Information and Reflection

Inhaltsverzeichnis

• 1. Cybernetics and Information.
• 1.1. On Cybernetics.
• 1.2. The General Debate about Cybernetics.
• 1.3. On the Question: What is Information?.
• 1.4. Two Philosophic Views on Information.
• 1.4.1. The Ontic Mode of Aristotelian Forms as the Ontic Mode of Information.
• 1.4.2. Information as Third Ontic Element.
• 2. Marxism-Leninism and Cybernetics.
• 2.1. On the Relationship between Dialectical Materialism and the Sciences.
• 2.2. Rejection and Acceptance of Cybernetics.
• 2.3. On the Philosophic Problems of Cybernetics.
• I / Information.
• 3. Preliminaries.
• 3.1. On the Origin of the Word ‘Information’.
• 3.2. ‘Information’ in Ordinary Language.
• 3.3. Formal Analysis of Statements on ‘Information’; the Information Situation.
• 3.3.1. Preliminaries on the Information Situation.
• 3.3.2. Statements about the Communication Partners.
• 3.3.3. Statements about the Means of Communication (Information Carrier).
• 3.3.4. Some Remarks.
• 4. Language and Information.
• 4.1. Language.
• 4.2. Sign and Sign Situation.
• 4.2.1. Semiotic Disciplines.
• 4.2.2. Classification of Signs.
• 4.3. On the Analysis of the Sign Situation and on Terminology.
• 4.3.1. Pragmatic Considerations.
• 4.3.2. On the Analysis of the Designatum.
• 4.3.3. Sign as Sign Function.
• 4.4. Linguistic Signs.
• 4.5. The Functions of Language.
• 4.5.1. The Communication Situation.
• 4.5.2. The Primary Communicative Functions of Language.
• 4.5.3. Further Linguistic Functions.
• 4.5.4. The Supra-Linguistic Character of Linguistic Functions.
• 4.6. Definitions of (the Concept of) Information.
• 4.6.1. Two Basic Definitions.
• 4.6.2. Communication Situation and Information Situation.
• 4.6.3. On Other Meanings of ‘Information’.
• 4.6.4. Some Other Definitions of Information.
• 4.7. Different Interpretations of the Definitional Elements.
• 4.7.1. On ‘Meaning’.
• 4.7.1.1. The Meaningful Parts of Language.
• 4.7.1.2. Linguistic Meaning and Information.
• 4.7.1.3. The Illusion of ‘Carrying’.
• 4.7.2. On ‘Communicating a Report’.
• 4.7.2.1. Reporting as Transmitting: Communication as Connection.
• 4.8. The Physical Aspect of Language and Signs.
• 4.9. Perception and Information.
• 4.9.1. Information as Knowledge.
• 4.9.2. Information as Correlation.
• 4.9.3. Perception, Sign-Like and Pure.
• 4.9.4. Semiotic Stages in Perceptual Processes.
• 5. Information Theory.
• 5.1. Nomenclature.
• 5.2. Extended Communication Processes.
• 5.3. On Statistical Information Theory.
• 5.3.1. The Hartley Model for Message Source.
• 5.3.2. The Bit.
• 5.3.3. Shannon’s Problem.
• 5.3.4. Message Production as a Stochastic Process.
• 5.3.5. Entropy and Information Content.
• 5.3.6. Encoding.
• 5.3.7. Shannon’s Fundamental Theorem; Channel Capacity.
• 5.3.8. Further Statistical Information Measures.
• 5.3.8.1. Conditional Probabilities.
• 5.3.8.2. Transinformation.
• 5.4. On the Theory of Signal Structure.
• 5.4.1. Structural, Metric and Statistical Information Content.
• 5.4.2. Modulation.
• 5.5. Observation Processes and Signal Reception.
• 5.5.1. Disturbances in Communication Processes.
• 5.6. Storage.
• 5.7. Data-Processing.
• 5.7.1. A Special Boolean Algebra.
• 5.7.2. Interpretations as Propositional Calculus and as Switching Algebra.
• 5.7.3. The Operation of Data-Processing Machines.
• 5.7.4. Binary Representation.
• 5.8. Control; Feedback; the Complex Dynamic System.
• 6. The Interpretation of Information Measures; Isomorphy.
• 6.1. Some Fundamentals.
• 6.2. General Interpretations 70 6.2.1. Variety.
• 6.2.2. Variability.
• 6.2.3. Specificity.
• 6.2.4. Complexity.
• 6.3. Special Interpretations.
• 6.3.1. Indeterminacy, Uncertainty and Their Resolution.
• 6.3.2. Novelty Value of a Report.
• 6.3.3. Information Gain.
• 6.3.4. Selection.
