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The undergrowth of science: delusion, self-deception and human frailty (review)Times Literary Supplement. 2001.
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Epilogue: the ethics of the information society in a globalized worldIn The Cambridge Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics, Cambridge University Press. 2010.The previous chapters have provided a detailed overview of the variety of ethical challenges posed by the development of ICTs. By way of conclusion, in this epilogue I would like to invite the reader to look into the possible future of Information and Computer Ethics. More specifically, I shall try to forecast how the convergence of two fundamental trends of our times, globalization and the development of the information society, may interact with the ethical problems analysed in this book. The …Read more
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1817The paper analyses six ethical challenges posed by cloud computing, concerning ownership, safety, fairness, responsibility, accountability and privacy. The first part defines cloud computing on the basis of a resource-oriented approach, and outlines the main features that characterise such technology. Following these clarifications, the second part argues that cloud computing reshapes some classic problems often debated in information and computer ethics. To begin with, cloud computing makes pos…Read more
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441Mathematical skepticism: a sketch with historian in foregroundIn J. van der Zande & R. Popkin (eds.), The Skeptical Tradition around 1800. 1998.We know very little about mathematical skepticism in modem times. Imre Lakatos once remarked that “in discussing modem efforts to establish foundations for mathematical knowledge one tends to forget that these are but a chapter in the great effort to overcome skepticism by establishing foundations for knowledge in general." And in a sense he was clearly right: modem thought — with its new discoveries in mathematical sciences, the mathematization of physics, the spreading of Pyrrhonist doctrines,…Read more
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92The social life of informationTimes Literary Supplement. 2000.Review of J.S. Brown and P. Duguid and Goldman's Social Life of Information.
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334Philosophers have recently begun to address the new intellectual challenges arising from the world of information and the information society. Consequently, a new and vitally important area of research has begun to emerge, the philosophy of information (PI). This paper is the first attempt to analyse the potential nature of PI systematically. The paper aims to explain (1) what PI is (2) how PI has emerged (3) why there should be a new philosophical discipline such as PI, (4) what PI’s scientific…Read more
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77Informazione percettiva e naturalizzazione della menteConference: Ma Dove Hai la Testa?/Where is Your Head? – Processi Mentali, Comunicazione Eregole – Mental Processes, Communication and Rules. 2003.
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101Strutture di astrazioneConference: Ma Dove Hai la Testa?/Where is Your Head? – Processi Mentali, Comunicazione Eregole – Mental Processes, Communication and Rules. 2003.Uno dei principali problemi nello studio della mente e della sua "collocazione" consiste nell'identificazione del corretto Livello di Astrazione a cui le varie descrizioni fenomeniche e le corrispondenti ipotesi esplicative possono essere sviluppate e confrontate. L'articolo contribuisce all'attuale dibattito metodologico in filosofia della mente analizzando due nozioni fondative, quella di modello e quella di simulazione, sulla base del concetto di Livello di Astrazione. L'ambito è quello del M…Read more
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139Library information science (LIS) should develop its foundation in terms of a philosophy of information (PI). This seems a rather harmless suggestion. In Floridi (2002a), I have articulated some of the reasons why I believe that PI can fulfill the foundationalist needs better than SE can. In this contribution, I clarify some aspects of my proposal (Floridi, 2002a) in favor of the interpretation of LIS as applied PI. The aim of the article is to remove some ambiguities and possible misunderstandi…Read more
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240Levellism and the method of abstractionIEG Research Report. 2004.The use of "levels of abstraction" in philosophical analysis (levellism) has recently come under attack. In this paper, we argue that a refined version of epistemological levellism should be retained as a fundamental method, which we call the method of abstraction. After a brief introduction, in section two we make clear the nature and applicability of the (epistemological) method of levels of abstraction. In section three, we show the fruitfulness of the new method by applying it to five case s…Read more
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170The philosophy of presence: from epistemic failure to successful observabilityPresence Teleoperators and Virtual Environments 14 (6). 2005.The paper introduces a new model of telepresence. First, it criticises the standard model of presence as epistemic failure, showing it to be inadequate. It then replaces it with a new model of presence as successful observability. It further provides reasons to distinguish between two types of presence, backward and forward. The new model is then tested against two ethical issues whose nature has been modified by the development of digital information and communication technologies, namely porno…Read more
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157The philosophy of information: a methodological point of viewProfessional Knowledge Management - Experiences and Visions, Contributions to the 3rd Conference Professional Knowledge Management - Experiences and Visions, April 10-13, 2005, Kaiserslautern, Germany. 2005.The Philosophy of Information is a new area of research at the intersection of philosophy and computer science [4]. It concerns (a) the critical investigation of the conceptual nature and basic principles of information, including its dynamics (especially computation), utilization (especially computer ethics) and sciences; and (b) the elaboration and application of computational and information-theoretic methodologies to philosophical problems. Past work by members of our group has concentrated …Read more
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540DataIn William A. Darity (ed.), International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, Macmillan. 2008.The word data (sing. datum) is originally Latin for “things given or granted”. Because of such a humble and generic meaning, the term enjoys considerable latitude both in its technical and in its common usage, for almost anything can be referred to as a “thing given or granted” (Cherry [1978]). With some reasonable approximation, four principal interpretations may be identified in the literature. The first three captures part of the nature of the concept and are discussed in the next section. Th…Read more
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286The information society and its philosophy: introduction to the special issue on the philosophy o information, its nature, and future developmentsThe Information Society 23 (5). 2009.The article introduces the special issue dedicated to “The Philosophy of Information, Its Nature, and Future Developments.” It outlines the origins of the information society and then briefly discusses the definition of the philosophy of information, the possibility of reconciling nature and technology, the informational turn as a fourth revolution (after Copernicus, Darwin, and Freud), and the metaphysics of the infosphere.
