How to Conceptual Engineer 'Entropy' and 'Information'.
In this paper I discuss how to conceptual engineer 'entropy' and 'information' as they are used in information theory and statistical mechanics. Initially, I evaluate the extent to which the all-pervasive entangled use of entropy and information notions can be somehow defective in these domains, suc...
| Publicado en: | Erkenntnis Vol. 91; no. 2; pp. 897 - 922 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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Springer Nature
Feb2026
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=190855913&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 190855913 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 01650106 5KZ jtl: Erkenntnis issn: 01650106 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Feb2026 vid: 91 iid: 2 pid: 237 pub: Springer Nature artinfo: ui: 190855913 10.1007/s10670-025-00933-9 ppf: 897 ppct: 25 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 761KB tig: atl: How to Conceptual Engineer 'Entropy' and 'Information'. aug: au: Anta, Javier affil: https://ror.org/05591te55 Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Ludwigstr. 31, Munich, Germany https://ror.org/02msb5n36 Department of Logic, History and Philosophy of Science, UNED, Madrid, Spain su: Entropy Information theory Statistical mechanics Conceptual design Philosophy of science Scientific method Metadata sug: subj: Entropy Information theory Statistical mechanics Conceptual design Philosophy of science Scientific method Metadata ab: In this paper I discuss how to conceptual engineer 'entropy' and 'information' as they are used in information theory and statistical mechanics. Initially, I evaluate the extent to which the all-pervasive entangled use of entropy and information notions can be somehow defective in these domains, such as being meaningless or generating confusion. Then, I assess the main ameliorative strategies to improve this defective conceptual practice. The first strategy is to substitute the terms 'entropy' and 'information' by non-loaded terms, as it was first argued by Bar-Hillel in the 1950s. A second strategy is to prescribe how these terms should be correctly used to be meaningful, as it was pioneered by Carnap (Two essays on entropy, University of California Press, 1977) in Two Essays on Entropy. However, the actual implementation of these two ameliorative strategies has been historically unsuccessful due to the low credentials that philosophers as conceptual prescribers have among scientists. Finally, to try to solve these obstacles, I propose a third strategy based on leveraging evidence from the contribution of philosophy as a complementary science or the so-called 'Philosophy in Science' (à la Pradeu et al. in Brit J Philos Sci 75:(2):375–416, 2024) to integrate conceptual prescriptions and analyses of entropy and information as part of the scientific practices in which these notions are used. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Erkenntnis is a copyright of Springer, 2026. All Rights Reserved. item: Erkenntnis holder: Springer Nature dt: @attributes: year: 2026 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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