Giovanni Sommaruga ( Ed . ) : Review : Formal Theories of Information : From Shannon to Semantic Information Theory

This new anthology on formal theories of information is based upon research presented at the May 2006 Muenchenwiler seminar of the Information and Knowledge research groups of the computer science departments of the universities of Bern, Fribourg, and Neuchtel. The Collection is split into five sections: Philosophical Reflections; The Syntactical Approach; The Semantical Approach; Beyond the Semantical Approach; and Philosophical Conclusions. Giovanni Sommaruga’s introduction is a spot on. Sommaruga combines a brief but erudite introduction to the conceptual motivations underpinning research into formal theories of information with a thorough summary of the volume’s contributions. The first section, Philosophical Reflections, consists of Luciano Floridi’s Philosophical Conceptions of Information. Floridi’s piece is a good choice for the opening contribution on account of both its content and its delivery. Floridi takes the reader on a clear and accessible journey through every day uses of information, Shannon’s mathematical theory of communication, Bar-Hillel and Carnap’s theory of semantic information, Floridi’s own theory of strongly se-