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416I love information upon all subjects that come in my way, and especially upon those that are most important. Thus boldly declares Euphranor, one of the defenders of Christian faith in Berkley’s Alciphron (Berkeley, (1732), Dialogue 1, Section 5, Paragraph 6/10). Evidently, information has been an object of philosophical desire for some time, well before the computer revolution, Internet or the dotcompandemonium (see for example Dunn (2001) and Adams (2003)). Yet what does Euphranor love, exactly…Read more
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How to account for informationIn Jordi Vallverdú (ed.), Thinking machines and the philosophy of computer science: concepts and principles. 2010.In Floridi (2005), I argued that a definition of semantic information in terms of alethically-neutral content–that is, strings of well-formed and meaningful data that can be additionally qualified as true or untrue (false, for the classicists among us), depending on supervening evaluations–provides only necessary but insufficient conditions: if some content is to qualify as semantic information, it must also be true. One speaks of false information in the same way as one qualifies someone as a f…Read more
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223Recreational Drugs European Network (ReDNet) project aims to use the Psychonaut Web Mapping Project database (Psychonaut Web Mapping Group, 2009) containing novel psychoactive compounds usually not mentioned in the scientific literature and thus unknown to clinicians as a unique source of information. The database will be used to develop an integrated ICT prevention approach targeted at vulnerable individuals and focused on novel synthetic and herbal compounds and combinatio…Read more
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187La saggezza della vanitasIn Vanitas. Lotto, Caravaggio, Guercino nella collezione Doria Pamphilj, . 2011.
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858An empirical study on using visual embellishments in visualizationIEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics 18 (12). 2012.In written and spoken communications, figures of speech (e.g., metaphors and synecdoche) are often used as an aid to help convey abstract or less tangible concepts. However, the benefits of using rhetorical illustrations or embellishments in visualization have so far been inconclusive. In this work, we report an empirical study to evaluate hypotheses that visual embellishments may aid memorization, visual search and concept comprehension. One major departure from related experiments in the liter…Read more
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1This paper is divided into two parts. In the first, I shall briefly analyse the phenomenon of “big data”, and argue that the real epistemological challenge posed by the zettabyte era is small patterns. The valuable undercurrents in the ocean of data that we are accumulating are invisible to the computationally-naked eye, so more and better technology will help. However, because the problem with big data is small patterns, ultimately, the game will be won by those who “know how to ask and answer …Read more
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199Perception and testimony as data providersLogique Et Analyse 57 (226). 2014.This chapter addresses two questions. First, if knowledge is accounted information, how are we supposed (to apply this analysis in order) to understand perceptual knowledge and knowledge by testimony? In the first part of the chapter, I articulate an answer in terms of a re-interpretation of perception and testimony as data providers rather than full-blown cases of knowledge. Second, if perception and testimony are correctly understood as data providers, how are we supposed (to apply this analys…Read more
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12Protection of information and the right to privacy - a new equilibrium? (edited book)Springer. 2014.This book presents the latest research on the challenges and solutions affecting the equilibrium between freedom of speech, freedom of information, information security, and the right to informational privacy. Given the complexity of the topics addressed, the book shows how old legal and ethical frameworks may need to be not only updated, but also supplemented and complemented by new conceptual solutions. Neither a conservative attitude (“more of the same”) nor a revolutionary zeal (“never seen …Read more
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The fourth revolution in our self-understandingIn Ruth Hagenbruger & Uwe V. Riss (eds.), Philosophy, computing and information science, Pickering & Chattoo. 2014.Science has two fundamental ways of changing our understanding. One may be called extrovert, or about the world, and the other introvert, or about ourselves. Three scientific revolutions in the past had great impact both extrovertly and introvertly. In changing our understanding of the external world, they also modified our conception of who we are, that is, our self-understanding. The following chapter discusses the fourth revolution.
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