekben a társadalmi lét újratermelésében dominánssá váló reprezentációs technikák kiterjedt használata miatt valóságfelfogásunk átalakul. A valóság átértelmezésében meghatározó szerepet játszik a virtualitás fogalma:... more

Az utóbbi évtizedekben a társadalmi lét újratermelésében dominánssá váló reprezentációs technikák kiterjedt használata miatt valóságfelfogásunk átalakul. A valóság átértelmezésében meghatározó szerepet játszik a virtualitás fogalma: virtualitás az, ami nem a valóság, de olyan "mintha" az lenne. A virtualitás terminusa új keletű, de tartalma nem: egy történeti áttekintésben felidézzük, hogy a filozófiai gondolkodásban a valóság természetének és jellemzőinek vizsgálata során a virtualitás premodern, modern és posztmodern változatainak számos karakterisztikumára fény derült. A virtualitás és a virtuális valóság konstrukcióját részletesebben jellemezve igénybe vesszük a jelenlét, a világszerűség és a pluralitás nélkülözhetetlen fogalmait. Arra a következtetésre jutunk, hogy az arisztotelészi duális ontológiai rendszert ki kell bővíteni, s a valóság és lehetőség szerinti lét mellett be kell vezetni a virtualitást is, mint a lét ama harmadik szféráját, amelyben aktualitás és potencialitás elválaszthatatlansága nyilvánul meg. Virtualitás a nem abszolút mértékkel rendelkező valóság, a valóság, amelynek nem eleve adott abszolút jellege van, hanem viszonylagos és változó mértéke. A reprezentációs technikákkal előállított létezők eredendően virtuálisak.

El problema de la unidad temática en la obra de Gilbert Simondon es una de las cuestiones más discutidas en la literatura sobre el autor. La hipótesis de lectura que plantea la presente tesis ofrecería, por primera vez, una solución... more

El problema de la unidad temática en la obra de Gilbert Simondon es una de las cuestiones más discutidas en la literatura sobre el autor. La hipótesis de lectura que plantea la presente tesis ofrecería, por primera vez, una solución verdaderamente satisfactoria a este problema. Se recupera la unidad programática de los textos, el programa de la axiomatización de la ontogénesis, y partiendo de la imagen que encierra el esquema del modulador, el paradigma elemental de la filosofía de la individuación, se elabora una noción paradigmática que permite interpretar esta unidad en comunicación con la unidad anterior en una unidad de génesis, la génesis de esa axiomatización como el esbozo de una teoría de los campos morfogenéticos. La propia elucidación de la noción de relación, entendida como interfaz, abre esta vía. Como resultado de esta investigación, con la invención de un acto enciclopédico que conjugaría los diferentes modos del pensamiento, se pone a punto una máquina de aprendizaje. La filosofía de Simondon se convertirá entonces en una tecnología epistemológica, una razón filosófica abocada a la búsqueda de nuevos paradigmas, y también en una metafilosofía, en cuanto deviene filosofía de la historia de la filosofía. Se rehabilita así un pensamiento ucrónico, retrofuturista, creando las condiciones para un simondonismo que sea tan contemporáneo como es extemporáneo.

This paper presents an understanding of consciousness based on Bantu cosmology. The author's motivation is to discuss consciousness in a new light. The writer has included some stories that he heard and events he witnessed during his... more

This paper presents an understanding of consciousness based on Bantu cosmology. The author's motivation is to discuss consciousness in a new light. The writer has included some stories that he heard and events he witnessed during his childhood. In Bantu cosmology, the universe is governed by souls or spirits (taken here as consciousness). These are found in all elements of the universe: in trees, stones, wind, animals, and human beings, etc. The author argues that this idea is worth investigating to assess whether the Bantu understanding of consciousness can provide a better understanding of physical theories concerning consciousness.

