Bob maybe you would like to analyze this (metonymical) use of information in Shakespeare's Coriolanus
"(...) But reason with the fellow, Before you punish him, where he heard this, Lest you shall chance to whip your information, And beat the messenger who bids beware Of what is to be dreaded." (Coriolanus, Act IV, Scene IV). Here is/was my interpretation http://www.capurro.de/trita.htm kind regards Rafael > Hi Rafael - here is Chapter 2 - thanks for your interest and I hope > to have your feedback - Bob > > > On 9-Dec-08, at 10:09 AM, Rafael Capurro wrote: > >> Bob, >> very exciting! please send me a copy of your book once it is printed. >> The fact that in early English information was use in the plural >> maybe means that only the processes were meant not the idea of >> "pieces" of information. What is your impression (!) on this? >> kind regards >> Rafael >>> Hi FIS folks - You might be interested in the origin of the use of >>> the word information in English so I am transmitting an excerpt >>> from Chapter 2 of my new book What is Information? I would be happy >>> to send all of Chapt 2 off line to any member of the list >>> interested in receiving all of Chapt 2. Just email me off line >>> your request and I will send you a copy hoping for your feedback. >>> The general purpose of my What Is Information? project is to better >>> understand the nature of information which is more than a >>> collection of bits and more than Shannon's definition of >>> information which totally lacks the notion of meaning. >>> >>> Hope to hear from some of you >>> >>> Bob Logan >>> >>> Origins of the Concept of Information >>> >>> We begin our historic survey of the development of the concept of >>> information with its etymology. The English word information >>> according to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) first appears in >>> the written record in 1386 by Chaucer: ?Whanne Melibee hadde herd >>> the grete skiles and resons of Dame Prudence, and hire wise >>> informacions and techynges.? The word is derived from Latin through >>> French by combining the word inform meaning giving a form to the >>> mind with the ending ?ation? denoting a noun of action. This >>> earliest definition refers to an item of training or molding of the >>> mind. The next notion of information, namely the communication of >>> knowledge appears shortly thereafter in 1450. ?Lydg. & Burgh >>> Secrees 1695 Ferthere to geve the Enformacioun, Of mustard whyte >>> the seed is profitable.? >>> The notion of information as a something capable of storage in or >>> the transfer or communication to something inanimate and the notion >>> of information as a mathematically defined quantity do not arise >>> until the 20th century. >>> >>> The OED cites two sources, which abstracted the concept of >>> information as something that could be conveyed or stored to an >>> inanimate object: >>> >>> 1937 Discovery Nov. 329/1 The whole difficulty resides in the >>> amount of definition in the [television] picture, or, as the >>> engineers put it, the amount of information to be transmitted in a >>> given time. >>> 1944 Jrnl. Sci. Instrum. XXI. 133/2 Information is conveyed to the >>> machine by means of punched cards. >>> The OED cites the 1925 article of R. A. Fisher as the first >>> instance of the mathematization of information: >>> >>> What we have spoken of as the intrinsic accuracy of an error curve >>> may equally be conceived as the amount of information in a single >>> observation belonging to such a distribution? If p is the >>> probability of an observation falling into any one class, the >>> amount of information in the sample is S{(?m/??)2/m} where m = np, >>> is the expectation in any one class [and ? is the parameter] >>> (Fisher 1925). >>> Another OED entry citing the early work of mathematizing >>> information is that of R. V. L. Hartley (1928, p. 540) ?What we >>> have done then is to take as our practical measure of information >>> the logarithm of the number of possible symbol sequences.? It is >>> interesting to note that the work of both Fisher and Hartley >>> foreshadow Shannon?s concept of information, which is nothing more >>> than the probability of a particular string of symbols independent >>> of their meaning. >>> >>> >>> >>> On 9-Dec-08, at 4:11 AM, John Collier wrote: >>> >>> At 04:35 PM 12/6/2008, Michel PETITJEAN wrote: >>> Hello FISers. >>> >>> Recently, one of my colleagues attract my attention on the following >>> point. >>> In French, we often use information as a countable quantity, >>> so that we can write "informations". >>> In English, it seems that it is unusual, if not incorrect, to do that. >>> (1) Please can some English native FISers give their opinion about >>> that ? >>> (2) Please can some FISers from non English-speaking countries tell us >>> how is the situation in their own language ? >>> >>> Michel, folks, >>> >>> I haven't seen anything on the specific philosophical grammar of >>> 'information' in English yet, so I will add some remarks. In English >>> there are count nouns and mass nouns. Count nouns always take an >>> adjective, like a South African, the Pope, a bicycle, and have plural >>> forms. Mass nouns do not take an adjective when referred to >>> singularly, such as water, gold, and humanity, and do not have a >>> plural form. Mass terms refer to things not collectively per se, but >>> in a distributed way. So we can say "Dogs are typically larger than >>> cats", but we have to say "Gold is heavier than water." Mass terms >>> can take an adjective, however, such as in "The gold in this ring is >>> 90% pure." 