• 6.4. Order Measures for Objects and Systems.
• 6.5. Correspondence and Correlation.
• 6.6. Mapping, Isomorphy and Homeomorphy.
• 6.7. Model.
• 7. Signal Determination.
• 7.1.’ signal’.
• 7.2. Definition of Signal Determination.
• 7.2.1. Signal Situation.
• 7.2.2. Signal Structure.
• 7.2.3. Structural Dependence.
• 7.2.4. The Irrelevance of ‘Energy-Relations’.
• 7.2.5. The Determinant Character of the Signal System; Class Formation.
• 7.3. An Objection.
• 7.4. Processes with Signal Determination.
• 7.5. ‘Information’.
• II/The Dialectical-Materialist Doctrine of Reflection.
• 8. Sources and Foundations of the Doctrine of Reflection.
• 8.1. The Basic Question of Philosophy.
• 8.2. Matter.
• 8.3. Consciousness.
• 8.4. The Primacy of Matter over Consciousness.
• 8.5. Lenin’s Influence on the Doctrine of Reflection.
• 8.5.1. Reflection Theory.
• 8.5.2. Rejection of Empirio-Symbolism.
• 8.5.3. Hypothesis on the General Sensitivity of Matter.
• 9. Reflection Theory.
• 9.1. Ontology.
• 9.1.1. The Objective Dialectic.
• 9.1.2. The Philosophic Categories.
• 9.2. Epistemology.
• 9.3. On the Dialectical Traits of the Reflection Theory.
• 9.4. The Meanings of ‘Psychic Reflection’.
• 10. Reflection as General Property of all Matter.
• 10.1. The Stages of Reflection.
• 10.2. Properties of Reflection.
• 10.2.1. External and Internal.
• 10.2.2. Reaction, Adaptation and Practice; Adequacy.
• 10.2.3. Passive and Active; Objective and Subjective.
• 10.2.4. Abstraction and Generalization.
• 10.2.5. Irreducibility of All the Various Forms of Reflection.
• 10.3. Reflection and Motion.
• 10.4. On the Ambiguity of ‘Reflection’; Shifting the Problem.
• III/Dialectical-Materialist Contributions to the ‘Information’ the me.
• 11. Survey.
• 11.1. On the Notion of a Connection between Reflection and Information.
• 11.2. The Nature of Information.
• 11.3. The Objectivity of Information.
• 11.4. The Universality of Information.
• 11.5. Contentful Information Theory.
• 12. Information as Connection.
• 12.1. A Cybernetic Notion of Information.
• 12.2. Views on the Relationship between Reflection and Information.
• 12.2.1. Information as Contentful Connection.
• 12.2.2. Information as an Aspect of Reflection in Control Systems.
• 12.3. The Universality of Information as a Matter of Viewpoint.
• 12.4. Causal Dependence and Information.
• 12.5. Material and Ideal Information.
• 12.5.1. The Ambiguity of ‘Meaning’.
• 12.5.2. Specification of the Problem.
• 12.5.3. Information as Semantic Relation.
• 13. Entropy and Structural Information.
• 13.1. Information and Entropy.
• 13.1.1. A Principle of Negentropy of Information (a Digression).
• 13.1.2. Information as Ordered Reflection; ‘Heat Death’.
• 13.1.3. On the ‘Anti-Entropic Effect’ of Information Processes.
• 13.2. Structure, System, Organisation.
• 13.2.1. Information as a Structural Property.
• 13.2.2. System and Information.
• 13.3. Developmental Processes of Systems.
• 13.4. The Generality of the Concept of Information; Potential and Actual Information.
• 14. Elaboration of the Doctrine of Reflection.
• 14.1. A Cybernetic Theory of Perception.
• 14.1.1. Analysis of the Signal.
• 14.1.2. The Operation of Comparing.
• 14.1.3. The Image (Psychic Reflection).
• 14.1.4. The Ideal as a Functional Property.
• 14.2. Signal and Isomorphy.
• 14.2.1. Differing Descriptions of Perception.
• 14.2.2. On the Problem of Perception.
• 14.3. Universal Reflection.
• 14.3.1. Interaction and Reflection.
• 14.3.2. Inorganic Reflection and Technology.
• 15. Information in a Dialectical-Materialist Theory of Signs.
• 15.1. General Remarks.
• 15.2. The Meaning of Signs.
• 15.3. Meaning and Information Relative to Non-Linguistic Signs.
• 16. Concluding Remarks.
• 16.1. General Remarks on the Interpretation of Information.
• 16.2. Materialist Monism and Information.
• 16.3. On the Objectivity of ‘Ideal’ Information.
• 16.4. Information and the Doctrine of Reflection.
• References.
• Index Of Names.