Rethinking the Philosophical Foundation of Information Science
Yang Jianlin1,2
1.School of Information Management, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023
Abstract Seeking a philosophical foundation is indispensable to the development of information science. Appropriate philosophical theory can reveal the essence of information and its related concepts, such as data, knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom. In addition, it can provide appropriate tools to explain the essence and process of intelligence, allowing us to clarify specific research fields and issues in information science. Based on analysis of relevant research, this paper rejects the traditional philosophical theory of information science and reexamines the essence of such concepts as data, information, knowledge, wisdom, and computation. It analyses the relationship between information and computation and the progressive or inclusive relationship between data, information, knowledge, wisdom, and intelligence. Analysis of the intelligence process and information exchange clarifies the overall research field and specific issues of information science. The results show that (1) the philosophy of information can serve as a philosophical foundation for information science, but its theoretical system needs further improvement; (2) from a philosophical perspective, information science is a legitimate independent branch of science, with its own unique research field and issues; and (3) information science has developed unique research methods.
Key words ：
information science
philosophical foundation
essence of information
intelligence process
Received: 21 February 2019
1 靖继鹏, 马费成, 张向先. 情报科学理论[M]. 北京: 科学出版社, 2009.
