Is information something ontological, or physical or perhaps something else? Some remarks on R. Krzanowski approach to concept of information

Main Article Content

Łukasz Mścisławski
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0195-9064

Abstract

As one may have noticed, the title of this paper is somewhat provocative. We found Roman Krzanowski’s (2020a,b,c; 2022) proposed approach to the problem of information very intriguing. Our aim here is to highlight some advantages when it comes to answering some fundamental questions in the philosophy of physics and metaphysics, as well as the philosophy of information and computer science. This issue is of great importance, so we propose that the introduction of some subtle distinctions between ontological and epistemological information can be regarded as being analogous to G.F.R. Ellis’s analyses of the passage of time in his concept of the Crystallizing Block Universe (Ellis and Goswami, 2012). This analogy could be useful when further studying the relations between different types of information. We also suggest some subjects for further study, ones where Krzanowski’s proposal could serve as a very solid foundation for examining traditional metaphysical issues by combining classical philosophical doctrines with the new approach.

Article Details

How to Cite
Mścisławski, Łukasz. (2022). Is information something ontological, or physical or perhaps something else? Some remarks on R. Krzanowski approach to concept of information. Philosophical Problems in Science (Zagadnienia Filozoficzne W Nauce), (73), 147–169. Retrieved from https://www.zfn.edu.pl/index.php/zfn/article/view/602
Section
Articles

References

Adriaans, P. and Benthem, J.v., 2008. Philosophy of Information. Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Boston: North Holland.

Białobrzeski, C., 1984. Podstawy poznawcze fizyki świata atomowego. Wyd. 2 rozszerzone. Warszawa: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe.

Burgin, M., 2010. Theory of Information: Fundamentality, Diversity and Unification. Vol. 1, World Scientific Series in Information Studies. Singapore: World Scientific.

Burgin, M., 2011. Information: Concept Clarification and Theoretical Representation. tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique. Open Access Journal for a Global Sustainable Information Society [Online], 9(2), pp.347–357. https://doi.org/10.31269/triplec.v9i2.284.

Burgin, M., 2017. The General Theory of Information as a Unifying Factor for Information Studies: The Noble Eight-Fold Path. Proceedings [Online], 1(3), p.164. https://doi.org/10.3390/IS4SI-2017-04044.

Davies, P.C.W., 2007. The Implications of a Cosmological Information Bound for Complexity, Quantum Information and the Nature of Physical Law. In: C. Claude and G.J. Chaitin, eds. Randomness and Complexity, From Leibniz to Chaitin [Online]. World Scientific, pp.69–87. [visited on 26 January 2022].

Davies, P., 2020. The Demon in the Machine: How Hidden Webs of Information Are Solving the Mystery of Life. London: Penguin Books.

Dodig-Crnkovic, G., 2013. Alan Turing’s Legacy: Info-computational Philosophy of Nature. In: G. Dodig-Crnkovic and R. Giovagnoli, eds. Computing Nature: Turing Centenary Perspective [Online], Studies in Applied Philosophy, Epistemology and Rational Ethics. Berlin; Heidelberg: Springer, pp.115–123. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-37225-4_6.

Dodig-Crnkovic, G. and Burgin, M., eds., 2019. Philosophy and Methodology of Information: The Study of Information in a Transdisciplinary Perspective, World scientific series in information studies, 10. New Jersey: World Scientific.

Ellis, G.F.R. and Goswami, R., 2012. Space Time and the Passage of Time. arXiv:1208.2611 [gr-qc] [Online]. Available at: <http://arxiv.org/abs/1208.2611> [visited on 10 June 2014].

Floridi, L., 2011. The Philosophy of Information. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Grygiel, W.P., 2022. A critical analysis of the philosophical motivations and development of the concept of the field of rationality as a representation of the fundamental ontology of the physical reality. Philosophical Problems in Science (Zagadnienia Filozoficzne w Nauce), (72), pp.87–108.

Hawking, S., 1988. A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes. New York; Toronto: Bantam Books.

Heller, M., 1998. Czy świat jest matematyczny? Philosophical Problems in Science (Zagadnienia Filozoficzne w Nauce), (23), pp.3–14.

Heller, M., 2014. Elementy mechaniki kwantowej dla filozofów. Wyd. 1 w tej edycji. Kraków: Copernicus Center Press.

Krzanowski, R., 2020a. Does Purely Physical Information Have Meaning? A Comment on Carlo Rovelli’s Paper: Meaning = Information + Evolution. arXiv:2004.06716 [physics] [Online]. Available at: <http://arxiv.org/abs/2004.06716> [visited on 30 November 2021].

Krzanowski, R., 2020b. What Is Physical Information? Philosophies [Online], 5(2), pp.9–22. https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies5020010.

Krzanowski, R., 2020c. Why can information not be defined as being purely epistemic? Philosophical Problems in Science (Zagadnienia Filozoficzne w Nauce) [Online], (68), pp.37–62. Available at: <https://zfn.edu.pl/index.php/zfn/article/view/494> [visited on 30 November 2021].

Krzanowski, R., 2022. Ontological Information: Information in the Physical World [Online]. Vol. 13, World Scientific series in information studies. Hackensack, NJ: World Scientific. https://doi.org/10.1142/12601.

Medeiros, J., 2005. Surely you’re joking Professor Isham? I, Science: The Imperial College science magazine, (3, Winter), p.20.

Mścisławski, Ł., 2017. Między filozofią w nauce a filozofią przyrody: Piękno systemu w konkrecie: zakaz Pauliego a filozofia Czesława Białobrzeskiego. In: P. Polak, W.P. Grygiel and J. Mączka, eds. Oblicza filozofii w nauce: księga pamiątkowa z okazji 80. urodzin Michała Hellera. Kraków: Copernicus Center Press, pp.133–153.

Nagel, T., 2012. Mind and Cosmos: Why the Materialist Neo-Darwinian Conception of Nature Is Almost Certainly False. New York: Oxford University Press.

Penrose, R., 2006. The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe. 6th print. New York: Alfred AKnopf.

Perzanowski, J.W. and Sytnik-Czetwertyński, J., 2016. Jest czyli Rzecz o filozofii bytu. Toruń: Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek.

Rovelli, C., 2016. Meaning = Information + Evolution. arXiv:1611.02420 [physics] [Online]. Available at: <http://arxiv.org/abs/1611.02420> [visited on 15 December 2021].

Skowron, B., 2020. Virtual objects: Becoming real. Horizon, Fenomenologiceskie Issledovania [Online], 9(2). https://doi.org/10.21638/2226-5260-2020-9-2-619-639.

Turek, K., 1978. Filozoficzne aspekty pojęcia informacji. Philosophical Problems in Science (Zagadnienia Filozoficzne w Nauce), (1), pp.32–41.

von Weizsäcker, C.F., 1982. Die Einheit der Natur. München: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag.

Wilczek, F., 2016. A Beautiful Question: Finding Nature’s Deep Design. London: Penguin Books.

Zurek, W.H., 2002. Decoherence and the Transition from Quantum to Classical — Revisited. Los Alamos Science [Online], (27). Ed. by B. Duplantier, J.-M. Raimond and V. Rivasseau, pp.2–25. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7643-7808-0_1.