'Information', in English, is a mass term. Note that count >>> nouns and mass nouns can both have quantitative values, such as >>> "There are ten dogs in this pen." and "The gold in this ring weighs 2 >>> grams." However, typically, count nouns need no modifiers for their >>> quantities, whereas mass nouns do, as in the previous examples. >>> Information, as a mass term, follows this practice, and requires a >>> measure, typically bits or entropy units, or something of the like. >>> Furthermore, count nouns require something like 'the number of' in >>> comparisons, for example, "The number of dogs in this pen is less >>> than the number of cats in that pen." Contrast this with, "The >>> information in this data is less than the information in the previous >>> set of data." The phrase "the number of informations" is not >>> grammatical in English, indicating that information is not a count >>> noun. >>> >>> I my French is not sufficiently idiomatic to speak with any authority >>> here, but I had thought that the mass/count distinction was pretty >>> much the same, so I am surprised that 'informations' is grammatical. >>> I think that there is a mass/count distinction in all languages (it >>> is far to handy to not use), but grammatical markers are quite >>> different (English articles, for example, are hard to translate). I >>> should also point out that there are often hidden or suppressed >>> grammatical differences that do not appear in the surface structure, >>> or are apparently violated in surface structure. An example is that >>> in English ships are feminine gender, even though there are no gender >>> markers in English. I suppose the mass'count distinction could be >>> hidden in some languages. It is possible that even in English the >>> distinction is hidden or grammatically violated; I am not that expert >>> on idiomatic English, either. >>> >>> The mass/count distinction I know mostly from work on identity, in >>> which it is a very basic distinction that must be understood before >>> one can go on. Count nouns are sometimes called 'sortals', with >>> sortals applying to a period of time but not the whole period of >>> existence of something being called 'phasal sortals'. There is no >>> similar concept for mass terms, so one has to circumlocute, or else >>> use implication. For example, if some clay is made into a statue of >>> the Baby Goliath, and then squeezed down into a lump again, we can't >>> really call the Baby Goliath a phase of the clay, but have to refer >>> to the clay in terms of its being a lump: "That clay was a statue of >>> the Baby Goliath, but now it is not." means, more precisely that that >>> lump of clay was once a statue of the Baby Goliath, where 'lump' is a >>> count noun, and a sortal. >>> >>> 'Data', incidentally, is often treated as a mass term, but it has a >>> singular, 'datum'. So the rules are not hard and fast. Information >>> and data are obviously closely linked, so one could have a >>> grammatical nightmare if one wasn't careful, but idiomatic English >>> speakers have no trouble (most of the time -- I could tell you a >>> story of my boss at the Dominion Observatory, but I digress). >>> >>> Cheers, >>> John >>> >>> >>> ---------- >>> Professor John Collier >>> colli...@ukzn.ac.za >>> Philosophy and Ethics, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 4041 >>> South Africa >>> T: +27 (31) 260 3248 / 260 2292 F: +27 (31) 260 3031 >>> http://www.ukzn.ac.za/undphil/collier/index.html >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> fis mailing list >>> fis@listas.unizar.es >>> https://webmail.unizar.es/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fis >>> >>> >>> ---------------------------------------------------------------- >>> UTPHY webmail >>> >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> fis mailing list >>> fis@listas.unizar.es >>> https://webmail.unizar.es/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fis >>> >> >> >> -- >> Prof. Dr. Rafael Capurro >> Hochschule der Medien (HdM) - Stuttgart Media University, Wolframstr. 32 >> 70191 Stuttgart, Germany >> Private: Redtenbacherstr. 9, 76133 Karlsruhe, Germany >> E-Mail: raf...@capurro.de; capu...@hdm-stuttgart.de >> Voice Stuttgart: + 49 - 711 - 25706 - 182 >> Voice private: + 49 - 721 - 98 22 9 - 22 (Fax: -21) >> Homepage: www.capurro.de >> Homepage ICIE: http://icie.zkm.de >> Homepage IRIE: http://www.i-r-i-e.net >> Information Ethics Senior Fellow, 2007-2008; 2009-2010, Center for >> Information Policy Research, School of Information Studies, >> UW-Milwaukee, USA -- Prof. Dr. Rafael Capurro Hochschule der Medien (HdM) - Stuttgart Media University, Wolframstr. 32 70191 Stuttgart, Germany Private: Redtenbacherstr. 9, 76133 Karlsruhe, Germany E-Mail: raf...@capurro.de; capu...@hdm-stuttgart.de Voice Stuttgart: + 49 - 711 - 25706 - 182 Voice private: + 49 - 721 - 98 22 9 - 22 (Fax: -21) Homepage: www.capurro.de Homepage ICIE: http://icie.zkm.de Homepage IRIE: http://www.i-r-i-e.net Information Ethics Senior Fellow, 2007-2008; 2009-2010, Center for Information Policy Research, School of Information Studies, UW-Milwaukee, USA _______________________________________________ fis mailing list fis@listas.unizar.es https://webmail.unizar.es/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fis