Many Christians believe that, because of divine grace, any person who repents of sin, accepts Christianity, and has genuinely authentic faith in God is forgiven for her sins and spared completely of the torments of hell. I argue that... more

Many Christians believe that, because of divine grace, any person who repents of sin, accepts Christianity, and has genuinely authentic faith in God is forgiven for her sins and spared completely of the torments of hell. I argue that this idea is difficult to reconcile with certain Christian doctrines and common, though not universal, moral intuitions about wrongdoing and punishment. The main steps are as follows. The violation of an obligation creates a moral debt that requires correction by compensation, punishment, and/or forgiveness; a wrong that is never punished, compensated, or forgiven perpetuates a continuing injustice by leaving a debt unpaid. If it is true that one person’s forgiveness cannot release the wrongdoer of a moral debt owed to someone else, then God’s forgiveness cannot release a wrongdoer from the moral debts she owes to human victims of her wrongs. Something must be done, as a moral matter, to deal with those existing moral debts before a saved sinner can enjoy the eternal bliss promised to the faithful.

This thesis studies the enabling properties of ICT and their effects and potential for social change. It primarily builds on interdisciplinary scholarship about the multifaceted co-evolution between the global deployment of ICTs and the... more

This thesis studies the enabling properties of ICT and their effects and potential for social change. It primarily builds on interdisciplinary scholarship about the multifaceted co-evolution between the global deployment of ICTs and the emergence of the Information Society, understood as a socio-economic restructuring of capitalism. The thesis also features abundant philosophical insights about crucial aspects of ICT development, applications and management. These include arguments about the different roles of ICTs in extending human communication and in performing or facilitating the remote control of humans and animals, machines and systems operations; about the entanglement between telecommunications, transport networks, urban development and work and organization; and about the relations between ICTs, culture and human values. Examples are offered to illustrate the potential that these empirical and philosophical lessons may have for the construction of a framework for the ethico-political assessment of ICTs. Finally, the annex features a PhD proposal that delineates the next steps that such research would have to take.

Critical Data Studies (CDS) explore the unique cultural, ethical, and critical challenges posed by Big Data. Rather than treat Big Data as only scientifically empirical and therefore largely neutral phenomena, CDS advocates the view that... more

Critical Data Studies (CDS) explore the unique cultural, ethical, and critical challenges posed by Big Data. Rather than treat Big Data as only scientifically empirical and therefore largely neutral phenomena, CDS advocates the view that Big Data should be seen as always-already constituted within wider data assemblages. Assemblages is a concept that helps capture the multitude of ways that already-composed data structures inflect and interact with society, its organization and functioning, and the resulting impact on individuals' daily lives. CDS questions the many assumptions about Big Data that permeate contemporary literature on information and society by locating instances where Big Data may be naively taken to denote objective and transparent informational entities. In this introduction to the Big Data & Society CDS special theme, we briefly describe CDS work, its orientations, and principles.

In a posthumous essay published in 1988, Michel Foucault offered a historical overview of various 'operations' used since classical antiquity and through Christendom by individuals hoping to transform their bodies and minds to enhance... more

In a posthumous essay published in 1988, Michel Foucault offered a historical overview of various 'operations' used since classical antiquity and through Christendom by individuals hoping to transform their bodies and minds to enhance their existence. He dubbed these practices 'technologies of the self'. Three decades later, as Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have grown in complexity and power, and our relations with them become more intimate, it is inevitable to ask whether and how they are affecting human self-understanding. This paper compares two approaches that address the former question by re-interpreting and expanding Foucault's concept; one is framed by postphenomenology and media theory, the other stems from an informational (constructio-nist) view. The two interpretations have points in common, but their analyses arrive at fundamentally distinct conclusions. While the former argues digital simulations are merely expanding and fragmenting but not radically altering human ontologies, the latter shows ICTs are deeply transforming how humans present themselves to themselves.

