HPSC0065
Information is now a vitally important scientific concept, while changes in information and communication technologies have rapidly altered our personal and working lives.
Philosophy of Information
This course examines these changes. It looks at philosophical approaches to information, and the implications of the ‘information revolution’ for such issues as society, personal identity, and scientific knowledge.
Course Objectives:
By the end of this module students should be able to:
- Explain the information revolution, and a little of the recent history of information and communication technologies, with a particular focus on its ethical and societal significance.
- Understand some of the conceptual difficulties in defining information, in spite of its extensive usefulness in multiple areas of science and technology.
- Understand and explain some of the philosophical issues caused by the rapid technological change of the information revolution, such as how we should conceive of personal identity, society and knowledge.
- Construct clear and rigorous arguments concerning these topics.