CFP - Special Issue of _Minds and Machines_ on The Philosophy of Information, deadline 31 January 2003

(mess. from luciano.floridi@philosophy.oxford.ac.uk)
___________________________________________________
CALL FOR PAPERS

MINDS AND MACHINES
http://www.wkap.nl/journalhome.htm/0924-6495

SPECIAL ISSUE ON THE PHILOSOPHY OF INFORMATION
GUEST EDITOR: LUCIANO FLORIDI

Deadline: 31 January, 2003
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In 1998, introducing _The Digital Phoenix, How Computers are Changing
Philosophy_ Terrell Ward Bynum and James H. Moor acknowledged the emergence
of a new force in the philosophical scenario:

"From time to time, major movements occur in philosophy. These movements
begin with a few simple, but very fertile, ideas -- ideas that provide
philosophers with a new prism through which to view philosophical issues.
Gradually, philosophical methods and problems are refined and understood in
terms of these new notions. As novel and interesting philosophical results
are obtained, the movement grows into an intellectual wave that travels
throughout the discipline. A new philosophical paradigm emerges. [...]
Computing provides philosophy with such a set of simple, but incredibly
fertile notions -- new and evolving subject matters, methods, and models
for philosophical inquiry. Computing brings new opportunities and
challenges to traditional philosophical activities. [...] computing is
changing the way philosophers understand foundational concepts in
philosophy, such as mind, consciousness, experience, reasoning, knowledge,
truth, ethics and creativity. This trend in philosophical inquiry that
incorporates computing in terms of a subject matter, a method, or a model
has been gaining momentum steadily."

This new area of research has been defined as the Philosophy of Information
(PI).

PI is the new philosophical field concerned with

a) the critical investigation of the conceptual nature and basic principles
of information, including its dynamics (especially computing and information
flow), utilisation (especially computer ethics issues) and sciences;
and
b) the elaboration and application of information-theoretic and
computational methodologies to philosophical problems. PI attempts to
provide a unified, explanatory theory of what information is, not a
quantitative theory of data communication (information theory). On the
theoretical side, for example, it includes the philosophy of AI and
computing. From an environmental perspective, it legislates on what may
count as information and how information should be adequately created and
manipulated (information ethics).

For more information, see
1) "Open Problems in the Philosophy of Information", The Herbert A. Simon
Lecture on Computing and Philosophy, Carnegie Mellon University 2001,
http://www.wolfson.ox.ac.uk/~floridi/pdf/oppi.pdf
2) "What is the Philosophy of Information?", Metaphilosophy 2002 (33.1/2),
123-145 http://www.wolfson.ox.ac.uk/~floridi/pdf/wipi.pdf

This special issue of Minds and Machines provides the opportunity to
researchers in different fields to submit papers in the following areas

1) metatheoretical issues concerning the foundation of PI;
2) methodological aspects of PI;
3) the information-turn in philosophy;
4) issues in specific areas of PI, such as the philosophy of AI,
computational philosophy of science, information-theoretic approaches to
epistemology, philosophy of language and philosophy of mind, computer
ethics and hypertext theory, conceptual analysis of key issues in PI etc.

The full call for papers is available at
http://web.comlab.ox.ac.uk/oucl/research/areas/ieg/newsarchive/mmcfp.html

Instructions for Authors are available at
http://www.wkap.nl/journalhome.htm/0924-6495

Inquiries and papers can be sent to:
mailto://[email protected]
Received on Wed Sep 4 10:27:30 2002