In this article we aim to distinguish between the transhuman and posthuman condition, according to their anthropological, ontological, and ethical natures. We will show that the current historical moment can be considered the beginning of... more

In this article we aim to distinguish between the transhuman and posthuman condition, according to their anthropological, ontological, and ethical natures. We will show that the current historical moment can be considered the beginning of a transhuman civilisation, given that the characteristics of the transhuman are already present in today’s human being. We will show that a series of decisive limitations for belonging to the human condition are in the process of being transcended due to acquisition of attributes of divinity that human beings do not currently possess: omnipotence, omnipresence (ubiquity), ex nihilo creation – starting from the divine creative ideation – and immortality. Humans are increasingly taking on the attributes of divinity in the process of human enhancements.
We will discuss the ways in which technology allows the human to overcome these limitations, elevating humans past their current condition, in a process in which they gain technological transcendence. Excepting immortality, all other limitations, once exceeded, generate a transhuman condition. Immortality generates a posthuman condition, since it can only be obtained by modifying the human ontological status from that of a biological being to that of a resident being in informatics networks. In order to clarify this process, we will discuss the concepts of everlastingness and artificial life prolongation.

SPIN Supporting Principal INvestigators: your stairway to European Funding for Research

Ce premier volume du dossier d'habilitation à diriger des recherches expose l'unité de mon travail depuis la maîtrise (nouvellement nommée Master 1) et résume quelques-uns de mes principaux travaux depuis la thèse de doctorat "Sens et... more

Ce premier volume du dossier d'habilitation à diriger des recherches expose l'unité de mon travail depuis la maîtrise (nouvellement nommée Master 1) et résume quelques-uns de mes principaux travaux depuis la thèse de doctorat "Sens et connaissance". Les quatre sections qui composent ce mémoire de synthèse correspondent aux quatre rubriques du Volume 2, où sont réunis des travaux publiés. C'est pourquoi elles s'intitulent respectivement "Études simondoniennes", "Études de philosophie française contemporaine", "Études de philosophie allemande contemporaine" et "Publications préparatoires à La Société de l'invention/La Philosophie du paradoxe".

The following paper will trace the recently established field of Information Ethics through it’s various evolutions, from it’s origins in Librarianship to it’s role as a global player in areas as diverse as technology, media, global... more

The following paper will trace the recently established field of Information Ethics through it’s various evolutions, from it’s origins in Librarianship to it’s role as a global player in areas as diverse as technology, media, global humanitarianism, and the philosophy of information. The praxis of the field will be outlined for the uninitiated reader, followed by an intimate history of the founding players and their continued contribution to this ever-evolving field. The current evolutions of Information Ethics will then be explored in the context of their application to the viral global phenomena of Intercultural Information Ethics (IIE), and finally, the paper will conclude with projections towards future evolutions in Information Ethics, as well as an exploration of potential definitions for the field.

Cyberspace, also known as digital and virtual world, has encompassed all aspects of our lives. It is hard to exaggerate the importance of internet, social media, video games, artificial intelligence, simulations, augmented realty,... more

Cyberspace, also known as digital and virtual world, has encompassed all aspects of our lives. It is hard to exaggerate the importance of internet, social media, video games, artificial intelligence, simulations, augmented realty, blockchain and big data, for our lives. Further to be a collection of new technological products, cyber space can also be considered as a new space and a new mode of living for human beings. As such, it is no surprise that there are many deep philosophical questions surrounding this newcomer to our lives. In this course, we try to engage with these philosophical questions. We examine whether digital technologies are value-neutral or value-laden. We also discuss certain frameworks that try to systematically embed human values in cyberspace technologies, including values-at-play and valuesensitive design (VSD). We also see how cyber space technologies are changing the practice of science, through big data analysis and simulations, and discuss the potential philosophical implications of these changes for science. Whether and how the experience, life, and perhaps the nature of human beings are changing due to cyberspace, are other important questions that will be addressed during the course. The metaphysics and ontology of virtual worlds and ethical frameworks for solving the moral problems in this space are the other topics that we think about during the course. The course draws on various philosophical schools and methods, including analytic philosophy, phenomenology, critical school, and existentialism. • Objectives: Upon successful completion of the course, the students would be able to critically think about the philosophical implications of information technology, including the metaphysical, epistemological, and ethical aspects of virtual (digital) technologies. Students would be also able to spell out their own views on the problems with philosophical rigor.

