Wittgenstein, language and information : 'back to the rough ground!' / by David Blair.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Blair, D. C. (David C.)

Series:

Information science and knowledge management ; v. 10.

Information science and knowledge management ; v. 10

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Wittgenstein, Ludwig, 1889-1951.

Wittgenstein, Ludwig.

Language and languages--Philosophy.

Language and languages.

Physical Description:

xi, 358 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Dordrecht : Springer, [2006]

Summary:

This book is an extension of the discussions presented in Blair's 1990 book Language and Representation in Information Retrieval, which was selected as the "Best Information Science Book of the Year" by the American Society for Information Science (ASIS). That work stated that the Philosophy of Language had the best theory for understanding meaning in language, and within the Philosophy of Language, the work of philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein was found to be most perceptive. The success of that book provided an incentive to look more deeply into Wittgenstein's philosophy of language, and how it can help us to understand how to represent the intellectual content of information. This is what the current title does, and by using this theory it creates a firm foundation for future Information Retrieval research.

The work consists of four related parts. Firstly, a brief overview of Wittgenstein's philosophy of language and its relevance to information systems. Secondly, a detailed explanation of Wittgenstein's late philosophy of language and mind. Thirdly, an extended discussion of the relevance of his philosophy to understanding some of the problems inherent in information systems, especially those systems which rely on retrieval based on some representation of the intellectual content of that information. And, fourthly, a series of detailed footnotes which cite the sources of the numerous quotations and provide some discussion of the related issues that the text inspires.

Contents:

Why Language?-Why Philosophy?-Why Wittgenstein? 2

Surveying Wittgenstein's Landscape 8

Part II Wittgenstein's Philosophy of Language and Mind 27

Language and Thought 31

Benjamin Lee Whorf 34

Problems With Whorf's Conjecture 38

Wittgenstein on Language and Thought 43

Wittgenstein's Methodology 47

The Analysis of Depth Grammar 47

Wittgenstein at Work: Philosophical Investigations 58

"Five Red Apples" 66

The "Builder's Language" 71

Language Games 79

Language and Categorization 90

Universals and Particulars: An Old Debate 95

Wittgenstein's Approach: The Rejection of Strict Nominalism and Realism 101

Wittgenstein's Categories: Family Resemblances 105

Wittgenstein's Place in the Nominalist-Realist Debate 117

Forms of Life 119

Language Games and Forms of Life 129

The Big Picture: Philosophy of Language and Metaphor 133

Language as a Kind of Calculus 134

The Structure of Language is Like the Dynamic Structure of a Game 139

Language and Chess 139

Words are Like Tools and Language Use is Like Tool Use 140

Language as a City 147

Language as a Labyrinth 155

Reality and Myth: The Background of Reality on Which Language is Based is Like a Mythology, and its Structure is Like a Riverbed 155

The Foundation of Language in Instinctive Behavior 161

Instinctive Behavior and Forms of Life 175

Language and Cognition: What Do We Have in Our Heads, and What is it Good for? 177

Externalism 182

Psychophysical Parallelism 183

The Mind and Reality: Mental Models or Scribbled Jottings? 192

Wittgenstein and Crime: The Breakdown of the Distinction Between Inner and Outer Processes 207

Wittgenstein and Drama: A Dramatic Theory of Meaning 229

The Inner and the Outer 231

Imponderable Evidence (Unwagbare Evidenz) 235

The Objective Correlative 239

Imponderable Evidence and Real Life 241

Conversational Implicatures 249

Wittgenstein and Behaviorism 254

Wittgenstein vs. Behaviorism: What is "Behavior"? 256

Wittgenstein vs. Behaviorism: Reductionism 261

Wittgenstein vs. Behaviorism: The Existence of Mental Phenomena 261

Wittgenstein vs. Behaviorism: Intersubjective Knowledge 265

Wittgenstein vs. Behaviorism: Logical Behaviorism 265

Why Wittgenstein is not a Behaviorist: A Summary 267

Part III Wittgenstein, Language and Information 269

Support for Wittgenstein's Philosophy of Mind: Robotics and "Scaffolding" 270

Where is the Mind? 270

The Mind: "Who's in Charge Here?" 271

Scaffolding 272

Scaffolding and the Rational Model of Choice 273

Scaffolding and Computerized Information Systems 276

The Boundaries of the Mind 276

Scaffolding and the Role of Language 278

Mental Models 279

Externalism and the Philosophy of Language 282

Why is the "Mind" Important for Information Systems? 284

The Structure of Information Systems 285

The Fundamental Relationship in Information Systems 287

The Fundamental Issue of Information Systems: The "Determinacy of Representation" 289

"Escalating Uncertainty of Retrieval": The Problem With Large Systems and Indeterminately Represented Information 291

The Nature of Representational Indeterminacy in Information Systems 294

Indeterminacy in Information Systems: An Empirical Study 302

The "Determinacy of Sense": An Old Logical Problem 305

Description and Discrimination (Either can be Indeterminate) 310

The Consequences of Indeterminacy in Information Retrieval 311

Distinction 1 The Type of Query 312

Distinction 2 The Relationship Between the Formal Query and the Representation of the Satisfactory Answer 312

Distinction 3 Criterion of Successful Retrieval 313

Distinction 4 The Speed of Successful Retrieval 314

Distinction 5 Representing Information: The Effect of Semantic Indeterminacy 315

Distinction 6 The End-Point of Searching 317

Distinction 7 Types of Searches 317

Distinction 8 Scaling up the System 319

Distinction 9 Management and the Delegation Problem 320

What Do Inquirers Want? 334

Information Systems-A Wittgensteinean View 338

The "Meaning" of a Document 339

What are the "Diseases of Thinking" in Information Retrieval? 339

How Do Computers Influence Information Systems? 343

Managing the Retrieval of Indeterminate Information Content-Some Practical Consequences 346

"Reducing Indeterminacy in Content Retrieval 347

Large Content Retrieval Systems vs. Small Content Retrieval Systems 349

Using Documents Themselves as Instruments of Organization and Indeterminacy Reduction-"Exemplary Documents" and "Seed Searching" 351

Measuring the Effectiveness of Content Retrieval 355

The Stairs Evaluation: A Final Look 356.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

1402041128

OCLC:

68804369

Publisher Number:

9781402041129