more on this theme     |     more from this thinker


Single Idea 2547

[filed under theme 19. Language / C. Assigning Meanings / 6. Truth-Conditions Semantics ]

Full Idea

There is information in a system if there are symbols in it that refer to things and that together form strings that can be true or false.

Gist of Idea

There is information if there are symbols which refer, and which can combine into a truth or falsehood

Source

Colin McGinn (The Mysterious Flame [1999], p.225)

Book Ref

McGinn,Colin: 'The Mysterious Flame' [Basic Books 1999], p.225


A Reaction

We can also directly apprehend information by perception. Are facts identical with correct information? Can a universal generalisation be information?


The 8 ideas from 'The Mysterious Flame'

Brains aren't made of anything special, suggesting panpsychism [McGinn]
Thoughts have a dual aspect: as they seem to introspection, and their underlying logical reality [McGinn]
Free will is mental causation in action [McGinn]
Philosophy is a magnificent failure in its attempt to overstep the limits of our knowledge [McGinn]
There is information if there are symbols which refer, and which can combine into a truth or falsehood [McGinn]
Mental modules for language, social, action, theory, space, emotion [McGinn]
Examining mind sees no brain; examining brain sees no mind [McGinn]
Causation in the material world is energy-transfer, of motion, electricity or gravity [McGinn]