Compared with other transdisicplinary frames of information Wu Kun’s philosophy of information differs in metaphysical framework in that it has a background in a conception of Dialectics of Nature coming from the old Stalin Textbook... more

Compared with other transdisicplinary frames of information Wu Kun’s philosophy of information differs in metaphysical framework in that it has a background in a conception of Dialectics of Nature coming from the old Stalin Textbook System but also a part of the renewal of thinking in China appearing through the thought liberty movement in 1980s, which among other things also added a modern view of information to Chinese thinking. Still it is a distinguish philosophy in Chinese style. Wu’s philosophical system begins be re-dividing the field of existence and founding a new ontological area or aspect of being, which he called the world of information and named it objective unreality. This, from the West, different ontological framework made the concept of information in his system different from the information concept in Shannon’s and even Wiener’s sense. Wu’s philosophy of information represents a search for a proper transdisciplinary framework of information covering objective laws, subjective meaning and intersubjective normativity on an extended view of dialectical materialism. But still it is in this framework – as so many others - difficult to integrate a first person phenomenological and experiential view of the narrative meaning aspects of cognitive and communicative systems. The article therefore discusses the attempt of the cybersemiotic framework to solve this problem by combining Luhmann’s autopoietic system theory with Peirce’s semiotics in making a sign systems information philosophy, where information concept is always integrated into the semiotic, cognitive and communicative systems of living beings. Peircean pragmaticist semiotic theory is unique in that it integrates a phenomenological basis with a fallibilist empirical realism including logic, ethics and aesthetics as normative sciences in a process philosophy.

Il presente volume raccoglie i Proceedings del Convegno Nazionale dell'AIUCD-Associaizone per l'Informatica Umanistica e la Cultura Digitale, Lecce, Unisalento, 1-3 giugno 2022. Tutti i contributi sono rilasciati sotto licenza Creative... more

Il presente volume raccoglie i Proceedings del Convegno Nazionale dell'AIUCD-Associaizone per l'Informatica Umanistica e la Cultura Digitale, Lecce, Unisalento, 1-3 giugno 2022.
Tutti i contributi sono rilasciati sotto licenza Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 4.0 International license (CC-BY-SA 4.0). Ogni altro diritto rimane in capo ai singoli autori.

During the last decade, the philosophy of computer science has carved an important space within the landscape of philosophical investigations. The range of questions and problems it addresses is wide and varied: the methodology of design,... more

During the last decade, the philosophy of computer science has carved an important space within the landscape of philosophical investigations. The range of questions and problems it addresses is wide and varied: the methodology of design, the ontology and semantics of computational artefacts, abstraction and implementation, to name a few. This chapter focuses strictly on the philosophical interpretation of the notion of information within computer science.

Information and Communication Technologies, ICTs, has now for decades being increasingly taken into use for higher education, enabling distance learning, e-learning and online learning, mainly in parallel to mainstream educational... more

