Objective Information, Intersubjectivity, and Popper's Three Worlds

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

Abstract

Does information exist in the world independently of brains and/or organisms that can interpret it? Answering this question is important for clarifying the theoretical foundations of the sciences of mind and brain. This chapter claims that Popperian objectivity---properly modified---is sufficient for the explanatory role that information often plays in these sciences without endorsing a problematic mind-independent notion of information. There exists, however, a tension between two Popperian views about objectivity: intersubjective agreement and World 3. In order to ground the objectivity of information---as it is used in the sciences of mind and brain, the relation between Popperian intersubjectivity and World 3 objectivity is examined in this chapter. The conclusion is that mind-dependent information can be objective when it is intersubjectively agreed upon, or, to put it differently, when ``actualised'' information in World 3 stands in the right relation to World 1.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationKarl Popper's Science and Philosophy
EditorsZuzana Parusniková, David Merritt
Place of PublicationCham
PublisherSpringer International Publishing AG
Pages345-359
Number of pages15
ISBN (Print)978-3-030-67036-8
DOIs
StatePublished - 20 Jul 2021

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