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Lunch Uncertain [Review of: Floridi, Luciano (2011) The Philosophy of Information (Oxford)]

Lunch Uncertain [Review of: Floridi, Luciano (2011) The Philosophy of Information (Oxford)]
Lunch Uncertain [Review of: Floridi, Luciano (2011) The Philosophy of Information (Oxford)]
The usual way to try to ground knowing according to contemporary theory of knowledge is: We know something if (1) it’s true, (2) we believe it, and (3) we believe it for the “right” reasons. Floridi proposes a better way. His grounding is based partly on probability theory, and partly on a question/answer network of verbal and behavioural interactions evolving in time. This is rather like modeling the data-exchange between a data-seeker who needs to know which button to press on a food-dispenser and a data-knower who already knows the correct number. The success criterion, hence the grounding, is whether the seeker’s probability of lunch is indeed increasing (hence uncertainty is decreasing) as a result of the interaction. Floridi also suggests that his philosophy of information casts some light on the problem of consciousness. I’m not so sure.
information, information theory, knowledge, belief, certainty, uncertainty, probability, scepticism, epistemology, induction, symbol grounding
0307-661X
22-23
Harnad, Stevan
442ee520-71a1-4283-8e01-106693487d8b
Harnad, Stevan
442ee520-71a1-4283-8e01-106693487d8b

Harnad, Stevan (2011) Lunch Uncertain [Review of: Floridi, Luciano (2011) The Philosophy of Information (Oxford)]. Times Literary Supplement, 5664, 22-23.

Record type: Article

Abstract

The usual way to try to ground knowing according to contemporary theory of knowledge is: We know something if (1) it’s true, (2) we believe it, and (3) we believe it for the “right” reasons. Floridi proposes a better way. His grounding is based partly on probability theory, and partly on a question/answer network of verbal and behavioural interactions evolving in time. This is rather like modeling the data-exchange between a data-seeker who needs to know which button to press on a food-dispenser and a data-knower who already knows the correct number. The success criterion, hence the grounding, is whether the seeker’s probability of lunch is indeed increasing (hence uncertainty is decreasing) as a result of the interaction. Floridi also suggests that his philosophy of information casts some light on the problem of consciousness. I’m not so sure.

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More information

Published date: 21 October 2011
Keywords: information, information theory, knowledge, belief, certainty, uncertainty, probability, scepticism, epistemology, induction, symbol grounding
Organisations: Electronics & Computer Science

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 272962
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/272962
ISSN: 0307-661X
PURE UUID: 2332d94a-dbd8-4d3b-89c0-53b36c94e144
ORCID for Stevan Harnad: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-6153-1129

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Date deposited: 26 Oct 2011 00:58
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 02:48

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Author: Stevan Harnad ORCID iD

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