Information and Communication Technologies, ICTs, has now for decades being increasingly taken into use for higher education, enabling distance learning, e-learning and online learning, mainly in parallel to mainstream educational practise. The concept Blended learning (BL) aims at the integration of ICTs with these existing educational practices. The term is frequently used, but there is no agreed-upon definition. The general aim of this dissertation is to identify new possible perspectives on ICTs and access to higher education, for negotiating the dichotomy between campus-based and ICT-enabled education. The access options of BL are in focus for this dissertation, although BL is generally seen as a campus phenomenon, and shares a place perspective. The main research questions in the dissertation are 1) how BL can be understood in the context of increased access to education, moreover, (2) how time can be work as a more constructive perspective for designing ICTs in education, compared to place. The dissertation comprises five articles. The first is conceptual and concentrates on place and time in blended learning, and forms a time-based model and perspective, drawing on the tension between synchronous and asynchronous modalities instead of a place-based center-periphery model. The following article examines the differences between North American and European use of the term BL, in education and research, and finds that BL is not much used by European researchers, although the term is frequently used in educational environments. Two design and intervention studies, articles 3 and 4, make experiments using the BL time-based model. In article 3, a group of untraditional learners at a learning centre in Arvidsjaur attends a synchronous co-located study circle group and participates in an asynchronous and global Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). In article 4, nine students in a preparatory year for entering engineering studies volunteer and participate in a pilot distance course experiment, where prevention of procrastination is a high priority. For this, agile framework theory, constructivist learning theory and the time-based model are used in design and analysis. The last article (5) reconnects learning to place by discussing and adapting Triple- and Quadruple Helix theory for regional development in the knowledge society to four regional European cases. At the end of the synthesis, an outline of the access affordances with the time-based model is given, drawing on Adam’s timescape theory. The discussion of ICT integration into education is made drawing on Floridi’s Philosophy of Information, which provides many tools to view discourses of ICTs in education critically, and also envisions the concept of e-ducation in the infosphere, where other blend issues appear connected to weak artificial intelligence and the pervasive power of ICTs.

In spite of a general wish of greater interdisciplinarity most of our tradition disciplines in science and humanities still separated by Snows two cultures. To make interdisciplinary exchange possible between the quantitative and... more

In spite of a general wish of greater interdisciplinarity most of our tradition disciplines in science and humanities still separated by Snows two cultures. To make interdisciplinary exchange possible between the quantitative and qualitative research areas it is necessary to formulate new non-reductionist transdisciplinary frameworks based on a more comprehensive metaphysics than the ones used for the different areas of research now. The prize is that they will have to relativize the old ones. The question is if it is possible to create a transdisciplnary framework where nature is not outside culture and the mind is not inside a subject or the head? As human beings are embodied, feeling, knowing, and culturally formed living systems, participating in semiosis and language processes, we are forced to acknowledge that they are living simultaneously in minimum four different worlds:1. The physic-chemical part of the natural world that also constitutes the pure material-energetic aspect of our body.2. A living body as the source of life, which we share with other living species. 3. Our experiential world of feeling, will, drives, affects, and thoughts, manifested as experiential consciousness. 4. The cultural world of language, meaning, power, and technology. Language, pragmatically conceived in its embodied, enacted and extended reality, connects our perception with our thinking, communication, and acting in the social world. To create a common foundation for them I suggest that we need to draw on a combination of Peircean triadic semiotics and Luhmanian system theory. System theory provides Peircean semiotics with the idea of self-organizing developing systems that are organizationally closed. Semiotics provides systems and cybernetics with a phenomenological grounding to be able to ender the realm of meaningful communication. This combination I presently called Cybersemiotics.

There are many ways of understanding the nature of philosophical questions. One may consider their morphology, semantics, relevance, or scope. This article introduces a different approach, based on the kind of informational resources... more

There are many ways of understanding the nature of philosophical questions. One may consider their morphology, semantics, relevance, or scope. This article introduces a different approach, based on the kind of informational resources required to answer them. The result is a definition of philosophical questions as questions whose answers are in principle open to informed, rational, and honest disagreement, ultimate but not absolute, closed under further questioning, possibly constrained by empirical and logico-mathematical resources, but requiring noetic resources to be answered. The article concludes with a discussion of some of the consequences of this definition for a conception of philosophy as the study (or “science”) of open questions, which uses conceptual design to analyse and answer them.

