The Phenomenon of Information: A Conceptual Approach to Information Flow

Pérez-Montor (information science, U. de Barcelona, Spain) endeavors to describe a theoretical definition of information flow that accounts for the necessary and sufficient conditions to conclude that a specific signal carries a particular informational content and also provides a description of the regularities or supporting information links that exemplify the property of reliability (and in some cases fallibility). He first analyzes the main ideas of the mathematical theory of communication, rejecting much but retaining its treatment of informational and communicational constraints. He then turns to philosopher Fred Dretske”s analysis of the notion of information, again finding many deficiencies but arguing that the relational theory of meaning presented by philosophers Jon Barwise and John Perry resolves many of these problems, with the significant exception of the failure to satisfactorily explain the reliability and fallibility exhibited by the supporting regularities of information flow. This final deficiency is addressed by Peréz-Montor”s own “existential approach” to information flow.