Information Without Truth

Andrea Scarantino; Gualtiero Piccinini

doi:10.1111/j.1467-9973.2010.01632.x

Information Without Truth

Andrea Scarantino, Gualtiero Piccinini

University of Missouri-St. Louis

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

According to the Veridicality Thesis, information requires truth. On this view, smoke carries information about there being a fire only if there is a fire, the proposition that the earth has two moons carries information about the earth having two moons only if the earth has two moons, and so on. We reject this Veridicality Thesis. We argue that the main notions of information used in cognitive science and computer science allow A to have information about the obtaining of p even when p is false.

Original language	American English
Journal	Metaphilosophy
Volume	41
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9973.2010.01632.x
State	Published - Apr 19 2010

Keywords

Cognitive Science
False Information
Knowledge
Semantic Information
Veridicality Thesis

Disciplines

Philosophy

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10.1111/j.1467-9973.2010.01632.xLicense: Unspecified

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title = "Information Without Truth",

abstract = " According to the Veridicality Thesis, information requires truth. On this view, smoke carries information about there being a fire only if there is a fire, the proposition that the earth has two moons carries information about the earth having two moons only if the earth has two moons, and so on. We reject this Veridicality Thesis. We argue that the main notions of information used in cognitive science and computer science allow A to have information about the obtaining of p even when p is false.",

keywords = "Cognitive Science, False Information, Knowledge, Semantic Information, Veridicality Thesis",

author = "Andrea Scarantino and Gualtiero Piccinini",

note = "Abstract: According to the Veridicality Thesis, information requires truth. On this view, smoke carries information about there being a fire only if there is a fire, the proposition that the earth h... SCARANTINO, A. and PICCININI, G. (2010), INFORMATION WITHOUT TRUTH. Metaphilosophy, 41: 313–330. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9973.2010.01632.x",

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AU - Piccinini, Gualtiero

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PY - 2010/4/19

Y1 - 2010/4/19

N2 - According to the Veridicality Thesis, information requires truth. On this view, smoke carries information about there being a fire only if there is a fire, the proposition that the earth has two moons carries information about the earth having two moons only if the earth has two moons, and so on. We reject this Veridicality Thesis. We argue that the main notions of information used in cognitive science and computer science allow A to have information about the obtaining of p even when p is false.

AB - According to the Veridicality Thesis, information requires truth. On this view, smoke carries information about there being a fire only if there is a fire, the proposition that the earth has two moons carries information about the earth having two moons only if the earth has two moons, and so on. We reject this Veridicality Thesis. We argue that the main notions of information used in cognitive science and computer science allow A to have information about the obtaining of p even when p is false.

KW - Cognitive Science

KW - False Information

KW - Knowledge

KW - Semantic Information

KW - Veridicality Thesis

UR - https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9973.2010.01632.x

U2 - 10.1111/j.1467-9973.2010.01632.x

DO - 10.1111/j.1467-9973.2010.01632.x

M3 - Article

VL - 41

JO - Metaphilosophy

JF - Metaphilosophy

ER -

Information Without Truth

Abstract

Keywords

Disciplines

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