The view argued in this article is that If we want to define a universal concept of information covering subjective experiential and meaningful cognition - as well as intersubjective meaningful communication in nature, technology, society... more

The view argued in this article is that If we want to define a universal concept of information covering subjective experiential and meaningful cognition - as well as intersubjective meaningful communication in nature, technology, society and life worlds - then the main problem is to decide, which epistemological, ontological and philosophy of science framework the concept of information should be based on and integrated in. All the ontological attempts to create objective concepts of information result in concepts that cannot encompass meaning and experience of embodied living and social systems. There is no conclusive evidence that the core of reality across nature, culture, life and mind is purely either mathematical, logical or of a computational nature. Therefore the core of the information concept should not only be based only on pure logical or mathematical rationality. We need to include interpretation, signification and meaning construction in our transdisciplinary framework for information as a basic aspect of reality alongside the physical, chemical and molecular biological. It is difficult to produce a pure quantitative statement independently of a qualitative analysis based on some sort of relation to the human condition as a semiotic animal.
To follow the transdisciplinary ambition in much information science and philosophy leading to cognitive science we need to include a phenomenological and hermeneutical ground in order to encompass a theory of interpretative meaning and signification to achieve a transdisciplinary theory of knowing and communication. This is also true if we start in cybernetics and system theory that also have transdisciplinary aspirations for instance in Batesons ecological concept of information as a difference that makes a difference and in Luhmann’s triple autopoietic communication based system theory. Charles Sanders Peirce’s pragmaticist semiotics integrates logic and information in interpretative semiotics. I therefore suggest alternatively building information theories based on semiotics from the basic relations of embodied living systems meaningful cognition and communication. I agree with Peircean biosemiotics that all information must be part of real relational sign-processes manifesting as tokens.
But although Peirce’s information theory is built on meaningful signs and he connects information to the growth of symbols, his information theory is empirically based in a realistic worldview, which in the development to modern biosemiotics include all living systems.
To follow the transdisciplinary ambition in much information science and philosophy leading to cognitive science we need to include a phenomenological and hermeneutical ground in order to encompass a theory of interpretative meaning and signification to achieve a transdisciplinary theory of knowing and communication. This is also true if we start in cybernetics and system theory that also have transdisciplinary aspirations for instance in Batesons ecological concept of information as a difference that makes a difference and in Luhmann’s triple autopoietic communication based system theory. Charles Sanders Peirce’s pragmaticist semiotics integrates logic and information in interpretative semiotics. But although Peirce’s information theory is built on meaningful signs and he connects information to the growth of symbols, his information theory is empirically based in a realistic worldview, which in the development to modern biosemiotics include all living systems.

First Paragraph: At the core of the philosophy of information is the ‘ti esti’ question that inaugurated several branches of philosophy from Plato onwards. Just what is information? The term is undoubtedly vague and still an important... more

First Paragraph: At the core of the philosophy of information is the ‘ti esti’ question that inaugurated several branches of philosophy from Plato onwards. Just what is information? The term is undoubtedly vague and still an important part of the modern linguistic landscape. We live in the “information age,” we read “information” in the papers, we can gather “information” on, say, the salt gradients of the currents in the Pacific Ocean, and we can talk about the amount of “information” that can be delivered over a wireless connection. Yet, as several philosophers have pointed out, we can scarcely say precisely what the term means. Given that it is also used differently across different fields of study (biology, communications, computer science, economics, mathematics, etc.), it is a hallmark of the philosophy of information to undertake this clarifying task, if the term “information” is to be informative at all. So, first and foremost, this research area examines the term in its multiplicity of meanings and clarifies its many uses.

Organizzatori: AIUCD e Centro interdipartimentale di ricerca in digital humanities in collaborazione con i corsi di Laurea in Filosofia, DAMS, Beni Culturali e Digital Humanities Le lingue ufficiali del convegno sono l'italiano e... more

Organizzatori: AIUCD e Centro interdipartimentale di ricerca in digital humanities in collaborazione con i corsi di Laurea in Filosofia, DAMS, Beni Culturali e Digital Humanities Le lingue ufficiali del convegno sono l'italiano e l'inglese General Chair [GC]: Fabio Ciracì Local Chair [LC]: Mario Bochicchio Comitato Scientifico: Fabio Ciracì (General Chair), Marina Buzzoni (Presidentessa AIUCD, Uni. Venezia), Federico Boschetti (Ric. ILC-CNR); Federico Meschini (Uni. Tuscia); Roberto Rosselli Del Turco (Uni Torino); Rachele Sprugnoli (Ass. Ric.

