19.672 "information" in communications theory and in philosophy

               Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 19, No. 672.
       Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
                   www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/
                        www.princeton.edu/humanist/
                     Submit to: humanist_at_princeton.edu

         Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2006 08:43:41 +0000
         From: Willard McCarty <willard.mccarty_at_kcl.ac.uk>
         Subject: "information" in communications theory and in philosophy

Those here for whom the idea of information is of interest will
likely want to read the following article:

Fred Dretske, "The explanatory role of information", Philosophical
Transactions: Physical Sciences and Engineering, vol 349, no 1689,
special issue entitled "Artificial Intelligence and the Mind: New
Breakthroughs or Dead Ends?" (15 October 1994): 59-70 [in JSTOR].

Dretske's brilliant exposition is followed by snippets of discussion
involving Andy Clark, Yorick Wilks, Daniel Dennett, R. Chrisley and
L. J. Cohen.

Of everything I have seen so far (an important qualification), this
provides the clearest explanation of the concept of information in
communications theory and the only philosophical bridge between the
technical sense of this term and issues in the philosophy of mind
directly relevant to humanities computing.

I would be most grateful to know about other writings of this kind.

Yours,
WM

Dr Willard McCarty | Reader in Humanities Computing | Centre for
Computing in the Humanities | King's College London | Kay House, 7
Arundel Street | London WC2R 3DX | U.K. | +44 (0)20 7848-2784 fax:
-2980 || willard.mccarty_at_kcl.ac.uk www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/wlm/
Received on Wed Mar 22 2006 - 04:04:23 EST