Invariance as a Tool for Ontology of Information

Abstract

Attempts to answer questions regarding the ontological status of information are frequently based on the assumption that information should be placed within an already existing framework of concepts of established ontological statuses related to science, in particular to physics. However, many concepts of physics have undetermined or questionable ontological foundations. We can look for a solution in the recognition of the fundamental role of invariance with respect to a change of reference frame and to other transformations as a criterion for objective existence. The importance of invariance (symmetry) as a criterion for a primary ontological status can be identified in the methodology of physics from its beginnings in the work of Galileo, to modern classifications of elementary particles. Thus, the study of the invariance of the theoretical description of information is proposed as the first step towards ontology of information. With the exception of only a few works among publications which set the paradigm of information studies, the issues of invariance were neglected. Orthodox analysis of information lacks conceptual framework for the study of invariance. The present paper shows how invariance can be formalized for the definition of information and, accompanying it, mathematical formalism proposed by the author in his earlier publications.

Structural Realism, Structural Information, and the General Concept of Structure

“…This paper continues the earlier work of the author carried out in this spirit [7]. In the present paper the focus is on the general concept of a structure, not necessarily in terms of information, but with important consequences for the study of structural information.…”

Analogy in Terms of Identity, Equivalence, Similarity, and Their Cryptomorphs

“…One of the sources of controversies arising in the study of identity was in its role in both epistemological and ontological contexts. Since these issues are of secondary importance for the subject of the present paper and the views of the present author were presented elsewhere [15,16], identity will be considered here mainly in its relation to the other concepts of equality, equivalence, and similarity. Therefore, there will be no much interest in the ontological aspect of identity as a condition for existence.…”

Contemporary Natural Philosophy and Contemporary Idola Mentis

“…It is true that such independence is preferred or even expected, but only the feasibility of knowing objective reality is postulated. After all, if we establish some form of rigorously defined objective criteria for objectivity (understood as invariance and opposed to subjectivity understood as the trivial invariance reduced to identity) [23], the definition of reality as that which satisfies these criteria is a simple consequence. While in the development of science (in particular physics) there was not much interest in the description of what reality is or what is real; the question about the criteria of objectivity was at the center of attention of scientific methodology, at least through the last four centuries.…”

“…The further consequences of the Idols of the Common Sense are especially detrimental for the study of the complementary objective and subjective forms of inquiry leading to the belief in their opposition and in the dominant and exclusive role for the former. The distinction here was explained very briefly in Section 2.2 in the terms of invariance, but was extensively discussed in my earlier publications [23].…”

“…Little less known or recognized is the fact that for the description of symmetry, the most important concept in many disciplines of science and humanities, we have to consider three levels of this hierarchy. If we want to consider higher order symmetries, we have to consider more levels [23,56,57]. Thus, there is no reason to think or to believe that these levels are just a creation of the human mind.…”