Semiotics (sometimes spelled “semeiotic”) is the name first given by John Locke, and later reprised by Charles S. Peirce, for the “doctrine of signs,” or the study of how some things can stand for other things to still other things. This... more

Semiotics (sometimes spelled “semeiotic”) is the name first given by John Locke, and later reprised by Charles S. Peirce, for the “doctrine of signs,” or the study of how some things can stand for other things to still other things. This deliberate inquiry can be contrasted with “folk semiotic” accounts, which assume that there is some intrinsic feature about, say, the human voice or a painted board that makes them capable of signifying. Such a naive assumption does not withstand serious scrutiny. From a philosophical standpoint, what makes something a sign is an involvement in a specific sort of triadic relation. This relation is found in human/nonhuman and deliberate/nondeliberate signs alike. Semiosis, the action of signs, is what permits communication, but it is wider than communication. For example, if while in an adjacent room I smell that the turkey in the oven is ready, my pet dog can smell it too, and the turkey is not trying to “tell” us anything. But if the cook in the kitchen tells me it is ready, I receive that message, while my dog hears the sounds but is none the wiser (in contemporary semiotic parlance, my dog and I couple our Umwelten via indices, but the symbols at hand generate interpretants only in my anthroposemiosis). In spite of the fact that it has a long and distinguished history (especially during the medieval period), general inquiry into signs became an organized research program only in the mid-20th century. Today, in addition to philosophers, semiotics attracts a wide range of scholars, such as ethologists, cognitive scientists, linguists, art historians, logicians, media theorists, literary critics, computer programmers, biologists, sociologists, and so on. From a methodological standpoint, then, parochialism is not an option. The scholarly literature can nevertheless be fruitfully divided into theoretical and applied strands. Not surprisingly, most philosophers drawn to semiotic questions work in the former strand. Semiotics is not to be confused with “semiology,” a (now largely defunct) project that originated in the lectures of the linguist Ferdinand de Saussure and which was active in the 1960s, mainly in France. Semiotics, by contrast, is a vibrant tradition that continues to flourish worldwide. Although some persist in employing the term “semiotics” when discussing narrow studies that focus exclusively on cultural codes, such terminological misuse masks the fact that a study of signs is broader than a study of language. A sustained philosophy of signs, then, promises (as Locke initially surmised) to yield truly novel insights.

Information has come to be perceived, on the whole, as something ordinary and seems to be slowly losing its value. In this article, this is explored in four respects. It is no longer possible to have an overview with respect to the... more

Information has come to be perceived, on the whole, as something ordinary and seems to be slowly losing its value. In this article, this is explored in four respects. It is no longer possible to have an overview with respect to the information at one’s disposal. Furthermore, there is a relatively great supply of information, provided by a greater number of contributors than before. Some recent developments in education are also relevant in evaluating the situation. The impact of technical developments, in particular the Internet, on present society, is important from several points of view. This is given attention accordingly.

To follow the transdisciplinary ambition in much information science and philosophy leading to cognitive science we need to include a phenomenological and hermeneutical ground in order to encompass a theory of interpretative meaning and... more

To follow the transdisciplinary ambition in much information science and philosophy leading to cognitive science we need to include a phenomenological and hermeneutical ground in order to encompass a theory of interpretative meaning and signification to achieve a transdisciplinary theory of knowing and communication. This is also true if we start in cybernetics and system theory that also have transdisciplinary aspirations for instance in Batesons ecological concept of information as a difference that makes a difference and in Luhmann’s triple autopoietic communication-based system theory. Charles Sanders Peirce’s pragmaticist semiotics integrates logic and information in interpretative semiotics. But although Peirce’s information theory is built on meaningful signs and he connects information to the growth of symbols, his information theory is empirically based in a realistic worldview, which in the development to modern biosemiotics include all living systems.