Two paradoxes of semantic information

Thomas Macaulay Ferguson

pp. 3719-3730

in: Benjamin C. Jantzen, Deborah G. Mayo, Lydia Patton (eds), Ontology & methodology, Synthese 192 (11), 2015.

Abstract

Yehoshua Bar-Hillel and Rudolph Carnap’s classical theory of semantic information entails the counterintuitive feature that inconsistent statements convey maximal information. Theories preserving Bar-Hillel and Carnap’s modal intuitions while imposing a veridicality requirement on which statements convey information—such as the theories of Fred Dretske or Luciano Floridi—avoid this commitment, as inconsistent statements are deemed not information-conveying by fiat. This paper produces a pair of paradoxical statements that such “veridical-modal” theories must evaluate as both conveying and not conveying information, although Bar-Hillel and Carnap’s theory accommodates these statements without inconsistency. Moreover, the paradoxes are independently interesting as the mode in which they self-refer bears on their evaluation.

Cited authors

Carnap Rudolf

Dretske Fred

Floridi Luciano